SurfBoard Technology
Contents
It seems as though every surfer has purchased a new board that didn't live up to their expectations. Unfortunately, you can't take a new board out for a test spin to see if the board you are in love with actually performs. At K-Coast, we beleive the best surfboard buyer is one equiped with the knowledge of how design features will affect the performance of a surfboard. If you know how you surf, the conditions you generally surf in, what you want a new board to do or how it will improve your surfing, and how the design features of a surfboard affect it, chances are you will find a board that will fit your needs.
Surfboard designs seem to always offer trade offs that force you to decide where you want to be on that field of options. If you want a board that will be strong and last for a long time you had better be prepared to sacrifice having a super light weight board. It is up to you how far you want to go in that trade off. If you ride generally flat, mushy, slow surf you will want a thicker board that will not perform as well in faster, more powerful surf. Again, the trade off is up to you. When buying a new board... KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
Template Design
The template of a surfboard is the outline of a board. Every board will be different from the one sitting next to it. There are numerous variables in how a template will affect the performance of the board. Unfortuneately it's not as simple as outline curves. The template is only one factor that will determine the correct board for you. A wider nose is good for getting into waves with ease yet a wide nose looses release during a tight, quick, snappy turns. A Wider tail will provide looseness, which is a common design in fishes. A wide tail tends to be "squirly" too, especially when ridden in stronger surf.
The overall width of the board is part of the template equation too. After it all it connects the nose to the tail, and is usually determined by the type of board it is. For example a fish that is wide in the nose and tail will probably be wide in the middle to provide speed and flotation. Conversely the typical shortboard that is narrow in the nose and tail will be narrow in the center as well.
Rail Design
Rails can be a complex factor in the design of a surfboard. Some surfers rarely examine the rails on their board. By and large, a rail will be "soft" or rounded at the nose all the way down the middle and beginning of the tail where they become more squared or "hard". Generally a soft rail is more forgiving during a turn allowing it to move through the water easier. A hard rail tends to allow the board to be snappier in turns, almost as if it slides across the water. Hard rails tend to dig in the wave as pump down the line too.
Many of the boards you will find in the shop will not have extremely hard rails, or ones that dominate the lower half of the board. Most shapers will use a soft rail that turns into a hard rail just above the side fins, unless you specify otherwise. The overall design of the board will also dictate the rail design too.
Thickness and Foil
The thickness of a board is a variable that is simple yet, gravely important, and often overlooked. A thicker board will be very buoyant and paddle very easy. However, it will feel sluggish and hard to manuever for someone who is small and light. It is important though to factor in not only your weight, but to also consider the times of year you will be riding this board and the amount of wetsuit you will be wearing, it adds up so calculate it. For example a 5'10" fish will not float a guy who is 6 feet tall and 200 pounds in the summer much less in a 5mm, boots, gloves, and hood. But don't go overboard either, you want the board to plane out which requires a certain amount of weight to sink it into the water a bit.
The foil of the board is essentially how the thickness is distributed through the length. Typically a board becomes thicker below the nose roughly where rocker begins. From here the board comes to it's thickest point, typically the center. From here the thickness is carried through to just above the side fins and becomes thinner through to the tail. It is important to understand where you place your feet on the board. Many times a rider will inch forward on the board to produce speed, this is fine in some situations, but be aware that you may be doing this to compensate for a lack of foam underneath your back foot, which will affect your ability to execute a turn and maintain speed through a turn, which will directly affect if you fall. Most fish's will have a thicker foil throughout the entire lenght of the board for just this reason to produce and maintain speed on small gutless waves.
Rocker
The rocker is the curvature of the board. There are two parts to what makes up the rocker in a board, the nose and tail. Rocker affects the speed, looseness, and overall performance of the board. A board with a lot of rocker is generally slow, but good in bigger surf because of the steepness of the wave and angle in which you must drop in at. For example look at rocker of a 7'2" gun and 5'10" fish and you will clearly see the fish is flatter from the center forward. This is because it needs to produce speed on a smaller, weaker wave than the gun which has the power of the wave pushing it.
Tail rocker will affect how loose the board is in a critical turn. It is almost an opposite affect as nose rocker. Many guns or bigger shortboards have mild rocker in the tails. Fish's and shortboards have mild rocker as well, but more than a gun, this helps in maneuverability as there is less of the fin in the water, thus creating a looser board.
Rockered out potato chip boards were once thought of as the performance board of choice. In some cases they are, but for the most part a board that has mild rocker is sufficient and one that is a potato chip usually reduces the performance level due the fact it is usually difficult to produce and maintain speed, especially on small waves.
