Landsurfing vs Coasting?

WTF? Looks interesting... Where did you see that? At least
it has one wheel.

Daniel

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pete66 wrote...

Quoted message said:

[image: unicyclist.comunicyclist.comOpen ↗
landsurfer.jpg]

Is landsurfing some kind of new way to ride a unicycle? The
picture does not make this clear. I am always on the lookout
for new unicycling terms, which I store for future expansion
of my Multilingual Unicycling Dictionary, which I have been
expanding at low gear in the last few years. One day I will
get around to publishing it.

Quoted message said:

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One of the guys who works in the registry where I study
designed and built it. I gave him a go on my uni the other
day and he couldn't get on it so I'm thinking he's got a bit
of "balance practice" to do before he starts getting up
speed on the surfer.

I reckon it's a cool design, check out the rollers on the
wheel. I guess you'd want to be good at both unicycling and
windsurfing to be able to pick it up quick (as far as I
know, nobody's ever ridden one of these).

I've recommended that he puts a Gazza or other 3" width
tyre on it because he was finding himself sinking into the
sand a bit. He's considering putting a wheel with a
smaller diameter on it but I'm not convinced that it'll
make it easier.

Might try and talk him into letting me have a blast at it 🙂

Pete

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I'd love to try riding one someday. Do you have a close-up
of the wheel rollers? Why did he have to do that anyway? Is
it so you can stand with one foot in the hole?

Is that bike/raft thing a pedal powered cat?

Daniel

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He just built it for fun.

I have seen blueprints of the design but don't have them in
digital format. That photo is from the Kiwi Ingenuity Expo
at Pataka Museum, Porirua.

It's the second prototype of Dan's landsurfer. On the left
is a paddle-boat-cycle built by another inventor, Dave
Banks, and cycled all the way down the Wanganui river.

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Unfortunately, the wheel interferes with the sail in this
configuration, so he'd have to do a subset of normal
sailing. Somehow to get the two from colliding... Anyway,
cool photo! Thanks for posting it.

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johnfoss said:

I have a feeling you might need two points of contact with
the ground for such a thing to work? Or at least training
wheels on the front and rear.

Imagine a bicyclist seeing a unicycle and then saying
that. Hehe.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
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daino149 said:

*Why did he have to do that anyway? Is it so you can stand
with one foot in the hole?*

Assuming it works, it's a lot less metal that it would be if
you used a spoked wheel, hub, and a frame to hold it to the
board. It looks quite elegant.

As U-turn mentioned, something needs to be done about the
sail colliding with the wheel. This is a dead giveaway that
nobody has actually ridden the thing yet. I'm not a
windsurfer but I have a feeling you might need two points of
contact with the ground for such a thing to work? Or at
least training wheels on the front and rear.

Due to the much lower amount of drag you'd get on pavement
compared to a board on water, you could probably get by with
a much smaller sail. Especially when learning the thing!

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U-Turn said:

*Unfortunately, the wheel interferes with the sail in this
configuration, so he'd have to do a subset of normal
sailing. Somehow to get the two from colliding... Anyway,
cool photo! Thanks for posting it. *

I dont think the wheel would interfere much. When riding,
you have both feet on the board so your legs would be just
as much in the way as the wheel would be.

I think the one place where the wheel might get in the way
is in tacking, when the sail crosses the board to the other
side. The solution would be to jibe when ever you wanted to
change direction.

That thing still looks impossible to ride!!

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When I first looked at it, I thought that it would be hard
as hell to ride, possibly harder than coasting. But the more
I think about it, the more I think it might actually be
reasonably easy.

You can't really write it of because nobody's ridden it yet.
The only guy who's tried to do it, can't ride a unicycle
(I'm not even sure if he can windsurf!). I think that anyone
with a good combination of unicycling and windsurfing skills
would pick it up quick.

Unfortunately I've done virtually no windsurfing (I once
stood on one on a still day). I'm not excellent at
unicycling either.

It's ironic that my cousin (who I haven't mentioned the
unisurfer to) has recently been trying to decide for himself
whether he wants to buy a windsurfer or a unicycle!

Pete

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It looks like it would be ridiculously hard to balance
forwards and backwards on. I would put a free swinging small
roller skate wheel on the back, like the ones on scooters.
But I don't know much about windsurfing.

