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Nestor responds to Facebook Post on Surfboard Design characteristics and Geoff's comments.

“In my many years of experience I have found that just because someone is great at one thing, does not mean that they know about anything else at all.” Slater (Best contest Surfer of all time)

This recent post on Facebook is a Prime example of this and Nestor explains perfectly why.

I was shocked when I first saw a recent video on the McCoy rider's group on facebook, by firewire or tomo or sci-fi boards about how an Italian race car aero dynamics engineer proved that less concave and less hard edge and more soft rail holds more water. You have been saying this, especially about your Nugget designs and your other designs for decades. But, then he said that the hard edged board is not worse or better just looser. What??! None of this occurred in water tanks, just computer simulations. Hard rail edges make boards loose control, want to slide out and go straight to the beach, can't hold nor stay high and tight on steep barreling tubes, and repel water.

Then he showed how different outlines were affected, but it was water coming straight on flat, not going down the line in spiraling water. They did prove that lower tail rocker was better and that small changes made big differences. But then said that a round smooth tail outline had more turbulence instead of channels, but again, this was going straight on flat water, with flat concaved bottomed boards, not the Loaded Dome. Then they said, that the round tailed board was better at certain speeds and the sci-fi was better at other speeds, but with out being very specific and without definite conclusions.

I saw the blended in smooth and rounded bevel under the rail on my McCoy Nuggets, and on my 6'2" it's narrower than it is on my 7'2", meaning it has a broader planning area in the middle planing area right in front of the mid point. That means, I will get the lifting up out of the water effect with less wave power, size, speed, and surface tension or water hardness on the 6'2" then on the 7'2" although the 7'2" will handle and paddle into bigger waves easier. I still haven't gotten waves since the new Extended Tip fin has come in, But looking at it, I intuitively know that it will shoot me forward like a cannon even faster than before and work perfectly. Can't wait till a shoulder high or more wave comes into the Sebastian Inlet area, because It will lift up and fly, and If I get another epic or even just decent swell in South Florida, forget about it, I will be beyond stoked!

I found old pictures of your surf objects galore until I found things that were interesting. Like one picture showed the old Dome, but it was like a tear drop shape bulge like a torpedo in outline, and where it ended it became flat underneath the rails. But now you've blended it with the rail and the rail now is rolled underneath like a blended bevel. Like a plank bottom or clinker boat. The blended smooth and round low angled bevel starts at the nose where they meet and then it goes on until it is the same angle and indistinguishable from the tail area low points.

I saw an old old picture of the tail of an old Zap from behind and it has an almost scooped out area on either side of the stringer, with a widow's peak edge going downward on the back rail, like a sort of Vee only at the back end.

Then remembering because I watch them almost everyday, your videos, that one might start at the tail following the energy shape or plane shape at first and then coming up into the middle planing area like the tip of a tear drop and letting the pressure off of the sanding block. And you do that over and over again until that old Dome appears. Then at the end of the tail edge on the stringer you smooth the widow's peak down on the stringer. And you do the same in the nose area but not as long of a tear drop. Then you cut a low angled bevel starting at the nose that reduces in angle as it gets near the tail and then it's the same angle as the tail low points. Then, all is blended smooth and the middle is rounded a little. The the rails are done. You might draw lines on the flat edge, before the rails are made, highest from the bottom at the nose, shallower in the planning area, and higher again at the tail, but I don't know.

Many months ago I had another shaping dream with you shaping and it was very very short but it didn't make sense because you had what appeared to be blue strips of masking tape in stripes from nose to tail parallel to the stringer, but then you started cutting curves lengthwise with a planer making parts of them dissapear and then they looked like they were painted on stripes and not tape. Maybe that was an erroneous dream.

Before all that you do the outline and the rocker. But maybe the tail rocker is formed a little by making the dome and smoothing all of it out on the widows peak.

I also found an old picture of you holding a freshly made old white long slender narrow tail single fin while you're crouched and holding it by the bottom with your finger tips and you can see the rocker perfectly. It seems like your rockers now of wide thick tailed objects are roughly those of your long more slender tailed boards with the tail chopped off. Then I started looking at surfboard foam blank pictures available these days and it seems like if you cut some of that useless tail off of them you get a similar or at least better rocker.

Then I looked at pictures of the power boats on pause when lifted up, and the rocker looks similar to your Nuggets.

I can keep going on and on, but if that Italian engineer did those tests comparing your designs and those other boards with diagonally entering swirling spiral water flow, your's would blow them into the most shameful oblivion and utter annihilation. And even more so if they actually used real liquid water in real, state of the art, water testing tanks.

