| It's important to remember that a surfboard's performance (both paddling and riding) is not based on just 1 factor, but how all aspects of the surfboard work together. This overview is intended to be an introduction to the major components of the surfboard and the general effect each has on the board as a whole.
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Common tail designs consist of pin, round, squash, square and swallow. Wider tails gives more area to turn off, allowing for greater directional changes on smaller waves but can cause a lack of control in bigger surf.
Squash or Rounded Square - This is the most popular tail type in use today. There is more surface area so it has plenty of drive, is loose, and recovers easily on sliding moves.
Rounded Pin or Thumbtail - If you want to smooth out your surfing, this is a good thing to try. Not quite as much drive off the tail, but still plenty. The longer rail edge makes these boards surf really clean. Very nice for big roundhouse cutties.
Pin - This is what you want to have on your bigger boards because there is good holding power and drive. You can really feel the water run the edge of your board. When combined with hard edge in the tail, these boards have extra bite, which is great when you want to snap under the pitching lip and pull up into a draining barrel.
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Here are the main Bottom Contours that you will see on a surfboard.
Flat Bottom - As you might guess there is no concave in this type of bottom shape - it is just flat. This type of surfboard bottom contour works well on shortboards in small, crappy surf and is particularly useful for a 'heavier' surfer.
Single Concave - The Single Concave runs the length of the board and channels water from tip cleanly through the fins. This contour is designed for speed and works well in fast, large clean surf. This shape does not perform well in messy, lumpy surf and as such is not a good choice for a surfboard you want to use in all round conditions.
Double Concave - The Double Concave is seen on the majority of modern mainstream surfboards and is most likely the bottom concave your board has if you bought it straight off the rack at a surf shop. Generally the board will have a single concave from the nose which will gradually fade into a double concave towards the tail. The single concave towards the nose provides a good planing surface, giving the board drive. The double concave splits the water into two channels through the fins and creates a much looser ride - great for those flowing maneuvers.
Vee - The lowest point of the board in the water is by the stringer. This low point provides a pivot point and creates easy rail to rail surfing. This shape is normally used towards the tail of the board only - a board with a Vee contour will more than likely have one of the other concaves elsewhere. This is the popular choice for larger wave boards.
Channels - Channels are more of an experimental bottom contour and like the Vee are employed towards the tail of the surfboard. Channels work best in clean surf and are designed to create extra speed.
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Rocker is the upturn at the nose and at the tail and flows along the bottom of the board.
The rocker can affect speed and turning. In general a flat or straight rocker will assist in the speed going down the wave in a line, whereas tighter turns in the pocket can be achieved through a board with greater rocker or more curve allowing for more pivotal turns.
In general the amount of tail rocker determines how a board will turn - the more curve, the easier the board will be to turn, but can cause more drag and therefore slows the board. But this is all relative as in the case of advance surfers who tend to turn in the steep areas of the wave where fast speed is all ready present and the important thing is to have enough tail rocker to allow for a quick turn.
The nose rocker is the amount of curve in the bottom of the board from the middle forward. Too little of a nose rocker increases the chance that the nose to dig into the wave and catch or pearl. Having more nose rocker can cause resistance and lift under the nose of your board. In the case of long boards, low nose rockers are generally easier to nose-ride because there is less resistance to plane on the water from a straighter curve. High nose rockers will cause too much resistance and bogging when attempting to nose ride. But a high nose rocker is better suited for hollow, snappy situations, and in high performance long board riding when nose riding is not much of a consideration.
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Rails are the sides of the board. Boards can have low, medium, high rails that affects how thin or boxy they look and feel. Thin rails are very sensitive and unforgiving whereas a fuller rail provides more resistance and is harder to turn. A fuller rail is associated with a flatter deck (widthwise). This design creates more volume in the board
Thin rails means a thinner board that are more sensitive, i.e. your feet are closer to the water and the leverage situation is much better than a thick one. A thick board means your feet are farther away from the bottom of the board making it more difficult to turn.
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Fins allow you to steer your board. These can be glassed (permanently attached) or attachable systems. Attachable fin systems allow you to swap fin sizes and remove the fins completely which is great for traveling.
In general small fins allow for loose turns and slides whereas large fins permit drive and greater holding power. You will find that many surfboards have 3 fins. This is known as Tri-fin. The two fins by the rails allow a fin to be in the water when the board is making a turn. The third fin is used for drive and direction.
In general, depending on the fin(s) type and position, the plan outline, amount and where the rocker is on the board, rail design and the tail type will affect the way a board paddles, rides, steers and turns for different type of waves.
So now when the young sun tanned man or woman in the surf shop comes up to you and says, “this surfboard has a low entry rocker with softer, forgiving forward rails that progress to a boxy tail with a very hard bottom edge making this tail and rocker combo one that allows the board to hold in critical spots and breaks loose on cue.
You can interpret this as the board having a flatter or straighter rocker allowing a fast take off down a wave with a soft forward rails meaning it is a fuller side that is stable going straight and less likely to be sensitive to erratic turning or windshield wiping. However, the tail is boxy having a larger tail area allowing easier turning on smaller waves combined with a very hard bottom edge for a tail that increases sensitivity for turning. So this board in theory gives both a stable ride down or across a wave yet it allows for turning control on small to medium waves when the surfer pushes down toward the tail using the tail portion of the board for steering. But no matter what they say you have to ride it to see if its good for you with the type of waves you ride.
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