Olo of the Sun, sanding and marking for the second frame panel

Now the Olo of the Sun  is levelled with a long sanding board run athwartships, to take any humps and bumps out of the frames prior to laminating the next frame panel on to the structure.

This technique can also be used to add concave or convex areas to the bottom shape, by using a concave or convex sanding board. The sanding board in this case is 6" by 1" poplar with a very slight convex shape, this will make a very subtle concave. 

Vacuuming out the dust. . .

Marking the places where the frames meet, so that we know where to apply the epoxy glue

There are 38 frames altogether

Laminating commences on Olo of the Sun

Here the under the deck cloth is being applied, it's nylon so has more stretch than glass cloth. 

Next we squeeze thickened epoxy on to the places where the frames will attach to the deck, the markings can be seen through the cloth.

Peanut butter consistency epoxy resin with paulownia wood flour:

A team effort, Tristan using his cake decorating skills:

                                                                 
"Have a brick bro. . . "

Many hands make light work, and in warm weather we have to work quickly to prevent the epoxy resin from setting before the job is done. . .

Olo of the Sun, ready for laminating

19 feet of deck panel laid out on the rocker jig, marked for the first frame panel and with under deck cloth ready to go.

The board is only 2 and a quarter inches thick and 19 feet long, so is going to be ultra flexible. Previous boards witha similar length to thickness ratio were the 14'9" Makaha at 1.75 inches thick and a 1.75 inch thick 13'9" Dragon board.. . . .thin with round rails which we've been doing since 1995 and which have now become trendy thanks to Rob Machado.

Parallel profile advantages

The advantages are a thinner board for any given volume which gives a lower centre of gravity ( greatly improving control and feel ) as well as improving flex.


Greater flex occurs when thickness is evenly distributed, and the flex pattern is much better than when flex is confined to a small area in the tail as occurs with tapered profile boards.


With a parallel profile board the rider's feet are always at a constant distance from the bottom of the board, rather than standing facing uphill or downhill in relation to the bottom as with tapered profile boarads. The surface one is standing on is the same shape as the surface which is contacting the water. . . this makes for more intuitive surfing.


The constant rail sections which I use are not required for the benefits of the parallel profile, but do work naturally with the profile.

So it's easy to make a heavy board and hard to make a light one ?

I hear this often, but don't agree with it.

Although it is easy to construct  a heavier  board by adding more material, what most people don't realise is that some shapes don't suit greater weight and some do, also  striking the right balance between weight, buoyancy, length,  and flex is an issue with heavier boards. So, overall designing a heavier board is just as demanding or possibly more demanding than  designing a light board.

For example:

Adding weight reduces buoyancy, so the board cannot be as thin.

Adding thickness to make up for lost buoyancy reduces flex and to some extent control.

Length can be used to add lost  buoyancy, this increases flex.

On the shape front heavier boards require a more rail carving approach to turning than lighter boards and this ideally leads to shapes other than the typical lightweight malibu, these are not well understood by the vast majority of shapers.

Every design element affects every other design element in a board, and weight is no exception.

Rocker jig for the Olo of the Sun

Here's the rocker jig for the 19 foot Olo of the Sun which was assembled today:

Olo of the Sun, the 4th and final panel

The 4th and final panel for the 19ft  Olo of the Sun is nearly complete .

Olo of the sun: first frame panel completed

Three of the four panels for the 19 foot 'Olo of the Sun' are complete:

Surfing and skiing physics: mass, speed, and drag

Larger more massive skiers have an advantage in downhill terrain:

http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=fkx2m_5fjyIC&pg=PA255&lpg=PA255&dq=greater+body+mass+downhill+ski+racing+advantage&source=bl&ots=Lmy1HYla8H&sig=l8SzPuHptEhFIn4geCQNF4ymmQE&hl=en&ei=AwCxTP_CJYyWsgPI_ZSwDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CEQQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false

With surfing the situation is slightly different as the proportion of air drag to surfboard ( water) drag is lower than the proportion of air based drag to ski based ( snow) drag is with skiing.

From this we can deduce that the advantage in terms of drag reduction which a heavier board and rider combination has is greatly increased when surfing against the wind. This is because when surfing against the wind the proportion of air drag to water drag increases.

It is also interesting to note that rider posture has a big effect on air drag. . . upright postures are markedly less efficient. That's why I crouch when speed increases, even though correct 'style' might demand a more upright pose.

Olo of the sun: first frame panel

Here's the first frame panel for the 19 foot Olo of the sun being constructed:

A God of the South Pacific, central figure approximately 30 feet tall:

Olo of the Sun, deck and bottom panels completed

Here are the two 19 foot paulownia  panels for the deck and bottom of the Olo of the Sun. The thickness is 8mm.

Today we bandsawed the the blocking and framing for the board, tomorrow the first internal frame panel will be started.