I also don't get why the power boats have those plank looking channels. Maybe it's because they're going straight, or maybe particular needs for that type of craft with empirical trial and error or maybe they are lacking knowledge on pure natural energy as the "surf industry" is. But water running diagonally around your surf objects would be disrupted by straight nose to tail channels because it puts in detrimental reaction just to control the board and it adds drag. Those power boats would be better off by making the water flow smooth with a smooth hull as there would be no staging in lift as speed goes up and maybe they won't rock up and down, as it did, even though almost unnoticeable.

Who is Nestor?

nestor1 Nestor Jose Batlle was born in Puerto Rico and at the age of 4 moved to central Florida where he learnt to surf on a Finless Surfboard and his passion for surfing was born.

Over the following years, he surfed a variety of different Boards while searching for equipment to complement his surfing style and his individual approach to surfing. During these years he attended university and became a science teacher.

A few years ago he came across a McCoy Nugget Design Surfboard, bought it and began surfing it and was intrigued by the way it performed. He later contacted me and asked if I would make him an Astron Zot single fin Nugget which I did, a 7’ 2”.

Nestor’s investigative mind has allowed him to analyse the board’s performance and design features.

The following letters were sent to me by Nestor outlining to me in scientific terms what his discoveries were in the designs of his Nugget boards.

No one before has even come close to understanding the object and how it reacts in practical function. With his permission, I decided to pass his findings on for people to read and learn about the advance design features of my Designs and how and why they work so well.

Nester has put into scientific terms what my Design Journey through observation and experience combined with Intuition has taught

Nestors Observations and Thoughts

By the way Geoff. I wanted to let you know, that what you have discovered through 40 years + of experience is scientific in the classical sense. Since the 1900's empirical scientists have hijacked the term scientific as only meaning mathematical or empirically tested by quantifiable measurements. There are three levels of abstraction. Math is not the highest level of abstraction. It is the second highest level and is limited to continuous extension or discrete quantifying of matter. The highest level of abstraction is Metaphysics. Metaphysics is what you have done. Metaphysics looks at being, or existing things, as being, or as existing things. Quite simply Metaphysics looks at things as they are, because they exist.

Nothing makes sense with out this, and math is only occasionally needed to explain certain things. Metaphysics is known as the queen of the sciences, or rational philosophy. True and correct Metaphysics is realism. It began to be obscured, purposely forgotten, and mutilated with modern philosophy which began with Descartes and got worse after him.

The three levels of abstraction are The general universal idea of particular things, such as Humanity from a particular individual man, caneinety from a particular individual dog, equinity from a particular individual horse, or felinity from a particular individual cat. The second level of abstraction is math. It is limited to concrete material things, since they are changeable and mutable and always decay, and is limited to measuring, continuous and contiguous extension and discrete quantity of matter.

Metaphysics is the highest level of abstraction since it can deal with anything that exists, material or non-material (like ideas and concepts) and looks at anything that exists as it is, that the thing does exists and it is what it is. It is the highest since no math, no tests, nothing makes sense without Metaphysics. The highest level is also the simplest since all things possess 4 transcendental properties: Unity, Beauty, Truth, and Goodness. Using as an example a Surfboard; All things have four causes. A material cause (foam and fiberglass), a formal cause (the idea of the shape and the functioning of the thing being made into a reality if it comes out as it is in the mind), the efficient cause (who or what made it, instrumental efficient causes are the tools used), and the final cause (what is the thing made to do, what is it for?)

Hello Geoff, 

Finding the right board, It's like the narrow path. You have to have some certain kind of mind, quality, of searching, luck, and circumstance to find it. But there is light. One day a couple of years ago, I was surfing at New Smyrna on the AZot. The surfers there are good. It's the shark attack capital of the world, but they surf good there. This middle age guy on a colourful short board was ripping and the others too. They said to me, "That looks like a cool board." So I told them about it. He said, along with some others, oh yea, I remember Geoff McCoy surfboards, he still makes them. I've never seen his new boards in real life. They are sick boards. Let me see the bottom of the board. Common, let us see the bottom. So I showed them the bottom, as I tread water, and they said sincerely, "That is awesome. Yea man that's pretty cool. I like that man". They said this to each other. And we chatted through out the session. And many years before that this older guy saw me at North Side New Smyrna and he said he has the most fun on the surftech Nugget and he puts two large twin fins on it.

