2018 Raceboard rumours ?

[supthecreek]

Wood as a skin is also interesting due to it's shock absorbing and vibration dampening properties. It isn't brittle and can take a few bangs before it breaks. Of course it depends how thick you make that skin. 
 
I'd love to hear Bert and Tino's experiences with it.
Both know classic methods of construction very well to compare it with.

Hi Yugi, I just saw this and can link a few video's that Bert just made on his construction tech in general.
These vids are based on his surfboard (SUP very similar) construction, but he has put all of his experience and knowledge into adapting his construction tech into the Sunova Raceboard line.

I think if anyone is truly interested in "why" they uses this particular construction, these vids will give a great insight into Bert's complex knowledge and curiosity gained over decades of board making.

Sunova has been using wood sandwich construction for decades for a reason.... lots of reasons
NOT because it's cheap, cool looking, easy to use.....or a marketing ploy.

Anyway..... worth a look for anyone truly interested in "Why wood?"
They just produced a lot of vids covering ALL aspects of his construction.... here are just a few

Full disclosure:
Sunova is a Standup Zone site sponsor

[Eagle]

Yeah kinda looks more angular than expected.  With his Sprint he has a good combo for flats and chop.  Larry seems to be adapting quite well to narrower boards.

The 24.5AS boof actually floats quite high vs the low slung 23.  Upwind and DW my 23 pearls easy but the 24.5 not at all.

The 24.5 feels like a big platform vs the 23 and both Sprints.

So did that look like a new AS to you too ?

Not sure if making the side topsides more vertical is better -> but flattening the tail triple concaves should help stabilize the 23 a considerable amount.  If I were to change anything it would be just that.  Should make the 23 less jittery when stepping back and not so tippy tippy so easier to put the power down and ride in general.  That should be a good incremental change to add some more stability.  Will be interesting to see how speed and glide are affected.

[JEG]

last years board was tippy and this looks good and can't wait to test the board.

[SUPflorida]

Interesting...when looking at the two boards it appears if you drew the same two red triangles on the bottom of the board on the left...and then sanded the area flat within the triangles (from red line to red line) you would get the identical bottom of the board on the right...not close...but dead on identical. Which effectively gives it more tail rocker.

[PT Woody]

Interesting...when looking at the two boards it appears if you drew the same two red triangles on the bottom of the board on the left...and then sanded the area flat within the triangles (from red line to red line) you would get the identical bottom of the board on the right...not close...but dead on identical. Which effectively gives it more tail rocker.

It's interesting that last year's radical design feature was a pronounced concave at the tail whereas this year's radical design feature is effectively removing most of the pronounced concave at the tail. I look forward to paddling this new one.

[ukgm]

The video for the new 2018 sprint has now also been launched. Now designed to handle waves ?!

Also comes in a 25 width. Good for us big guys..........

[Chilly]

The ACE unlimited looks cool

[Area 10]

The ACE unlimited looks cool

18'x26.75" Now I'm listening! Wow, that would be a downwind monster that anyone could handle. Probably make a great distance tourer too. Is that a fixed fin, or does the UL come with a rudder?

Bravo Starboard.

[Chilly]

It looks like it does,

[Eagle]

Haha!  Quite interesting Bart notes specifically that he loves to use the 2018 Ace in most conditions where it's "not totally flat".  But that new UL shape actually looks nice being slimmed out at the nose.  Maybe Connor will be on something like that next year for M2O.

[Eagle]

The 2018 All Star has many new widths as well dispelling complaints about not having a 26 etc.  Promo stoke hype is focussed on making "easier" this and "easier" that.  SB probs realized they have to make their race boards more stable.

The SB race line-up is actually quite solid for 2018 and will be interesting to see if they can maintain or better 2017 race results.  Even with a very high wind catching nose design many scoff at -> many racers are able to win.  That says something and enough for SB to not mess much with what has worked ok for them.

[Eagle]

The 2018 Sprint has an UL version again as well.  The 14 has a new raised flat deck at the tail vs the 12'6 cut-out.  Personally I was ok with the cutout on the 2017 version 14x21.5 -> but it looks like they lowered the standing position COG quite a bit further since scupper holes have been added.

Def for more flat conditions the Sprint is by far the right weapon of choice over the AS or Ace.  SB is sticking with 21.5 again this year.  But the AS has dropped to 22.5 -> and the Ace down to 23.5 once again.  Widths galore in small increments from very narrow to moderate for racing.

[viatormundi]

That ACE unlimited looks nice!

[Luc Benac]

Two positives:
1) the ACE UL
2) the bottom tail of the AS and Sprint look good
But they still have a lot of volume.....too much for my taste.

ps: the Ace 14x27 also look really nice....

[Eagle]

It kinda makes sense that race boards get incrementally narrower until the point of dimishing returns.  They are def not designed for fun nor stability -> but instead primarily to allow the racer to cross the finish line in the fastest time possible.  SB appears for 2018 designs to understand that it may be more efficient to slow down the board a hair -> in order to give the racer more stability to put down better cleaner power with better faster handling characteristics.

They seemed to go one step too far in 2017 by adding the chamfered edges and even deeper concave.  That lead to more instability which probs reduced overall race speed for many top racers.  If Connor is tippy during a race on an AS23 -> then the board is way too tippy.  They must of had a lot of racer feedback this past year.  By flattening out the back end -> the 2018 AS and Sprint should be back close to the stability of the 2016 version.  Whether the 2016 2017 or 2018 is faster overall than the others is hard to accurately measure. 

But in order to sell more new boards and generate profit they need to come up with changes each year to stimulate bs hype and sales.  So have concluded years ago that not necessarily newer is always better.  Instead sometimes what you have is perfectly spot on the money already.