Science and Math

Emily Holt
Science and Math Analysis
The problem situation is that my current short board is not designed specific to New Jersey conditions and does not work in small waves. Due to this I lose competitive events which I believe I could place in with a different board design. The problems my current board has are that it dumps speed, does not move around flat sections and doesn’t allow me to catch smaller waves. Board design and manufacturing has historically been in Hawaii and California. As a result of this boards are shipped to New Jersey and are not designed for East Coast wave conditions. I am going to design and shape a surfboard for a competitive level surfer, specific to mushy 1-2ft New Jersey surf conditions. The design is 6 feet tall, 2 ½ inches thick and 22 inches wide. This is thicker and wider than my current short board in order to increase surface area to help catch waves more easily. It is a short board, less than 7ft so it will be usable in a competitive event. The board is going to have a swallow tail which has two separate pivot points to allow for rail control to keep you on the wave. The bottom contour is going to be single to double concave. This will be a very shallow concave with two exiting concaves. This will jet water to both pivot points on the tail to allow for maneuverability and rail stability. The nose rocker is going to be 6” which will help it to keep the appearance of a short board and keep you from pearling while a 2” tail rocker will keep the board relatively flat (increasing speed) while still allowing for the contours of a more modern board. This template will be more retro but keep a more modern feel while riding. Refer to figure one to see an illustration of my chosen design.



My project is an innovation because I am modifying an already existing product and not starting from scratch. My project is an open system because it uses the environment around it to perform. A surfboard couldn’t function on its own, it needs a rider as well as waves to perform. It fits into systems engineering because it is a problem that I am going to develop into multiple solutions and carry through to construction. Although I have a lot of background knowledge on the subject this is going to take my ideas a step further and allow me to learn a lot about surfboard construction and design. This is my chosen area of investigation and development which is a huge part of systems engineering. I will carry this investigation through into solutions, choose one through a design matrix, construct the design and test it. This is a perfect fit for systems engineering.
Surfboards are manufactured by surfboard shapers. Each one is hand shaped and glassed. The process starts with a surfboard blank. This is the foam the board will be shaped from, from here the board is shaped. Once the board is shaped it is glassed with fiberglass resin and cloth. The fin boxes and leash plug are installed last. From here the board is ready to be ridden. There are also machines that shape surfboards, this is a relatively new technology. The board is designed in CAD and then the machine has a saw and precisely cuts the blank to size, all that is required of the shaper is fine sanding and glassing.