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Google for "Sinha deturbulator tape." He's reportedly done work in conjunction with Mississippi State University, no slouch in the aero department. Doesn't answer emails, though. The soaring crowd was pretty stoked about this concept, and apparently did some comparative glide tests, and found the tape worthwhile due to significant gains in L/D.
Anyhow, I suspect there is more to it than maintaining zero flow at the skin surface, per shark skin. Denis Bushnell was ~27 years ago looking for a good shark to freeze and test in the NASA Langley wind tunnel, as part of his compliant wall surface study. The 3M riblet film used on America's Cup sailboats was based on the sharkskin concept, certainly good and an improvement, but perhaps not be the final word on optimum skin design.
Feathers evolved over millions of years to do several things, including streamlining, but also as insulation, chill factor being what it is at altitude and speed. Perhaps we should have a closer look at the Arctic Tern, which flies pretty much non-stop from pole to pole. Surely, this is one of nature's finest works, from which we might learn.
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