It’s hard to believe somebody would ask for over a million dollars for what is essentially a piece of wood, albeit a very well polished and exquisitely treated one. But that’s exactly the asking price Roy Stuart has put forward for his latest luxury surfboard.
The 10’6’’ Rampart is, of course, no ordinary board. It is the product of two decades of experience and expertise, which can be clearly discerned both from the look and feel of the piece, as well as its performance. The 31 pound Rampart allows surfers to achieve a speed of up to 35 miles an hour. It features the same 23-carat gold dragon inlay used in Roy Stuart’s wooden Dragon longboard and is laminated with red resin, which provides buoyancy, as well as a smooth response on the water.
The material used for the board is Paulownia wood, which has a high strength-to-weight ratio, making it the perfect choice for the job. The Rampart also has a hollow wooden hull to contain spanwise water flow and improve lift-drag ratio, in addition to a 6-inch Vort-X tunnel fin, for extra performance.
You’d never have thought so much work could be put into making something which seems as simple as a surfboard, but there it is: the Rampart a marvelous feat of engineering and design. Keeping this in mind, the mind-numbingly big price of $1.3 million almost seems appropriate.
