Linseed oiling alaias, and a peek at the Earl

Alaias at 6'5" and 6'7" plus a paipo for 'House of Aroha' in Napier.

The Earl 10'6" has been curing for a couple of weeks prior to final sanding and polishing, here the spherical or circular arc rocker can be seen to advantage.

A quiver of future Primitives: The 12 foot Ghost and the 10'6" Earl.

Earl 10'6": fin setting, fin chord position, leading edge tubercules, displacement tail.

Installation of the 12" Spitfire cuataway tubercule fin for the 10'6" Earl. A 2" deep slot (which fits the fin exactly) is made in the surfboard. It's a very sturdy method of attaching the fin as the fin becomes an integral part of the board. It also allows the fillet at the fin base to be the optimal size for water flow, as a structural fillet isn't required.

Checking that the elliptical planform planar foil is set 'plumb'.

Here the smooth relatively even curve produced by the 50/50 position of  the chord or thickest part of the fin can be seen. A 50/50 foil gives a more accurate response to turning and trimming input from the rider than the commonly used foil sections which have their chord positions further forward. Moving the chord position aft also reduces drag, and even though the angle of attack capability of the fin is somewhat reduced, this is overcome via a slightly thicker foil and leading edge tubercules. This fin has proven itself to be a truly outstanding performer without leading edge tubercules, and promises to be even better with them added.

Prior to adding the 4mm diameter filet at the fin base, the excess epoxy and paulownia dust marine glue is carefully scraped away. Later a bead of clear resin will be used to make the fillet, the surface tension of the resin making a perfect half round fillet without any hand shaping. 

The Earl's torpedo like parallel profile displacement tail, a concept thankfully not yet understood by the surfing world at large who continue to think that the term 'displacement' applies only to a class of outdated thin railed slightly convex bottomed boards known erroneously as 'displacement hulls'.  The great functional beauty and subtleties of the displacement tail are known only to a few, it's a taste acquired only by experience.

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The oblique plank lines suggest water flow... 

Earl 10'6" HWS pintail singlefin, resin coating

Resin coating the Earl 10'6"  HWS pintail singlefin.





The bottom of the surfboard appears to have planking which is fan like, this is not an illusion, in fact the planking is narrower on the far side of the board and wider on the side closest to the camera. This pleasing visual effect is due to the  paulownia logs being cut carefully to minimise waste. By tapering the planking to suit the log 20% more usable wood was obtained.

The bottom has a single concave through the middle of the board starting about 15 inches back from the nose and diminishing a similar distance from the tail, a deep concave isn't needed as the span efficiency of the 27 inch wide hull is already high, so we've applied 1/8" at the deepest point. The concave was laminated into the board using our usual method.



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Earl 10'6" HWS pintail singlefin, shaping continues...

Here's the 10'6" Earl elite singlefin pintail partly shaped. The board is based on the 'Future Primitive' rocker and planshape which is shared by the 'Ghost' 11 and 12 footers and the 'Future Primitive' 13 footer. 

With a central riding position and extreme circular arc pintail, a 10'6" board like this feels like a shortboard in the water

Spherical-elliptical rocker, parallel profile,  30/70 continuous downrail, single concave bottom, spooned deck, finished weight approximately 30 pounds.

Earl 10'6" Roy Stuart surfboard will be worth its weight in gold bullion !

The Earl 10'6" elite is a shorter and wider version of the highly successful Ghost 12  and Future Primitive 13, both are what are called ( 'In house' ) as Diamond series extreme pintails. The addition of the Earl adds wealth to the range in the FP series, enabling a seamless transition from 13 feet down to 10'6" for the owner of this most expensive and  desirable surfboard collection.



With an identical rocker to the FP 13 and Ghost the wider shorter Earl will be even more agile and manoeuvrable, and will have greater acceleration on takeoff.



Specifications:

Length 10'6"

Width 27"

Thickness 2.5"

Volume 75 litres approx.

Weight 20 pounds approx.

Price: US$417k or 10kg of gold bullion





here's the first frame and rail panel, note the  'parabolic' or perimeter rail, which Roy Stuart surfboards invented in 1994. The  parallel profile perimeter rail is superior in flex and strength qualities to the common parabolic rail now used in the surfboard mass market. A crucial aspect of the parallel profile parabolic rail is the use of multi directional 4, 5, or 6 layer laminations in which the grain direction in each layer of the rail corresponds with and is tied in to the frames and/or deck and bottom planking . This means that there are no anomalies in the structure and consequently the surfboard flexes as a harmonious whole.



Frame spacing here is 6 inches, which is the widest spacing used in the parallel profile sysytem. All frame junctions will be tied together with vertical struts in order to resist internal pressure should it arise 

  The fin is an 11 inch spitfire cutaway built from a multi directional hand laid paulownia panel  and will have whale tubercules on the leading edge.