Bluedog76 said...
4. Retractable winds that come out once you are going fast enough to lift you just above the water making use of the MIG effect (I don't know much about it of if that is the right spelling?)
How light can a board get????????
I think you mean WIG, Wing In Ground effect.
As far as lightness goes, I don't think you will get too much lighter unless someone decides to build a hollow board with just stiffeners under certain bits. However there is a fair few hurdles to overcome in the development of something like that and really probably wouldn't be worth it in the end of the day. Thou don't really know if increasing the skin thickness and the addition of stiffeners would end up with a weight decrease that would be worth the increase in price.
I guess you could look at using honeycomb materials in the core, but I don't think they really don't get down to the low densities of some of the foams that the guys are using, however most of my research has been into higher strength cores, probably much more then required in a board. Plus it would wouldn't be as easy to shape as foam. Maybe you can use something like Aerogel (
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerogel), not sure what the mechanical properties are like, but it sure is low density, probably around a 2kg weight saving on a 90L board.
One area for possible improvement is changing the manufacturing techniques and materials, using prepreg materials cured in autoclaves (don't think foam could handle the temp and pressure thou?), or maybe just room temp prepregs you will be able to have a lighter and stronger layup on the board. Don't think anyone uses this kinda stuff for windsurfing board yet do they?
Could also obviously change the layups and amount of reinforcements used in the boards, however I think some of the custom boards floating around these days are already pretty damn close to as light as you can go.
As far as the other stuff goes, I think most of the stuff adds too much complication to a sport which I think one of the main attractions is the relative simplicity of the equipement.
Thou one thing I can imagine is increased development maybe in cams, making them more lightweight and easy to depower so that maybe we will get the locked in high-wind range of a cammed sail, but also the softness, depower, low end grunt and pumpability of a cammless sail. Maybe a kind of tuning system in the cam to change the stiffness of the foil, or even better a progressive stiffener so that as the sail fills out it gets stiffer giving out a fast stable sail which twists off nicely up the top when its windier, but when its lighter the sail is softer making it easier to pump.
Probably a heap to be done with fins as well. Not sure how much or what type of research is going into fins, but theres probably a lot to be gained in fin developments. Personally I'm gonna treat myself one of the maui ultra fins maybe with my tax return money, also AUD is getting better against USD, money to be saved. A lot of good riders are using them these days, e.g JP is using them on his twins. Seems like the guy building them has put a fair bit of research into them.
What I really need is an undingable fin.
).You have a little button & push it & immediately get 20 -30 kts ( insert your favourite amount) consistent & from the right direction.When you are finished & see the someone you don't like just going out you push the button again & he gets left to swim in..
