After 50 years of surfing, today I came up with a silly idea today. My new Sunova Ghost has beautiful wood grain on the bottom and the top in front of the deck pad. It looks great anytime, but when it gets wet in the ocean, the wood grain shows up twice as much, which I like. The board does not have a gloss finish, so this cool effect only happens when it's wet.
I started wondering about putting marine wax on the bottom, rails, and exposed deck area to get that nice sheen all the time (I realize this is kind of silly, but you know most of us are in love with our boards). I am not concerned with the nose being slippery since I often surf over very shallow coral (12"-18" of water) that is covered with vana (spiky sea urchins) so I always wear booties that keep out the vana spikes if I accidentally kick the bottom, and they give good traction wherever I step on the board.

Any thoughts?

Agreed

and also if your polish is silicone it will make any future repairs a major drama. even with a ton of cleaning it screws with paint application BADLY

The expert is the guy who has discovered all the ways to not do something

^^^^ every board company does and every single one has enough film thickness to be sanded with 800 wet

slsurf said..
why would sunova use a gloss coat if it was a noticeable difference, someone do a before and after report back.

Because most buyers will prioritize looks over efficiency.
Because casual longboard style surfing does not really need a fast board, on the contrary.
Because the gain is small. Pros have all a sanded finish, aka a "pro" finish.
Your average rider may not notice the difference.

PS: the experiments have been done by the military and naval architects for decades.

Thanks Mark and Colas. I was hoping you guys would jump in with your expertise. When I was little (65 years ago), we used to wax the hulls of our waterski boats because we didn't know any better. I had heard that fine sanding was fastest, which is why I wanted to ask for advice.
It looks like the solution is to stay on my board in the ocean as much as possible to keep it shiny (surfing waves would be a nice side benefit)