At another beach I was surfing with my friends who were sceptical about it. 8 years before that I did my best surfing ever in front of them on the 6'6" Interchange surftech Nugget. And about two years ago, in head high to over head bumpy surf, on the 7'2" AZot, I did an air in front of them, spontaneously, I don't usually think when I surf, and they were telling me, I can't believe you did an air on that boat.
Thanks Geoff, Keep Surfin!

nestor2

Nestor Batlle

Geoff, It's the next day Friday March 17th, 2016 my birthday. I turned 41 today. I've been thinking about the boards and looking at pictures of different models. I think that you start off with the plan shape. Then you do the rocker which I imagine different blanks maybe have certain rockers already in them.
I think the rocker determines the bottom curve at that particular point of The Rocker curve. I think the rocker curve corresponds to the rail to rail curve of that place. If the center area is an area of less broader rocker with more curve on the outside periphery or both ends then that area has a rail to rail curve that is broader with more curves near both ends at the rails.

The nose rocker has two different parts; the more curvy part at the tip has a more curvy side to side roll from rail to rail; the nose rocker more towards the middle closer to the middle planing area has a broader wider rail to rail curve that starts it planing.
The tail rocker has an apex where the loaded Dome symbol is at and that is the Apex of the side to side roll and the side to side roll is shaped like the tail rocker Apex which has more curve in the middle and less on the sides. The very, very back end of the tail has less curve in the Rocker and so it has less curve rail to rail.

This is my opinion although I am very ignorant and totally inexperienced in these things. it seems like the rocker corresponds to the rail to rail curve on the different points of the board. it seems that the rocker and rail to rail curve is different on different models such as the Chisel Tail Twin Fin vs the Astron Zot. It seems like there is a balance between rocker curve and rail to rail curve. Rocker curve seem so difficult for me, I don't even know how to measure it.

The balance point seems the most puzzling thing for me. I kept looking at the picture of Cheyne Horan on the little Lazor Zap at Waimea Bay as he was running into the water and it seemed like you somehow straightened out the rail line in the middle of the board for more Drive.  Is it possible, for really massive Jaws Maui surf or Mavericks big wave surf, to make a big wave board that uses the same rockers that you already use on big wave boards which give the big wave boards that you make superior and much more drive then any other boards out there for big waves? But make it shorter maybe 8 feet, and wider center wider nose and wider tail, with more curve in the middle nose and tail plane shape outline, maybe 4 to 5 inches thick, glassed with 10 ounce Volan glass on each side to make it rather heavy, with the bottom rail to rail curve and the Dome more increased or pronounced or exaggerated more, with a thick full soft rail, and maybe the albatross / albi fin? Maybe even with a coat of anti-fouling boat paint on the bottom and rails? I'm just very inquisitive and I think a lot about these things and I'm just asking you what you think. I'm not trying to tell you what to do at all. I want to be proven wrong so that I can learn why it's wrong. but these ideas come to my mind, and they kind of make sense to me.

With increased outline curve, and more thickness and width, a shorter board, significant amount of more weight, and more exaggerated bottom roll / Dome, and the high-speed Albatross fin, the Surfers on really big waves, I mean the big ones like Jaws on Maui or other big wave spots like Mavericks or Waimea Bay maybe these boards can handle the higher speed and chop, get in much earlier, fit in the ledging face, and actually make a bottom turn with speed and a heap of down the line projection, and with the extra weight and the high-speed Albi fin, the surfers can actually get in early, make the drop maybe even take a high line at take off and go sideways instead of straight down and get a lot of Drive and speed off the bottom turn and have more maneuverability. And if they go airborne or disconnect if they stay over their board it will reconnect and make landing it easy.Because of the bottom Dome which is a little more pronounced due to the increased thickness and width and curve and weight but with the same rockers you always use and the high-speed fin they will land as if they were standing on dry land after being airborn.

I noticed on the 7' 2" Astron Zot that I was getting pitched on really steep tricky waves with on shore chop stormy shallow and with size then I would just stay over my Astron Zot as I was airborne with my feet disconnected and the board totally disconnected from the water and I stayed perfectly calm trusting in the board and not only did I land it every time but it was like landing on dry ground and the board just kept going down the line slotted in the pocket making the wave out running the section. That has also happened to me on the interchange nugget 6'6", a 7' surftech yellow Nugget I had a long time ago, and a 5'10" surftech Lazor Zap that I had a long time ago that absolutely ripped unless the wave was really sloppy and was more than a few feet over head, then it didn't have the Down the Line Drive. All these boards ripped incredibly and if I was airborne or coming down from a tall floater it would land effortlessly and stable with no arm waving or back arching but still in a perfect compact stance. I guess I'm just very partial to wide thick curvy tails after that incredible experience on the Astron Zot in overhead and a half hollow, fast powerful waves. I apologize. I'm not trying to be somebody, I just have a very, very hungry mind, and I've been obsessed with waves and also surfing since I was five or six years old. Take care, keep surfin, Nestor Battle  I just wanted to mention to you something I observed and then read about earlier but forgot to tell you.   Your boards are easy and faster to paddle out, and also catch waves very easily.
Besides the extra roll and rocker with the softer rail in the nose area keeping the rail from catching, keeping the nose from digging, cutting through chops and lumps, and giving perfect control on steep sections, the nose in particular makes paddling the board and catching waves easier for the following reasons. Your boards are planning hulls with soft subtle functional curves for wave riding. But the nose of your boards, although they are planning hulls, they do approximate in a subtle way a displacement hull, although a true displacement hull is shaped like a U. Your boards are not shaped like a U.

