A Tie in the Rip Curl Meo Pro Portugal Forces Elimination/Science Answers

Kolohe surfed well and optimized his performance on both waves of this 3rd round heat, in the WSL MEO Pro Portugal.

Kolohe's second ride appeared seamless. Commentators noted a slight loss of speed and control following the first big turn. With a blink, it is easy to miss the loss of fluidity or flow. The criteria judges use to award points are speed, power and flow. Speed and power are evident in Kolohe's ride, but; points were lost on flow.

Kolohe breaks his tail free and launches his board off the lip, into the air. He flies above the surface and lands on bottom of the wave.

Kolohe completes a hard landing on the bow of his board or the underside of the rocker bend. The board decelerates and Kolohe briefly looses his balance.

The flow of this ride is only slightly interrupted, which costs valuable points.

Kolohe needed an additional .01 of a point, to win this heat and advance. He was eliminated when his third wave was considered.

This loss of speed and flow may be eliminated with less rocker and less flatness in the bow. With speed, a flat bow produces lift. The bend in the bow produces a force that pushes the board back. This causes deceleration. At high impact a surfboard may abruptly stop and launch the surfer, an example follows.

In the Semi finals Owen Wright faced Joan Duru. A nose poke launches him and he fails to complete a valuable ride. A shallow pearl dive is identical to a hard bow impact. The nose goes below the surface in a pearl, but; drag is produced under the board by the bend in the nose rocker. Pressure on the top of the board comes from the surfer's weight. Increasing nose rocker increases drag and only keeps the tip above the surface. Lift generated by a flat bow becomes drag when it pushes against the bend of the nose rocker.

Round and Vee bows both reduce drag and keep a board moving after impact. In experiments I found, a round bow to cause a slight loss in the flow of a ride. A Vee bow is more seamless through transitions, however; the board can continue to dive in a pearl. Blending the two designs produced a bow that rides out of a shallow nose poke without disrupting the ride, copyright pending. Different bow shapes can produce a completely different ranking in the future.