The Engineering of a Wakeboard

So throughout the years I have designed and built 37 boards. I always like to play around with concepts that you don't typically see on boards that are on the market. Back in 1996 I was introduced to the concept if a board has more rocker the rider gets more pop, but also the drag of the board increases. I have always taken this concept for granite. Now, before making a new board, I really would like to have a good grasp on the concept. Ideally I would like to come up with a set of equations defining the dynamics of a wakeboard as it hits the wake, I may be a long ways from doing that but I first need to have a really good understanding of what is going on. I feel like I am very close to understanding. I know there is a lot that plays into it from how the rider loads the line, how they approach the wake, how they flatten the board out as they hit the wake, the shape of the wake, the shape of the board, ect, ect. But why does increasing the rocker give the rider more pop? I have talked to several people on this matter, and before I tell you what they said I would like to get a few thoughts on the theory.

Skiing made me board,
Lyle
Chrome Dome

My guess would be that the face of the wake is curved and if the board was flat, it would not ride up efficiently. Also, because it is curved, when it is moving through flat water, it increases the drag. I dont know if this is 100% correct, but it would seem that it could be one of the causes.

(Message edited by Byrd on November 28, 2006)

think of a dirt hill that is shaped like a wake only larger.

Think of a truck with a skid plate on the front. The angle of the skid plate in relation to the ground, is 45 degrees. Now drive the truck at the dirt hill at 25 mph. Given that the skid plate is the first thing to contact the hill, the front of the truck will go up.

Now if I decreased the angle of the skid plate to 20 degrees, the impact of the skid plate hitting the hill would be less abrupt.

If I increased the angle to 60 degrees, the impact would be pretty harsh.

Do you see the picture I'm painting here?

I hate it when people take things for granite. I prefer marble.

Wrong thread Swass...

Its liek Thane said. As important as the amount of rocker is the rocker profile ie. how long the flat spot (3 stage boards) is or how much overall curve a continuous rocker has. The problem you will run into when running a big continuous rocer board is that it will lose its speed rapidly over 2" of rocker. Thats were the advent of 3 stage came about, it keeps a relatively "flat spot" for speed and then jacks the rocker up near the tips. The length of this flat spot dictates speed and the abruptness of the pop (as the rocker must be crammed into a shorter space.

I think designing the board for soft landings is as important as designing the board for pop.

I also think controllable pop is better than abrupt pop.

Quality time in the air with fewer injuries.

i think the byerly line is one to take a look at, and im not talkin all the new stuff. For example i got my hands on an old wake tech of his, and it had more speed and more pop than any board i have ever ridden. on the down side most of the time it was out of control. I think fast is important, at least with a fast board you have the option to take it to the flats if you want to. I had one of the "can opener" byerlys and it would go further into the flats than my premier does now. and that byerly has an abrupt three compared to a premiers mellow 3. my premier is rediculously slow. I think big flat spots down the center is awesome but that definately slows a board down. finally, tip and tail width. I like em wide. with my experience the narrower tip and tail release better of the wake, however this isnt snowboarding, you dont want to spin goin up the wake. id rather have the extra push and wait till im clear of the wake to spin. cupped rail are awesome too i think, which is an innovation byerly keeps in all his boards, and an old neptune mission of mine has that ive always loved. theres more to em then just riding and seein if you like em, you gotta look at your own style and see if the features apply to you, oh yeah and i tend to think the more complex the shapes have gotten, the worse the boards ride. remember back in 99 with the trips and neptunes plain bottoms, they were sooooo fast, and still had awesome pop from squared off tails and simple bat wings.

tell me what you guys think, thats my take on boards.

I got another question, I think I know the answer but for those that have spent a lot of time on the cable park: Does more rocker give you more pop? If so how does that affect those that say a board with more rocker takes the shape of the wake better. . . Would a super flat board give you more pop at the cable park, how about out in the flats where there is no wake?

I think I am starting to develop a theory on this, but I want to hear your guys' thoughts on this latest question.

Skiing made me board,
Lyle
Chrome Dome

(Message edited by sunsport on December 01, 2006)

pop is a result of line tension, not board shape specifically. More rocker makes for a slower board. The slower it is the more tension you can pull on the line without going warp 9 into the wake.

At the cable you are pulling load on the line the same as behind the boat, just have a change in rope and rope angle. Ultimately the rocker controls how fast you will end up going for a given load on the line. If you like to ride fast then a faster board is good when you load up. If you like to ride slower and go wake to wake, but still want huge pop, you want more rocker. That way you can tension the hell out of the rope without haulin out into the flats.

Rocker is simple, wait til you start considering manipulating the flex points on the board. Then it starts getting technical.

I like what kevin is saying. I did read somewhere that there was a comparison of all board sports and the progression of the equipment they use. Surfing started as the wood boards hundreds of pounds in weight and then new tech came along to make them lighter and smaller and stronger so they were trying crazy insane swallow tails and fish shapes and crazy rails and rockers but now a days they have gone back to the simple shapes made of new materials. Same with snowboarding directional boards then new materials to make swallow tails and crazy shapes but now they are back to the standard shape.

I think the same is going with wakeboarding. it started with the unidirectional skurfers then compression molding came and so they started making crazy boards with dimples for lift and huge amounts of rocker and dispersing channels or whatever and the byerly thru system and now they are all goin back to the simple shape and rail and bottom. bottoms are smooth and flowing not abrupt and sharp.

im definately not an expert but I have owned and ridden unidirectional boards and twin tips and watching everything change and get crazy and now come back down seems to be the natural progression.

i dunno it seems like everybody gets all amped that they CAN do all these different things with shapes but after they do it they realize the simple stuff that originally started it still works the best. i.e. the trip

i think tony finn or jimmy redmond said basically this exact thing in some interview somewhere. just thought id put it up

The secret to a great shape is knowing when to STOP.
it like timeing your car{let say 0 t.d.c.} is the seting,+1 is not going to be better.

MOOOOOOSE, I SAW YOUR BOARDS, YOUR THE MAN. SHAPIRO AND I WERE TALKIN ABOUT YOU THE OTHER DAY. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.

Massive did you get a look @ Da Boat {This thing's going to throw a Tsunami} under Boats & ass.
I can't wait to get Shapiro behind it

I would start with the new Transcend. First board I have ridden to pop big with very little drag on the water.

YEAH, WE SAW IT. UR ONE OF A KIND MAN

J-Rod, what are you comparing the new Transcend to when you say it has very little drag? To me it feels faster than last year's Transcend, but it still drags pretty bad compared to a more continuous rocker shape.