Matt vs Polish(glossy)

[Wing 11]

What is faster matt or polish bottom?

what granulation of sandpaper have isonic,falcon and other slalom boards?

some research tell that matt/polish is not really proven..

Carbon Art :

"11. POLISHThe best way is to find someone with a small polishing machine and foam polishing pad. Take care not to work any one area for too long as the surface will heat causing the paint to distort.
Some people believe polished surfaces to be slower than wet sanded surfaces, whereas others believe the reverse. However it is clear that polished surfaces remain clean for longer, and a clean surface is a fast surface."

www.carbonartwindsurf.com/Performance/Maintenance

[Navegante]

You want a wet sanded surface that helps a film of water adhere to the general surface thus creating a low friction area where water glides against water. The film on the hull and the sea/lake water.
I used to use a wet 600 grit. Once the whole surface has been smoothly and evenly sanded you clean it with a plain sponge to get all the dust off and let it dry. You then throw water on it and a full wet film coat should cover it. That is your low friction surface.
However some performance experts argue that finer grit is needed because the coarser grit makes too much water stick to the surface, this is not ideal.
Some go as fine as 1500 wet grit which makes a mirror like surface.

[Navegante]

Palm finishing sander. As even as possible without spending too much time in any one particular spot. Last pass of the sanding paper by hand to even out areas that look visually irregular.
No idea what they use in production boards but you can be sure they will not spend much time or care in it. There’s a big cost in man hours if they did.

[Navegante]

To me, it is very strange that factoray make matt finish,becuse they lose money when sanding..on the other way there is lot of information that polish is faster,so in practice neither finish is proven 100%.

http://www.mothboat.com/building/wax-on-or-off

Nowadays frankly I don’t care, I get on the board and enjoy the ride I don’t overanalyse anything life is short too get hung up on this.
If the board is sanded I give it a sanding once a year if it got dirty.
Gloss is beautiful.
That’s it.

[BottomTurnBob]

The finish on any yacht is designed to stop stuff growing on it so it doesn’t really compare.

What I have often wondered is if some sort of wax finish to the base would help. It makes a massive difference to ski’s etc....

[JB:)]

The finish on any yacht is designed to stop stuff growing on it so it doesn’t really compare.

What I have often wondered is if some sort of wax finish to the base would help. It makes a massive difference to ski’s etc....

Agreed. I used a UHMWPE sintered base on a composite Alaia and using snowboard wax did come to mind. I oil wooden alaias and they do seem more slick somehow.

[mikerb]

First of all a matt finish is not necessarily any different in terms of surface tension than a gloss finish. A matt finish can be created with a laquer ( e.g some BMW cars/ Red Bull F1 car).
As far as I understand it a very smooth polished surface will be hydrophobic whereas a surface with some texture will be hydrophilic. Most performance fins have a very finely abraded surface and avoid putting slippery graphics near the leading edge.........in other words they make them hydrophilic such that the surface of the fins encourages the water flow to remain in contact with the fin. Select fins for example are hand finished with a very slight abrasion in straight lines from the leading to the trailing edge. I have always thought that is the best surface for the hull of a board...or at least the planing flat section of the board. It is also far easier to maintain since any surface scratches on the hull can be removed with wet and dry. I use 1200 grit or if no scratches a kitchen abrasive pad.