Developing a product in an online community could give you something to look forward to next summer
Crowd sourcing ideas has been a concept for years, but now using forums like GrabCAD it’s developing a stage further to the actual design and production.
Siim Teller, the unlikely surfer in this story, is originally from central Estonia – not known for it’s devil-may-care surfer dudes.
Having caught the bug while on the West Coast of the UK three years ago Siim rates himself as a decent surfer, but one hankering after his own personal board, but in a surfless country like Estonia it was going to be hard.
This planted the idea of using crowd sourcing to design, engineer and eventually build a board.
A 2D sketch image was found from a surfboard forum online, and this, along with a pleading, not entirely specific request was posted on GrabCAD.
In a short time a couple of members had got in touch with two different models, to which Siim tweaked a little more to create what he thinks would be an ideal minimal board for ‘mellow waves’.
The next step is the building of the board as the chances of production in Estonia are a big fat zero. Already Siim has been contacted by a shaper from the UK who could help turn it into a real board.
It’s by no means a perfect board (the guys who modeled it aren’t surfers) but it shows that you can produce pretty much anything in a matter of days with a buoyant community in full swing.
If you think you can help get in touch here.
