This past weekend, I took a few minutes to speak with Adam of T & S Surf Designs, organizer of the surfing contest for ages 6 to 12, held this past weekend at Prince Kuhio beach in Waikiki. He was quite willing to take time to discuss the mathematics used in the design of surfboards and how the surfers were judged at the contest.
Most surfboards come in standard sizes of height, width, depth and volume because sometimes a surfer wants a shorter board with the same volume so the maker can make the appropriate adjustments. The height is from top to bottom or tip to tail in proper language. The sides are also known as the rail and the rocker or curve from top to tail.
Then as I was walking back from another trip out and stopped through Koa Board Sports where a very helpful gentleman explained the parts of a board in more detail. He showed me the two basic types of tips, the rounded and the pointed one.
He also explained about single fins, triple and quad fins, their uses and why you might want three instead of one. He also showed me boards with concave or convex places and some even have two concave spots. He took time to show me the different types of curves you can find in a surfboard from tip to tail.
In addition, the longer the board, the less maneuverable it is and the thicker it is, the more resistance, buoyancy, and volume you have. There is a lot of math involved in planning the curves, the amount of curve, placement of the different curves, length, width, depth, type of tail, type of tip, all based on the type of surfing you do and your experience level.
For the contest, there are three judges who watch each competitor perform three runs. They look for the length of the ride, the difficulty of the ride or how many different things did they do. Some one who rides straight in will get fewer points than someone who zigs across the wave and back.
Out of the three rides, the lowest scoring one is thrown out while the other two rides are averaged to get a final score. It is on these scores competitors place in the competition and determine the winners. So they use an averaging system.
Tomorrow, I'll address mathematical modeling and surfboards in a bit more detail. Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear. Have a great day.
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