Has anyone been brave enough to sand back their 2011 JP gloss coats to a matt finish to improve planing and top end speed. Got a 99 thruster and 82 quad in the shed

Everything I read about gloss coats and water is - slow, sticky, water adheres - rough surface in boating reduces adhesion, improves speed etc. What were they thinking!!!!

- should I or shouldn't I - I bet I'll never be able to sell them afterwards

the 99 thruster has a sticker attached to the bottom. As far as I can tell it's a pretty fast board. Especially considering it's a wave board.

I think the difference between glossy vs. matt is negligible when you are talking wave boards.

So the bottoms a big sticker - maybe they put the sticky side the wrong way up
can be a bit of a slug to get going when borderline planing conditions until you get enough to jump on the tail

So is there any hydrology / yachting specialists (is that the right term) that can shed some light on the gloss VS matt debate

you should definitely sand the bottom of that board.
i know when ever i feel slow it's my board. and i always use boards with glossy finishes.

usually though it works well for me because i go so fast i need something to slow me down a bit.

also i don't like tutle fin boxes cause the ruin the flex of the board.
which i notice because i'm such a high performance sailor

Thanks Cuerack - i suppose asking a question that means people using some form of intelligence and knowledge about surface adhesion and different finishes is a bit rich on a windsurfing forum I should know better

Read the thread from about a week ago then
Or google it - plenty of work has been done, dating back many many years, that shows a dull surface is faster.

We all know it will be faster, just whether the small improvement matters on a waveboard is up to you.
If you regularly sail close to planing threshold, and don't mind the loss in looks (resale) then go for it. 800grade (ish) wet sand all over

most of the surfboard manufacturers are doing a 400grade final sand if thats the way you want to go.

I don't think it will make any difference to you what so ever. It has been proven that a matt coat is faster, nature tells us so as well. But how fast is the question? Most theory is it may be in the 1% range. Now for a yacht racing over 24 hours 1% could be the difference between winning and loosing, however for a wave board I doubt you will notice any difference at all.

You want to make it faster, paint red flames on it or something... red flames are FAST>>>

good idea Russ
1800 wet rub it lengthwise- thats what we did in racing days.

suggest also get Leighton to cut last 5 inches off (or whatever u can spare- the board that is). been done to those boards before and worked great for me (ta JH).
effective increase in rocker, more drive

Dont you think they would of try it out with all the proto boards they have
Gloss v matt
They went gloss because it must work for them
Sell it !!!!!!!!!!!

In a fluid mechanic lecture many moons ago, the lecturer pointed out that the loss to skin friction was negligible compared to the white bubbly stuff that come out the back of the board. The wake is waste and you can imagine the energy that is needed to make those little waves. I think the door shaped race boards remain efficient as they go wider as they trade off more skin friction but produce a smaller wake.

I believe in the golf ball effect but I don't think people should be taking sand paper to nice gloss boards like the RRDs.

Ash

I've done the whole gloss/no gloss thing and can't say I notice the difference in speed on a wave board. A wet matt board may become heavier than a gloss board that the water runs off but less friction. What I found is a gloss board is easier to keep clean, dry off, looks better and sanding sucks. Makes a huge effect on fins though, the rough finish helps maintain a laminar flow to reduce spin-outs.