But, the displacement like features in the nose of your boards take much less energy to get moving through the water at slow, arm paddling speeds, then a perfect flat bottom, since displacement hulls are the easiest to move through the water with the lowest amount of energy required. That is why cargo ships and big ships are full displacement hulls. Again your surfboard nose is not a displacement hull, but it's high apex roll, in the nose and its greater rocker are energy efficient, compared to flat bottoms. While paddling the nose is sitting in the water. It takes a much greater energy, force, and speed before a flat bottom even begins to plane on top of the water. Before that point is reached, it drags water. But, your soft curvy, nose doesn't drag water at slow speeds nor does it drag at high speeds.

That is why a flat bottom, or worse, a concave, when catching a wave goes from arm paddling speed to wave speed so suddenly, making standing on them, at take off, so tricky. A stop and go ordeal. This is because it takes great energy and speed to get a flat bottom to start to plane. This also, affects speed flow, along with thickness, rails, and plane shape, in between maneuvers. Flat bottoms are also, hard to paddle since they drag water. Flat bottoms have no directional orientation or control once planning. On a curvy face of a wave, flat bottoms oppose wave water shape and flow, and drag even more.
On your boards, as you paddle the water flows around the nose in a tear drop flow until it comes together at the cross over point, which is also the planning area and the weight balance area. How you shape and craft this is beyond me.

As a surfer catches a wave on your board, and the wave starts to pick up the surfer, the water at the initial slow paddle speed, flows around the nose in a tear drop flow easily with out much energy required. As the board speeds up, it speeds up gradually and evenly, since little energy is needed to make the nose travel through the water, and the board increases in speed at an even rate of acceleration because great speeds are not needed to make your board, especially the nose, to travel through the water. As the board gains more speed, the water flows faster causing a more condensed high pressure flow to exist at the cross over point, behind the nose tear drop flow, this cross over point and broader roll is the planning area, which then lifts the nose out of the water, and by then the surfer is safely to his feet, since the acceleration on take off was smooth and even, not sudden and tricky as in primitive flat bottoms. After reaching full wave riding planning speed the board flies due to lift and the high pressure, with smooth and even water flow and planning. Once the board is planning, with wave speed, it automatically goes from the high point to the low point, adjusting to the wave, and the nose of the board takes on a different function. the nose is lifted out of the water, but, if on rail in a steep section or full rail carve, the soft full nose rail, and curvy high apex nose roll keep the nose rail from bogging, or digging, or catching, and it also cuts through chops. If running straight the roll and rocker combination simply keep the tip of the nose above the water, and it also, becomes a chop and bump cutter, making bumpy conditions smooth.

Every single detail here can be found in naval physics, boating, and yachting documents.

nestor3

Geoff, Your generosity is so humbling to me and uplifting, because I admire you as one of the greatest scientists of the practical science called art. Thank you for being so kind to me.

And, since your particular art involves great skill of the hands, in addition to deep theoretical and empirical knowledge, aimed and ordered toward beauty, and since beauty is the harmony and order of the different powers and faculties of the mind in response to an existing object external to the mind and the way the object produces this intellectual harmony through the five external senses and the four internal senses, such as the common sense which integrates the different sense stimuli of one object to produce the mental image of one object, and this intellectual mental harmony and order is called happiness and delight, I consider your art not just a manufacturing art, but a fine art, which is an art aimed at enjoyment for the pure sake of enjoyment and happiness, in and of itself; with out any doubt, I consider you, the top artist in the world, through out all of the documented history of this genre, the genre of Surfboard Art Making, in a level so far above the others that your art is absolutely inimitable, and I reasonably believe, that no surf builder has come close to your achievement through out all the ancient pre-documented history of surf craft building.

When modern art came into history, it hijacked true art. True art imitates nature and is based on reality, not only on the ideas and fanciful whims of the unreliable human mind alone. Much of modern art looks like a small child painted it, and much of it is crass. Art is not a slave to nature, but it's beauty comes to life when it imitates nature for humans to enjoy. Your designs imitate nature and the pure natural kinetic energy of how waves function and of how they are shaped and how they move.

