Something New ... WATERBOARDS
http://www.fksa.org/albums/album169/5_G.jpg
Waterboards, bringing new performance to kiteboarding. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album169/6_G.jpg First a bit of history, Waterboards is the creation of Lloyd T. Northup III, or Lloyd. Lloyd has been into board sports since age 7 when his cousin gave him his first long surfboard in Newport, RI. He moved on to snowboarding in about 1973 using a Snurfer (a 4 inch wide plank with a nose rope!). Lloyd was into snowboard prototyping even then. Stuff with sophisticated bindings too, like inner tube rubber nailed to boards or uh the deck, surgical tubing, etc.. He even went through bans and certification, e.g. Killington kicked the boarders out in his fourth season. Lloyd got his first board in 1980 made by Steve Derrah, a true Pre-Jake Burton snowboarding pioneer. Lloyd used to be a team rider for Derrah. Lloyd even got his picture in a national snowboarding magazine in 1983. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album169/7_G.jpg Lloyd poses with his board design. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album169/3_G.jpg Some of the unusual performance qualities of the board are tied to the tappered flex tips. I understand that Waterboards has had only one broken board in the last 50, despite the light appearence of the design. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album169/3a_001.jpg Checkout the bend in the board. This is an important aspect that creates a lot of the intriguing handling properties of the board. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album169/13_G.jpg Some early impressions about comparative performance follow after some limited sessions on Waterboards: 1. Landings are softer with the cushioning effect of the flip tips. 2. Edging requires less exertion against a building gust. 3. It is easier to land hot on the water. 4. A reduced tendency to skip or judder on marginal impacts or when fairly overpowered as compared to a normal rigid board. 5. It rides well to windward. I would like to spend more time on the boards in varied conditions to better develop these impressions. What have other folks experienced out there with Waterboards? http://www.fksa.org/albums/album169/4_G.sized.jpg Waterboards can incorporate some pretty intriguing graphics. Pending hearing about that, here's a blast from the past. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album169/...oard.sized.jpg http://www.fksa.org/albums/album169/...rd_2.sized.jpg This is a 25 year old fiberglass wakeboard fabricated by Lloyd well before the thin twintip design so popular today. Lloyd wants to try this puppy out with a kite, retro-gear here we come! Hey I want Max Headroom on my board too http://www.fksa.org/albums/album169/...oard.sized.jpg Another old wakeboard creation of Lloyd. It looks like a tow-in board, hmmm so this is where they got the idea from!? Lloyd next moved on to fabricating much thinner compression molded boards. He then went heavily into construction for quite a while. Guess what? Lloyd's back! He first noticed kiteboarders on the ocean in 1998 and started to pay attention to the sport. He took the jump into the sport in 2001 with a 23 m inflatable as a starter kite? He has refined compression molded fabrication of kiteboards with a Divincell core and some intriguing flex tips or as he likes to call them, "beavertails." A BIG feature are custom board graphics, YOUR graphics to be specific. If you have an image of something, Lloyd can place it on your board. Guys have been working up some pretty interesting (bizarre) graphics too. Lloyd tells me the flextips deliver softer landings, better pop in jumps, more effective bleeding off of power and better carving. They come out of the vacuum apparatus at about 4 to 5 lbs. in weight. https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...419783_806.jpg Waterboards has been preparing and DONATING these excellent trophies to various kiteboarding competitions, e.g. the Bahamas Crossing, Jupiter Kiteboarding Invasion, Tampa Boardercross, etc.. Waterboards also donated a board to the recent Kiteforum contest. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album169/11_G.jpg Teamriders for Waterboards have been doing well including Alex winning the first ever boardercross competition in Florida held in Tampa. Ray Leroy won the second boarder cross comp. held in Tampa bay. Mike Bradley came in third in the boardercross comp. held in Miami. Pretty good for a new kiteboard works! I hope we can hear from these three guys in posts to this thread with their impressions about Waterboards. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album169/9_G.jpg Waterboards visits the Jupiter Kiteboarding Invasion. http://www.fksa.org/albums/album169/10_G.jpg Waterboards has the ability to place almost any image you can dream up on your board for a nominal cost (and on the board bag provided). http://www.fksa.org/albums/album169/12_G.jpg An example of a board bag. I asked Lloyd where is was going in development currently. He said he is working on some hybrid, directional boards for wave riding and downwinders. He is also working on a full concave board for faster riding. Sounds real interesting, looking forward to seeing what he comes up with. The Waterboards price for standard graphics on a premade board is currently about $550. USD. Custom graphics are only $75. extra. Boards can also be made within a length and width range. Waterboards is in effect a custom board boutique complete with unique graphics. Lloyd is currently looking for teamriders both in the USA and abroad. They will get boards below retail and will receive 10% off for any board they sell. and ... for something a little different. I was helping Amaila with some photos to suppliment her acting & modeling portfolio. Something new for me as I usually shoot riders on the water, fish & reef and snow, in no particularly order (or at the same time). She said she liked surfing. So, I handed her a board and said "hold this." http://www.fksa.org/albums/album172/...oard_s_001.jpg http://www.fksa.org/albums/album169/14_G.jpg Moving out. More Waterboards info and images of boards at http://waterboards.net/ |
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