Snowboards Have a Lot to Learn From Catamarans

Nick Gilson was 14 years old when he decided to try to build a snowboard inspired by boats. He’d often sailed in his native Rhode Island and once helped his father build a catamaran. The vessel’s parallel twin hulls make it faster than traditional yachts. Gilson wondered if a similar design could be applied to snowboards, which typically are flat on the bottom. So he started to work on a prototype.

In 2013—10 years later—he co-founded Gilson Boards. The company’s boards feature two runners straddling the bottom, creating a channel and providing more versatility and control in various snow conditions, Gilson says. A bigger selling point has been the softer, curved edge. Put a ruler across one of the boards, Gilson says, and it won’t lie flat because of the curves. That, he claims, makes the board more fun to ride: “It allows you to engage in playful moves—you can turn and drift and float on the snow,” similar to surfing techniques. “By changing the base design, we could fundamentally change the performance of the board.”