To be given such a great gift at such an incredible special deal to me and with such graciousness, care, humility, and sacrifice, is the highest honour given to me, by an earthbound human being in my whole life. If there is anything I can do for you or any way I can help you, I will do it.

I have been spending my free time watching lectures on the mathematics and physics of hydrodynamics, and also scientific empirical films about wave function and laminar flow. I highly suspect you have studied this science and math profoundly, or you have developed your own additional equations to describe tubular waves in ways never done before, or at least you have studied this science and discovered things never described before. Although, mathematical equations exist to describe breaking tubular waves, they don't describe the laminar flow, water particle movement. surface tension, pressure, momentum, force, and velocity differences between the surface on the inside portion of the tube and the outside surface of the outside of the lip laminar layers and the laminar layers in between, and the varying thickness of the water through out the tip of the crest and the back of the wave feeding this water down, and these same differences laterally from the breaking tube and white water out to the shoulder and unbroken swell, and all the points in between, as well as the refraction and diffraction of the wave as it bends in toward itself or bends out away from itself, and also the differences in the water moving against or with the wave. These realities have not been addressed except by top intelligent surfers especially you.

The Gull Wing Fin

It is wise that you designed the Gull Fin as supported by thorough scientific water low tank testing films explained and narrated by top engineers produced in the 1950's and 1960's at full length and complete now available on You tube.

A shorter base meeting the surfboard as the gull fin reduce drag and cavitation dramatically by reducing the length of the abrupt meeting of the base and surfboard perpendicular to each other causing low pressure areas of water flow since abrupt angles cause very low pressures, causing the increased velocity of water flow, and reduced pressure which contribute to drag and possible cavitation due to the formation of water vapor bubbles by boiling the water at room temperature by reducing pressure causing lift to decrease and drag to increase, and additionally air bubbles can form and grow due to tiny trapped bubbles of already existing air existing in abrupt junctures.

The same applies to the junctures of dragging fins such as the winged keel due to additional abrupt junctions of the strut and the hydrofoil connections and the side ways circular motion around the board has too many surfaces at wrong angles to the water low complicating the reactions. I have not tried a winged keel nor do I need to. The cavitation in the film was demonstrated using a strut with a hydrofoil on each side, showing cavitation happening first at the connection of the side fins and the vertical strut, almost identical to the winged keel. Better designs were discovered after the short lived success of it on the sail boat racer. The wave grinder fin has the same problem, plus it's too flexible, per website, and I doubt it's made of fibreglass. Frustrating to see someone post that they just got an AZot, broke the gull fin on a rock right away, didn't get a new gull fin, never gave it a chance, put on a crappy fin with wings that cause drag, designed without knowledge, claiming that it is used on yachts, submarines, and on passenger and fighter jet wings.

The only way to reduce drag on winged fins, only a little bit, is to place a torpedo like object where the wings and the fin meet. They claimed that back side bottom turning was not possible on the single fin AZot with the wrong fin on it.
Dynamics of a Surfboard and the Interrelationship of the Gull Wing

My 7'2" AZot backside bottom turns amazing and easy, having been launched up into the top of the wave with incredible and surprising speed. First, an airplane is not the same because it is propelled by propellers or jets. Nothing is like a surfboard because nothing operates on an air liquid interface and with the dynamic, tense, curving, gravity, and turbulent forces and surfaces as a surfboard. A plane is all air, a submarine is all water, and a yacht is pulled from the top sails not from the bottom curving warping surface tension and gravity of a wave, and the relative speed to size is very slow, and the direction changes on a curved surface are not even close.

A Gull Wing is all air but is propelled by the side and opposing movement of air. Opposing because of flying into the wind and then turning with the wind to get speed and drop, then climbing against the wind and rising, and repeating the cycle., just like climbing and dropping a wave, roller coasting a wave, but using air. Also, by the side wind, as in the water drawing into and up the face, as when the bird flaps the wings.

When It pushes down the wings for that moment, it's the same as water coming up into the wave face diagonally causing the board to travel laterally.

I found an article and video about the albatross. It has a much longer and thinner wing span then a Gull but a similar shape, almost identical to the straight tip Gull Wing fin but skinnier and way longer.It's a big bird. It traverses the globe from Scotland, and back, to an Island close to Antarctica in the roaring 40's between South Africa and India with out flapping its wings in a short amount of time, dropping and climbing the wind. Here is the video. The bird's wings in the actual real footage sweeps forward, it actually bottom turns and top turns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMX2wCJga8g

The increased base to hull connection of swept back fins, with the longer abrupt angles causing low pressures add drag and decrease lift at the base and add drag due to the fin's range from the leading edge base to the trailing edge tip, limiting turning ability by increasing resistance, with greater angles to the water flow, the more the board is turned.

