Inspiration and Due Diligence.

everyone looks for something that interests them, i just like all sorts of surfcraft and especially surfmats and their materials and construction. I took a mat and a bodyboard down to the surf and swapping back and forth confirms how quicker the mat is to accelerate but its slower to turn, less directional, and thats a shame for something thats so good at hitting top speed, but that speed is so conditional, why not take the best of various craft and combine them. but first try a whole lot of basic concepts to see what works, heres a few experimentals from 08 / 09 ... XPS and veneer vacced deck with single span 200D hull. Perimeter frame with single span 400D flexible deck and hull. theres plenty of inspiration and precedence for mixing hard and soft elements, and flexible inclusions... Stringers / springers / ribs and strakes. Makes me wonder how fast a windsurfer could plane with a flexible hull....maybe I'll try converting one too. Along with making and testing the prototypes theres always a need to take notes after each surf to log results and dimensions and doing conceptual drawings to visualise how components work together.. and then back to building... Materials testing for compatabilty.. SO the inspiration came from the mat itself and then theres been years of diligent thought, building, testing,refining, cursing and the odd moment of epiphany. I guess this is the way every mat builder started out....