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pete66 said:

*One of the guys who works in the registry where I study
designed and built it. *

'mmmm...interesting' (tinyurl.com3248fOpen ↗)

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Quoted message said:

quote:
----------------------------------------------------------
----------------------
Originally posted by pete66 One of the guys who works in
the registry where I study designed and built it.
----------------------------------------------------------
----------------------

'mmmm...interesting' (tinyurl.com3248fOpen ↗)

I don't geddit, was that a "mmmm...interesting - coz I think
he secretly didn't design and build it". Or was it more of a
"mmmm...interesting - this link is also relevant coz it
talks about wind affected one wheelers"?

Pete

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GILD said:

*

'mmmm...interesting' (tinyurl.com3248fOpen ↗) *

i cant believe i let that thread slip past me! Kitesurfing
is my other major hobby. I have thought many times of trying
to combine the two but havent yet gotten around to it.
Usually when i get my kite up, i'm too eager to get out into
the ocean to think about anything else. I'll make it a point
to give it a go on the uni soon and get some vids to you
guys. -erik

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pete66 said:

*I don't geddit, was that a "mmmm...interesting - coz I
think he secretly didn't design and build it". Or was it
more of a "mmmm...interesting - this link is also relevant
coz it talks about wind affected one wheelers"? *

nothing as sinister as your first option i've allways held
(strictly theoretically, i've only ever tried flying a stunt-
kite on a uni) that it should be fairly 'easy' as u can use
the kite (in this case sail) as a stabiliser when u need to
adjust your balance on the uni when i saw this thread, it
simply reminded me of the uni-kiting discussions we've had
in the past and i found it mmm,interesting that someone
went back to the older, windsurfing technology to create
essentially the first 'working' (till i see someone ride
it) prototype

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Namaste!
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Too bad this thing is overseas. I wouldn’t mind being a
test pilot. It actually looks very usable, but also very
dangerous. The wheel isn’t really in the way of the sail.
The only time (short of an accident) that the sail would
cross at the wheel is just at the point of the tack where
you would walk around the front of the mast, which isn’t
possible on this vehicle anyway. All of your weight would
be on that tiny section in front of the mast, creating an
instant catapult situation if done at speed. However, at
this point of a tack, it’s very difficult (for all but the
experts) to maintain forward momentum anyway. You would
naturally slow to a stop and walk around the front while
trying not to fall in the water. While walking around the
front on the ground, balance wouldn’t be a problem, and you
could easily pull the mast forward to allow the sail to
clear the wheel. During a jibe the sail goes around the
front, so the wheel still wouldn’t be a problem for the
sail. Instead, it would interfere with your foot
repositioning, which I think would make it nearly
impossible to jibe.

Another problem would be the changing amount of friction as
the front tip lifts and drops during the forward and
backward tilting of the mast (which controls the steering).
When the mast is tilted forward, not only does the board
turn downwind, but additionally there is a downward pressure
exerted on the mast, and in this case on the front tip of
the board. Yet, another high risk catapult situation. A
longer board might help this problem a bit. I think it would
be much more usable in the grass than in the sand. The wheel
wouldn't sink and the ski would have less friction.

The major danger is the possibility of high speeds without
the benefit of water to crash into. The speed is addicting
and a slight error or wind gust at the point of maximum
power leads to a high speed catapult, which will knock the
wind out of you even in the water, and on the ground, just
might be a little more painful. Or, if you let go of the
boom in time, you would save yourself from the catapult
impact and would only have to suffer from the ground
removing your flesh as you bounce and slide to a stop.

As Gild mentioned, mmmmmm.

Of course this unit might be very usable if it was based on
a snowboard. Oh yeah, there aint much snow in New Zealand.
And without a wheel, it wouldn’t be on this forum.

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unibiker said:

* Oh yeah, there aint much snow in New Zealand. *

🙄

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Folks, don't get me wrong on the "training wheels." Perhaps a different
word is more appropriate. I meant something to roll on the ground
instead of the board ends scraping. Not to be on the ground all the
time. 🙄

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I agree completely. It would be much more usable. But I’m
pretty sure you would need a little steering on each wheel,
with a mount that would keep it straight until pressure was
applied (like a wheel mount on a skateboard, but with only
one wheel instead of the side by side pair). When the wind
blows you slightly off balance (which accounts for most of
the time you’re sailing), you need to be able to turn the
board a little in order to fine tune the combination of the
front to back balance, side to side balance, and the sail
power, all at the same time. That’s a lot to deal with
before you consider trying to balance it on one wheel.
Without steering on the training wheels, I think you would
be doomed from the start. As it is, the board tips should
slide enough to provide a little steering, but probably with
way too much friction.

I still don’t think it would tack or jibe.

My test pilot offer still stands, wheels or not.

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