What makes Geoff McCoy Boards Work

Using a water hose and the sensation in my hand, while holding different fins, together with common sense, previous knowledge, and what I have learned the past few days through study I have observed and concluded the following. The gull fins narrow plan shape and subtle foiling has a neutral minimal effect in the base, due to a thinner base thickness, narrow plane shape, and the vertical / slightly forward leading and trailing edge plus the special base foil lead the water to release with a little water flowing up and back, up toward the surface of the water line and up to the bottom surface of the board, increasing pressure slightly to the hull. The reaction is also minimal at the base of the gull fin since the water depth here is shallow, with less water pressure, and therefore less viscosity causing more release. Small differences in water depth provide great differences in water pressure. A snorkel a few inches too long collapse the human lungs, killing the person due to higher water pressure at slight differences in water depth. Consequently, greater differences in viscosity provide much more water pressure and hold and attachment the deeper you go under water, even in small differences.

The Gull Wing fin tip has a thicker specially shaped foil that holds on to water more, in addition to the greater pressure and viscosity, it collects, channels, and leads the water flow on a path exiting the tip. I felt greater torque here with my hand holding the base from the water hose and saw the channelling of water. This hold deeper into the water gives more hold for obvious reasons. The longer the lever arm distance, the greater the distance in opposite movement according to torque.

With the narrower plan shape this movement is accomplished with much less force. Below the forward knuckle, the water is directed back and down into the water with greater force due to thicker more efficient foil and more water pressure / viscosity of the deeper water. In Bernoulli's equation greater viscosity produces higher pressure. This gives much more lift, due to higher viscosity and higher pressure on the outside of the fin and lower pressure in the inside of the fin since higher pressure and higher viscosity keep the boundary laminar flow tighter on the surface of the fin, especially the tip, reducing laminar separation, or cavities, which in surfing brings the fin closer to the wall of the wave due to the water traveling toward and up the face. The upper part of the forward knuckle has less water pressure and viscosity to shallower depth, less water attachment and hold due to a narrower plane shape and thinner foil, and leads water up slightly.

After buying an inexpensive but long and good level and conformity gauge, I noticed how the lateral roll, narrowness or width and placement correspond to the rail shape, thickness foil, rocker, and plane shape for ultimate balance and compensation. It seems to me that the plane shape, from nose to tail, of my AZot is proportional to the thickness foil, and inversely proportional to the rail shape and rocker; to accommodate wave shape and function.

It seems the subtle rolled effect starts to change from the centre weight balance point, or the planing area just in front of it, forward from the centre weight balance point, or the planing area just in front of it; it changes going back in a similar yet different way as it does going ahead of the area in the approximate centre plan shape point.

It seems this is so to accommodate the wave shape and function and, the human standing on the board.

I observed the differences in curves along the board across the bottom and from nose to tail. Since water on a wave travels diagonally around the board I found it interesting how much more the roll is diagonally across the bottom. The bottom is so subtle that it creates high pressure. More rail to rail bottom curve seems to be compensated for by more foam flotation, plan shape curve and a bit more rocker in the dome. The very significant more narrow rail to rail roll of the nose seems to be compensated for by significantly more rocker in the nose, softer rail, and plan shape curve and narrowing; so as to make pearling almost impossible; lifting the nose and to create faster water flow around the nose with lower pressure around and in the nose but more rocker keeping the board and nose attached to the water with out pearling.

This is only in the case of dropping straight down a steep wave, but at an angle there would be more rail in the water, again making pearling almost impossible. The water flows around the nose like a reverse tear drop meeting at the planing area in front of the front foot, maybe it crosses like an X there due to the momentum of the water flow, this must give good lift at the X with two flows adding into one, then as the dome slightly increases and then becomes significant at the dome with the low points; then, behind the dome in the tail, the water flows around that dome. The roll decreases behind the dome and follows a path like a tear drop, exiting the tail giving direction. There is also, the water flow right under the rails, especially in the broad planing area in front of the foot and all along the board. It seems there is extra roll under and near the rail, although I think this disappears behind the dome, in the tail, becoming broad and one with the area to the side of the narrower roll apex in the tail. It seems to me the teardrop flow around the bottom is smaller in the nose than in the tail.

It also seems like this is a thin slice, or a flattening out of a 12 meter racing sailboat bottom, minus the centre keel.

There are other subtleties, but I never planned to write this much. I am not an engineer or a professional.

I may be totally wrong, but I like your surfboard designs, and I like to think about what they are and how and why they work, since your boards are amazingly astounding, nothing comes close. The human intellect is ordered toward knowing and wisdom, since wisdom is knowledge with respect to the ultimate causes, and we always want to know the ultimate causes.

