Ultimate wave tools: The Makaha 12-9 tunnel finned pintail

After ten months of creation the incredible 12-9 Empress wood 'Makaha' model is finished. It is one very fast surfboard, with a powerful twang like a true war bow.This machine eats regular 'Malibu' boards for breakfast.Designed by noted New Zealand shaper, author and researcher Roy Stewart , these limited edition collectable surfboards are all painstakingly handmade to exacting design specifications, based on countless hours spent in the detailed study and documentation of original surfboards.They are not replicas or recreations -- they are originals, and although they look and feel like period pieces, they out-perform them.No short-cuts, no compromises. Just the real thing.The price with a custom fitting surf tubes kodra travel case puts this beautiful board firmly in the expensive luxury Christmas gift category: US $20,000Available to be shipped now, to order email Roy@olosurfer.comMost expensive surfboard: Power surfboards 'Makaha' model empress wood pintailNeiman Marcus gift catalogue: Most expensive luxury surfboard .Fully functional surfboard art sculpture.

The Makaha 12-9 revealed

The faster surfboard: Skin friction and the 'contact angle' of the surfboard surface

It is well known that the molecular structure of the watercraft's surface can have a dramatic effect on skin friction.Surfboard designers and builders have not often taken advantage of this fact except in the use of temporary surface coatings.What I am suggesting is that the surface of the surfboard ( the resin and glass) has a measurable contact angle which is not particularly beneficial in the drag stakes... this can be improved either by adding a surface coating or by adding other substances to the resin. We have had good results with a graphite resin additive in the past, the board with graphite coating needs to be electrically charged by hand polishing ( no wax!) in order to improve the contact angle.http://www.ramehart.com/goniometers/contactangle.htmThe contact angle and water sheeting properties of some surfaces are not always fixed, for example there is a titanium coating in use which is activated by uv light to improve its sheeting properties, this process is temporary (or semi permanent ) and needs to be repeated Or to put it bluntly:It is possible to make the surfboard surface itself out of a material which is lower in drag than resin due to a molecular structure which ATTRACTS WATER There are contact angle measurement devices for sale out there I would love to get one to test various resin additives, the beauty of it is that a lower contact angle means lower drag guaranteed so there's no speculation involved . . . if one has the measuring gadget.http://www.ramehart.com/goniometers/contactangle.htmHere's a board with a graphite coated bottom and fin, it was very fast