Those boards would nomatter how good they are, profit from a bit 3D-H thinking. Take it from a boats builder.

nice looking boards, i wonder if i would want a $1060 piece of equipment getting lost/destroyed on me if i wiped out though.

One time, I got hit in the face with a surfboard. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near that point at the front.

here are some gorgeous ones:

By Larry Mabile


Steve Boyson


Hank Warner


Rusty Preisendorfer



Vindpust/Per-
3dh would NOT benefit a board. Boards are NOT boats. They function in incredibly different ways. So don't even pretend you know.

Those are some sweet boards. I dont particularly surf but I do sponge(Bodyboarding to those who dont know) With fins and all that good stuff. They seem to be the better deal for smaller waves around here in Virginia Beach

"Apurimac"
It's not uncommon for somebody to spend that much on a board. I spent about 400 on new bodyboard for this summer. I can't wait to try it.

anyhow..anyone come surf down my way drop me an email. I'll set the tone running waves about 1/2mile into the break, back drop of an active volcano & abandoned airport.

Is that a challenge? Cant do it out here water is about 35 degrees. I tried winter surfing once and that was it. It was too cold. Winter waves are better out here though which sucks

Well, the money doesn't necessarily suprise me, yet while i would love to learn to surf, and surf regularly if i could, i would sure hope i wouldn't have to drop a grand on a beautifully crafted plank of wood till i was damn good at riding waves.

How about the $100k Marc Newson board?

That much closer to being the Silver Surfer.

"Vindpust/Per-
3dh would NOT benefit a board. Boards are NOT boats. They function in incredibly different ways. So don't even pretend you know."

Boards as these look as Strip-wood epoxy constructions , they act in water , distribuate water movement do exactly what a fast moving boat hull do, --- they proberly even produce the same turbulense and vaccum bubbles , profit the same border moveing theories boatsbuilders and boat designers profit. ------- by detail knowleage and study ,test build and general construction and material knowleage you expand the possibilities, perform body's that add vaccum arears , arears where the water standstill even the vessel go full speed, you shape the hull so arears work vaccum bubbles minimising the wet area meaning , less resistance new way's to go aroung the trivial facts that doubling the speed mean four times the resistance , beside such boards shuld be shaped by the wave loving not fighting the sea, for that you need tools that allow any curve , a foundation that allow you to form the paneling and when fastend add extreemly strength, and these technikes and materials ask experience and mastering both matter and theori beside gutts to try out new idears.

What else than 3D-H will provide al that ? of you look , it is already a sort of box structure now, 3D-H could place that along the top and along the bottom, leaving the core hollow or even backed to more strength by an inner paneling and an inner solid core.

there was an article about surfing in cleveland in the NYT a few weeks ago - involves wetsuits and nasty infections

I am a surfer,

And these boards are ridiculous. (suck)

People who make surf boards are called shapers because they are making shapes not ribs and lofts, and for generations shapers have found that carving a board gives you control of all the suface geometry and shape in real time, without having to construct ribs and lofting them.

CAD/CAM isn't going to change this in a good way

solid shaped boards (foam or balsa) are the most economical and effective way to "shape" a board. High performance boards are effected by so many different permutations of the boards geometry: The rocker, rail curves, taper of the tail, thickness, length...ect. Despite alot of people who have tried, no one has found a better way . Yet

The truth is Since Clark foam shut down the future of surfboards has been cast. Pro-surfers and subsequently people who take their riding seriously are going to go to a "shaper". Mean while, throwaway boards will be made in mexico, asia, or in some other developing country who can afford to not give a rat's ass about local ecology and sustainable materials. These boards will be cheaper, maybe made of foam, but most likely made from cheap materials (high in VOCs) and methods (CAD/CAM, 3d-h, and injection molding) which take the design out of the board.

I truly resent people in industries such as this claiming that because they are clading the thing in wood its more ecologically sustainable. Hess's "green approach" is suspect. Sustainablity shouldn't be a bull-shit catchphrase. Interesting people are going to find a away to conspire with reality to make good boards. 1060

Anybody who pays $1060 for a hess thruster when they could have an Al Merrick for half of that, is buying the board cause it looks cool and they can afford the luxury to care if it is eco-friendly, not because it performs well.

clark foam story

Vinpust...What the in the hell are you talking about.

But aren't those boards above carved from wood? I thought all good boards were carved and shaped, as you descirbe, well at least any worth owning. Surfing's always facinated me, I apologize if this comes off as a stupid question.

No, these boards are made from a poplar perimeter frame and internal ribs. Don't get me wrong they are beautiful boards, i just question Hess's virtuosity in pumping out good tailored responsive shapes. they are good show peices that exhibit his great wood working but i would be more impressed if he was actualy "shaping" with balsa.

I think Hess is doing something interesting. He's not really interested in performance of course, but the craftsmanship is amazing. It's also always fun to ride something a little different. If anything, his boards have a lot of soul in them.

Anyhoo. More on surfboard construction:
Predominantly, a typical board is polyurethane foam (with a wood stringer down the center to control flex) with a few layers of 4-6oz. fiberglass and polyester resin. Currently polystyrenes are also beginning to be come popular, both in the extruded variety and the expanded. Each has it's pluses and minuses. The polystyrenes have to be glassed with epoxy as the polyester resin would destroy the PS foam. Epoxy tends to be stronger than polyester as well.

Laminating with carbon fiber is being done by a company called aviso, but carbon fiber tends to be stiff and it's nice to have a board with flex as it can release the flex and create projection and drive out of turns.

I know for a fact that the Rusty board I showed was a PU foam blank with a veneer laminate over the fiberglass. It probably makes the board heavier, but it was built for a competition and not really as a performance board.

Other new things being done are perimeter stringers. Firewire is putting out boards with balsa stringers running along the rails of the board rather than down the center. It supposedly creates a more balanced and greater degree of flex in the board.

With regards to CAD/CAM board construction, it's a technique that's being done to help create consistency in a board. Often, people have a shaper make what they consider a magic board. To get it copied by hand is insanely difficult, but with a scanner and CAD/CAM the shaper can bring a foam blank down to a decent tolerance and finish the board by hand, saving lots of time and energy. It's not an evil technology. But the surfboard industry is an amazing one, as it's one of the last where you can still buy a completely hand crafted, custom product from the master craftsman at the SAME EXACT PRICE as a board popped out from a factory.

I could go on and on...

Here's me from earlier this week.


get your stoke on.

Thanks blue and ACA, i feel enlightened now.

Center for Ants makes a good point about CAD/CAM reproductions of boards.

However: "...But the surfboard industry is an amazing one, as it's one of the last where you can still buy a completely hand crafted, custom product from the master craftsman at the SAME EXACT PRICE as a board popped out from a factory."

this is totaly true but isn't going to last for long.

I mainly take issue with Hess's "green approach" I dont really find it that green.