DREAMS
Its 6:30 in the morning and I just woke up from a dream. The dream was strange. you were in my garage and my house, (although in real life I don't have a house or garage) shaping me the 6'2" Astron Zot. I know you already shaped it for me in real life, but in my dream everything was different. 

My mother happened to be there and she was shaping me one too but, I told her more than once to make the tail wide and thick, to shape the Board the way it was supposed to be. Then what my mom was making turned out to be a tiny miniature sort, like a little toy version of on. 

You made a line on a certain measured portion of the bottom and you had two different pieces of paper or maybe one and you had your measuring ruler or triangle with the little lines on it and the numbers. Then you were making diagonal lines on the foam from the rail up to that line that was perpendicular to the Stringer. The perpendicular line was on the right side near the nose. The line that is perpendicular to the Stringer had measurements and numbers written at different points and these diagonal lines or arrows that you were drawing from the rail to that perpendicular line had measurements too all written on the foam, and then you were doing calculations in coming up with new numbers to somehow come up with a proportion for how deep the bottom Contours are going to be from the rail to the stringer at that point or in that region following the diagonal lines, proportionately for the size and width and thickness of the board. You were almost mumbling to yourself as you were making a calculation for each set of two measurements and you were doing this over and over again on different parts of the bottom of the board. You were doing the math in your head. 

I don't know if you were taking the average or what calculation you were doing. After everybody saw what you were doing so meticulously everybody just stood back, was quiet, and just watched. I was watching from above as I had climbed some sort of structure to see from above. You were using some pieces of wood maybe they were templates. I think the measurements were the depth that you set your planner to at each point and somehow your planner was following the Energy symbol especially at the low points.

Since your boards are soft and curvy you were using soft materials like a piece of soft foam block with sandpaper on it to make the bottom Contours following the energy lines for the low points to the center middle high points. I think that after you have made all your measurements and after you cut into the bottom some lines and grooves with a hand planner or maybe even an electric planner, although I think it was a non electrical type planning block, based on your measurements, you basically smoothed it all out using a soft foam cube with sandpaper on it. You followed the energy lines from the tail low point up across the Center Middle High Point finishing at the nose low point.  My dream did not last long enough to see you shaping the rails or the rocker or the thickness foil or the balancing of the board at the balance point where are you place the Energy symbol. I had to write down my dream now so I wouldn't forget it because, if I didn't write it down I probably would have forgotten it.

I've woken up early to a brand new wonderful
Keep Surfin!
Nestor Batlle

Geoff,

It's 1:28 PM here and I kept thinking about the dream. I'm sure you do calculations of some sort, but I have a feeling that when you shape a board, you go about shaping the boards a lot by feeling and how it looks too. You use your hands to feel the contours and eyes to see them. That's what I think. But, it boggled my mind when one day, with the Astron Zot, I thought, "I will put my hand under this energy symbol and I believe the board will balance perfectly on it." Low and behold, it did. Then I see pictures of different boards, with different balances, for example Double Enders, Astron Zots, Stumpies, Nuggets, Pot Bellies, Frozen Daffodils, Chisel Tail Twin Fins, Lazor Zaps, Dream Times, Guns, and I see how the energy symbol / balance point in different places, that corresponds to the length and foot weight style of the board. How does anybody shape all that stuff and get it so precise. It's amazing. There must be some intricate measuring using proportions and also that feeling and intuition of natural born talent in craftsmanship, training, experience, trial and error, feed back. etc.  

If you only knew how excited I am about the future of surfing crafts. The fact that people know about your boards, that you have You tube videos, and even a man that does surfboard reviews, gave a very nice review of your boards, ( Chris Grow Shred Show).  

The knowledge is out there. The future of surfing crafts is catching on. I'm so excited that my night time dreams back in the 1990's of surfing a very wide, thick, round, white, single fin board in shallow reef tubes exists and works. Out of ignorance and since I didn't get on the internet until pretty late, as I didn't like the idea of it, I didn't know how such a wide thick round single fin board could work so well in barrels, because of the brain washing of the magazines that said a board like this is uncontrollable and slides out. I didn't know about the Loaded Dome and the opened up soft tail rail. But, I believed I would find it. And, when I finally got on the internet and looked for years and months, typing in, Thick Wide surfboards, over and over, a website finally appeared. I read it all, over and over / again and again, and I instantly believed. The Loaded Dome and soft tail rails was the missing link to my recurring dreams in the 1990's. I remember how differently your old website looked compared to now.

