The Swallowtail Society: May 2010

5.31.2010

happy memorial day!

5.30.2010

6'0" TPH 2+1

21" x 2.5/8"

ice blue opaque

combo finish

volan fins by Fibre Glas Company

Moonlight Glassing

5.29.2010

~ 5'1" arc tail quad ~

5.28.2010

iPhone photos can be pretty cool

5.26.2010

For this 5'1" Arc-Swallowtail, I wanted to find what might be the closest thing to "sacred geometry" in this design. So I first built the foundation dimensions of the tail with an equilateral triangle which defines the width of the tail at its widest point. Since all sides of this equiangular triangle are equal in length, this length also defines the radius of the circle which transcribes the arctail. The length of the equilateral triangle (and the radius of the circle) is 12".

The foam removed for the swallowtail is an isosceles triangle whose vertex is one half the angle of the equilateral or equiangular triangle, one half of 60º, which is 30º. The length of the base of this isosceles triangle is one half its height, in this case 4" wide and 8" deep.

There is a relationship between the numbers here: 1, 2, 4, 8...

From Wikipedia:

"In mathematics, 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + … is the infinite series whose terms are the successive powers of two. As a geometric series, it is characterized by its first term, 1, and its common ratio, 2.

$\sum_{k=0}^{n} 2^k.$

As a series of real numbers it diverges to infinity, so in the usual sense it has no sum. In a much broader sense, the series is associated with another value besides ∞, namely -1.

In the history and education of mathematics, 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + … is the canonical example of a divergent geometric series with positive terms. Many results and arguments pertaining to the series have analogies with other examples such as 2 + 6 + 18 + 54 + …."

These relationships are proportions which can be used to scale the design up or down depending on the length of the board.

5.25.2010

greenough velo template + mirandon split-tail = 5'1" arc-swallowtail quad :)

5.24.2010

mandala mini series evolution

5.23.2010

the mandala mini series continues with the 5'1" x 20" x 2.5 "vee monkey." variations on a theme, this little board is going to be a quad but could also be surfed as a twin keel. (i've been so stoked on surfing these little pods that i haven't ridden any of my hulls in a few weeks!)