From Quiksilver’s tailored office-ready wetsuit to Robbie Madison – the man who turned his motorbike into a surfboard – it seems no-one is immune from temptation to innovate the ocean’s oldest extreme sport. Including tech giant Samsung.
The Brazilian arm of the company, better known for its phones and tablets, has just unveiled a concept for the world’s first smart surfboard. Shown in action with Brazilian pro surfer and WSL World Champion Gabriel Medina in the slick video above, the Galaxy Surfboard looks like an average – but admittedly stylish – surfboard until you notice the integrated LED screen powered by a Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone.
Designed to cure the loneliness of the solitary surfer out at sea, the screen allows fans and supporters – in this case Medina’s father Charles – to text him messages of encouragement from the beach.
In addition, the board can also feed the surfer live information about sea conditions and the height and frequency of waves as well as allow coaches to text advice and tips from dry land. This, Samsung say, makes the board a valuable coaching tool as it solves the issue of distance and makes immediate feedback possible without wasting time coming in to the beach after every wave.
The board shown in the video was created specially for Medina and is currently the only one in existence. Samsung has not announced plans to put the smart board into commercial production but you can guarantee that, if and when they do, it will instantly become one of the best toys for your superyacht.