CompositesWorld
Issue link: https://cw.epubxp.com/i/830100
JUNE 2017 44 CompositesWorld FOCUS ON DESIGN Collaboration produces winning paddleboard Design, and design for manufacturability, come together in this racing SUP for one-off and serial production. » In the world of water sport boards, board design is part science and part art. Designers here are called shapers, and are known throughout the industry by name for their unique board styles, produced by hand. Since the early 1960s, when foam-cored fiberglass first replaced wooden boards, composite boards have increasingly been customized by changing length, thickness, nose, tail, rockers, fins and more, for all levels of wave-riding water sports. But beyond the art is the science of new forms of composite materials, and how they can be selected and customized to match a board to a rider's ability, and even his or her favorite beach. e world's largest board manufacturer, Cobra International (Chonburi, ailand), has seen this interplay of art and science power its company to the forefront of the water sport market, says Danu Chotikapanich, Cobra's CEO: "We started in 1978 making windsurfing boards, and we've grown to 3,000 employees, producing composite board products of all designs in high- volume, serial production for OEM water sports customers." An ISO-certified company that also makes automotive, architectural, luxury goods and robotic machine parts, Cobra works closely with customers on design, material selection and prototyping, through its Design and Development Center, to create products that, Choti- kapanich contends, "excite millions of people around the world." When Cobra was recently tasked by global board seller NSP (Singapore) with manufacturing a new lightweight, stiff and strong racing stand-up paddleboard (SUP) for talented team rider Travis Grant for the 2015 Molokai 2 Oahu Ocean Race — 52 km between the two islands — Grant rode the resulting NSP Molokai Pro Carbon board to victory. e board was initially created at Cobra's facility in ailand by NSP's CAD designer Alain Teurquetil, who developed the board's CAD shape files, together with NSP shaper Dale Chapman, who hand-finished the physical Master Board from CNC-cut foam. Cobra executed the design and built Grant's winning race board, but then transformed the design for serial production and sale to NSP customers worldwide. A winning one- off for boarding enthusiasts The winner of the grueling 52-km open- ocean Molokai 2 Oahu race in 2015 was Travis Grant, shown here near the finish line on the NSP Molokai Pro Carbon stand-up paddleboard, produced by Cobra International. That custom racing board was transformed into a production version avail- able to the water sports public through NSP Surfboards (Singapore). Source | NSP By Sara Black / Senior Editor