Fin Design and Placement
With a few exceptions most boards today are equipped with a tri-fin set-up. Due to the countless fin combinations availabe by each fin manufacturer, you can set your board up to do just about anything. with that said -- what kind of fin do you want?
Most people have no idea how fins affect the performance of the board, some are confused, and others just don't care. For those of you who do care here's some info. It depends on how you ride. If you have surfed for some time you have a pretty good idea of how you surf. So when buying a new board, ask the salesperson to help you. Most of us here at K-Coast love to talk about that kind of stuff so you are not burdening us with this question, we like it. Because there are so many fins available from FCS, for example, it can sometimes be overwhelming. The foil, rake, depth, and base of a fin all affect how the board will perform. These elements also work together to define how the fin will perform so it is difficult to just describe one without referring to another. First some clarification to what all these terms mean, but keep in mind that these elements work together to define how the fin will perform so it is difficult to just describe one without referring to another.
The foil of a fin like the foil on the surfboard itself, is the distribution of the foam, or plastic as it were. The Foil affects the feel of the fin or the stiffness or flexibility of it. A flexible fin will push against a turn. It can make the board feel more forgiving but not as snappy during a maneuver. Conversely a stiff fin will have more drive and snap to it but turns can be difficult to execute due to its stiffness in the water.
The rake of a fin is the overall shape of the leading edge of the the fin. The rake is often associated with the projection of the fin as well, meaning how the fin will help to drive the board down the line and through turns. Upright rake is identifiable in a fin that's tip is not elongated at the end of it, or thats tip is directly over the base of the fin. This type of rake can give a feeling of stiffness in turns because it's depth is not displaced behind it and it has to push more water in one area opposed to a fin with a lot of rake that pushes water over a narrower tip and cuts through the water easier.
The depth and base of the fin is an important factor as well and works in conjunction with both rake and foil. The depth of the fin is simply the length of the fin from base to tip, or how deep it protrudes into the water. The base of the fin is the length of the fin from the front to the back of the fin's base. For simplicities sake, a large fin with a long base and depth will be a fin that a bigger surfer would probably choose, as they have more strength to move the surfboard through the water. The other side of the coin is that a grom would be better suited with a smaller based fin with little depth. Of course there are varibles to both these examples such as a rider wanting more speed and drive from the board, or a looser board, in which case the options are sometimes seemingly endless.
As for fin types, the boards we carry at K-Coast are available with FCS, Excel, Future, and O'Fishl fins, and we carry all of the popular fins for each company to better suit your needs.
Tail Design
Tail design, like every other design element on a surfboard affects how it will perform. Consider that when choosing your next board because it can sometimes make or break the board for you. A swallow tail is generally found on fish and will always make the board looser. The swallow tail can be identified by the inverted V cut in the tail of the board at the stringer, which comes to two points at the rail of the board. The purpose of the swallow tail is to make it looser by having less of a track in the wave allowing it to slide. Swallow tails can be found on shortboards and mini guns as well as fish's.
The squash tail is most commonly found on shortboards or thrusters, and summer squashes. For the most part it is more intended for all around performance. It holds better in the face of a wave than a swallow tail but still allows the rider to do radical maneuvers too. A wider squash tail will make the board looser which is a design element that the summer squash uses. The squash tail is easily identified by the squared off tail on a board.
The pin tail is commonly associated with big wave boards. Like the squash and swallow, there are many variations to the pin tail. A true pin tail (one with a sharp point) will track very well in a wave but will also be difficult to turn. There would be no snappy turns or 360's executed on a pin tail. The rounded pin is a good choice for riders wanting a performance board with the tracking and speed of a pin tail.
Think about what you want the board to do. Think about how you ride and your body size. For example if your not a powerful surfer with a lot of body mass a pin tail may not be the best board for you, especially if it is your only board. Look at the overall shape along with the tail design as they will directly affect the performance of the board.
Bottom Features
Bottom shape, like everything else affects the ride of the board. Most importantly they affect the flow of water through the board to the fins and out the tail.
Channels are the distinct grooves in a board. There can be as many as eight and as few as one. Channels produce speed because they "channel" water throught the flat section of the board and out the through the fins. Unfortuneately channels are very difficult for a shaper to implement into a surfboard, thus they are not very popular, and as a result you rarely seem them in a surfshop. But you can always order a board with them from a knowledgeable shaper.
Concaves are a very popular feature on surfboards. Single and double are the most well know and implemented types of concave and they help to give lift to the back of the board. This helps in producing speed and the execution of turns. Most all boards will have some degree of concave on them, but there are those boards that have flat bottoms.