Thanks,
Keep Surfin,
Nestor

P.S. I notice from old pictures that even the rails are different now. They are still very full, but the top of the rail is slightly more angular and the end of the tail and nose tip is different from the 1981 Lazor Zap, it was much more blunt. I keep all these things to myself. Any thing I have told people out in the water in the past is stuff you already say in your videos and I state that it is the best design I know of, and it's by Geoff McCoy. I went surfing with my friend and my friend's sons a long time ago, and his son didn't bring a board, so I let him use my 6'6" Interchange Nugget for a few waves, and he ripped on it so hard at Sebastian Inlet. I just go on facebook to see pictures and videos that people post of their boards and them riding them.

I love the pictures of James Llwelyn just ripping, absolutely ripping with style. He provides old pictures of surfers like Larry Blair in the Pipe Barrels and Mark Richards holding a McCoy twin fin, and Mark Warren, and you on the old 70's long tailed red and yellow board flying down the line. He is a good McCoy Surf Historian, in my opinion. I wish I could see a picture of Buce Turner whom you mention in the McCoy Evolution video. Then I saw a picture on facebook of someone with one of your Malibu Longboards, and it was on it's side, and with the reflection of the light I kept noticing the rail. The rail somewhere up front in the middle or ahead of middle has a little more edge on it than usually, and then It dawned on me that you need a little bit of edge up front and/or middle to keep the nose from catching, as I have 10' Pig made like the old ones, wider tail narrower nose, with very flat rocker and rolled bottom and 50/50 rails and just a touch of rocker in the tail area, except I asked the fin box be place two inches ahead of normal, the local shaper made it years back for me and had to get a special classic low rocker blank for long boards and I have an original early 1960's Pig with round like oranges 50/50 rails very heavy, glassed in wooden D fin in terrible shape, but I sealed it, (wider tail than nose 50/50 board from the early 60's with a glassed on wooden D fin and it's pretty beaten up) I bought it for 70 dollars. I know how to keep the nose out of the water, the boards are so wide in the tail that I just stand on the tail at take off and stall the board until the waves starts to run fast, and I like to stand in front 1/3 area of the board for trim. But, my friends have tried them and most dug the nose first few rides. I even stalled these boards when I turned. I'm going to make it my goal to get an extra job and save up just to go down to Australia as soon as a I can with in about a year, and if your well disposed and have a little time, you can explain to me some things about the boards as you have told me it's much easier with a board in your hands to explain in person these things, and the natural energy theory that is in the whole Universe and cosmos. Writing about them is almost impossible to get a real good idea of it. I really, really wish your two books get done, because the world needs to hear the truth about the history of surfing, and the truth about true and good design for riding waves.

You could take 4 months or more to get 6'2" AZot board glassed and finished, I have the 7'2" awesome amazing Futurist AZot already. I know you have to write books and take rests. That's why I said, take your time, I don't want to rush you at all. As long as you are doing what is good and peaceful for you. If you don't get the books done, It will be a great loss to the whole world and me, but I will be happy because you are doing what is good and right for you. I don't want you to feel stressed about anything. I really hope you are getting rest and relaxation and happy peaceful times.

Thank you so much, and thank Mieko, and your glassers and helpers and test riders.

Geoff,I would like a white logo on the bottom and a yellow logo on the top.

I feel very excited and confident about those dimensions and specifications.

I want the wide thick round tail for great velocity, pressure, reaction, and with your constant recent design through development added drive with the perfect balance. I want the curvy round thick board for total freedom to experiment and through feeling and creativity approach surfing on this AZot with out any preconceived notions or attempts to imitate anyone or any established maneuver, but to take a completely different approach. I'm going to buy a surf helmet since I'm not holding back, as long as it's reasonable.

Since I learned to surf on a single fin, although without a fin the first two sessions, and my boards are single fins, except my blue nugget is not, I want to be free to go anywhere on the wave with out being forced to commit to an already chosen placement or line on the wave, and to vary my approach dynamically in the moment, as I explore and go along, with the superior speed, deep water hold, pendulum like drive, looseness of the single high aspect narrow planeshape, fin, with superior curves, foil, thickness distribution, low drag, way more speed.

Life is good for me. I live a simple life of humble circumstances with lower income, and I am most grateful for these circumstances, just the way it is. Just the necessities and some modest luxuries like good surfboards, Life, and decent books.

I am happy. Thank you for asking. I hope life is good for you. I'll keep thinking about a nice warm peaceful uncrowded place to surf and live. If something catches my attention I'll let you know. I read an article and saw pictures of Byron Bay looking like a bowl of cereal, and about the kids with no respect, and the Lawyer, real estate Sydney residents who think they own the place. Such a beautiful and empty soulful country place back then. It must break your heart.

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