First Nude Run

Well it seems like a long , long time since I first put finger to keyboard and started designing this board and finally the big moment arrived as the wind gods blessed us with a patchy but OK 15-20 knot Northerly with an occasional strober gust. Rigged a proto 7.4 Koyote, fitted a Tribal 39cm Slalom fin in the beast and hit the water. Exciting.
The board planed up very quickly and instantly felt very comfortable. It accelerated off pretty rapidly, not breathtaking speed but swift enough sitting very flat and feeling very composed yet not dead and dull. A big smile came instantly onto my face " I think I have nailed this one"
First gybe was a bit tentative, wasn't sure how tight to turn it but it responded instantly and carved very smoothly. The narrower and thinner tail was really obvious.
I did a half dozen runs before I came in to tighten the straps a bit and wanted to get straight out again as I was having a ball.
Back out for a few more runs and now joined by a few other guys. I lined up against Jerry on his Super Sport and we were very similar in speed, I was a touch faster at times and could point a bit higher. One thing I have noticed with this bottom shape on the blue slalom board and again on this board is that it cranks upwind. This one with the softer rails and thinner tail is not quite as intuitive but still climbs very well. Similar to the blue slalom board it also sits very flat and does not rock rail to rail. A couple of times in the bigger gusts I really got it up on its tail and it felt more like a slalom board but most of the time it was very cruisy and composed. Very impressive. Carving the turns was magic, I am not sure if the double stepped tail cuts really do help, that was the idea but they certainly do not hinder.
I spent a bit of time looking at the water coming off the tail. Most boards with side cutouts and tail cutouts run the side cuts deeper and the tail cut shallower. I did the the opposite, the side cuts are 13mm deep and the tail cuts 18mm, the idea as I mentioned is to have a stepped rail and cheat the board into thinking it had more tail rocker when over on it s rail. My concern was the side cuts may not be deep enough but they are, the flow off the tail was really clean.
Overall I am stoked. I am on board with this unusual bottom shape now, it works great. This board was meant to be a Port Phillip Bay board, relaxed in the chop and comfy but still brisk. An "old farts" slalom board. Hoop has done a wonderful job , my design seems to be spot on and the board is meeting the brief perfectly. Apart from me placing the back straps a touch too far inboard which I have rectified by using the big wide Dakine Tyrant straps there is nothing I would alter.
I got this one right!!!
Hopefully it will get another blast tomorrow.
All smiles.

The "Nude Love Bottom" is an awesome name.

Now there is a

"Nude Streaker" Speed board

"Nude Chubby" Freestyle

"Nude Swinger" Freestyle/wave (goes both ways)

"Nude Thruster" 3 fins

"Nude K-wod" 4 fins

"Nude Minger" Kiteboard

and the "Nude Chopper" Short waveboard

It just keeps getting better.. lol..

Stoked to hear it went well Martin!! It was a cool project. great to see it through from concept drawings to test sailing. That's the fun part of this job.
Nude Freelove, that has to be the name

Well done to both Martin and Hoops , this project showcases what can be designed, built and tested here in Australia.