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Leo Burnett Tailor Made and Samsung launch the first smart surfboard

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I've only ever been surfing once and it was an unmitigated disaster. Let's just say my I couldn't properly feel my face for a solid fortnight afterwards. That doesn't mean, however, that I don't appreciate it, indeed I'd never have even tried if I didn't. There's something effortlessly graceful about watching a skilled surfer ride the crest of a breaking wave to completion, and something deeply cathartic too, which is why it puzzles me that surfing isn't more of a popular spectator sport.

Logic dictates that it might be because it's difficult for a spectator to truly experience what it feels like to catch a great wave, which it what leaves it feeling like a pretty solitary sport. Samsung, the Korean tech giants with their fingers in just about every pie imaginable, obviously agree, as they've developed a surfboard prototype to promote connectivity between surfer and fan, and help fans watching from the beaches and around the world experience the thrill of surfing with the help of some pretty nifty technology.

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Samsung has always believed in me and in my work. I’m very happy to continue being a part of this team. I love technology and the brand’s products” Gabriel Medina

The Samsung Galaxy Surfboard is a project that took a year and a half to complete. Powered by a micro controller card and designed by shaper Johnny Cabianca, who is also responsible for the world champion’s surfboards, the heart of the board is a Galaxy S7 smartphone and a drawer on the side of the board that receives messages from Twitter posts with a predefined hashtag that are displayed on the unidirectional screen installed on the deck of the board. To read the messages on the deck, LED lights were built into the board that allow the display to be viewed. What’s more, it displays graphics with real-time information regarding the direction and intensity of the wind and the series of oncoming waves. A quite literal smart board then, some might say.

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The board has been launched with a campaign by Leo Burnett featuring Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina (world surfing champion of the 2014 ASP World Tour). The idea behind the board, and its accompanying campaign, is to break down the barrier between the lone surfer and the rest of the world, and bring the coach and the thousands of fans around the world closer to the surfer at sea. Medina was invited to test the board for the first time at a special practice sessions before the Rio de Janeiro leg of the World Championship Tour on April 26, and the spectacular results can be seen (and marvelled at) in the video below.

Samsung Galaxy Surfboard

Marcelo Reis, Co-President of Leo Burnett Tailor Made, said: “Unlike other sports, in professional surfing, the athletes are away from the fans from their country almost the entire year. Even during practice, surfers spend hours out at sea, while their coaches are on the shore. These distances are obstacles to the athletes’ evolution and motivation. With the help of Samsung’s technology, we created the Galaxy Surfboard, a board that will connect Medina with his coach and fans while he’s out in the water, in real time.”

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Loredana Sarcinella, Senior Marketing Director for Samsung's Mobile Devices division, added: “Samsung believes that technology helps drive people’s talent. We are always offering a world of possibilities through new experiences for our consumers. Since 1986, Samsung has supported, sponsored and promoted various sports initiatives in the countries hosting them. More than supporting athletes, we want to provide them with solutions. The board offers this innovative look at a solitary sport and our convergent technology is a strong differentiator for this and various other sports.”

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The board itself was created by Leo Burnett Tailor Made, and it underscores Samsungs’s concept of connectivity anytime, anywhere, and their connection to the surfing community (Samsung also sponsors the World Surf League). If you were being cynical, you could say it's a shame that something so pure is being polluted by social media piffle, but this isn't a board designed to let its riders check their Twitter feeds, it's a board designed to make surfing more relatable, safer, and more spectacular. Plus, the idea of a surfboard talking to its rider means we're only a hop, a skip and a jump away from a surfing Night Rider. And that can only be a good thing.

Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and struggling musician from the dark heart of Kidderminster in the UK. This campaign only underscores his frustration at being terrible at anything even remotely sporty.

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