Hello, I’m a French longboarder. I started with shortboarding and later chose longboarding because I prefer smooth curves and tube riding than radical moves and enjoyed occasional walking on the nose. I’m now considering shaping myself a board and, like anyone I guess, I’m trying to find the right combination of factors to have the best board for my level, style, and spots I get to surf. Of course I could tell you I’m 5’10" and weight 67 kg and I’d like a board to do this and that … But I’d rather instead understand on my own how a board works and what happens if I change one design parameter (for exemple : what if I make the nose a bit thicker ?). Two points appeared important to me, and to most people surfing in my area : - the ability to paddle and catch waves (in fall and winter we often get 6’ to 8’ long swell breaking far outside with strong currents and moving peaks) - the ability to surf two different sort of waves : over here waves break on sand banks and due to overall swell direction and currents we both get rights that are rather slow but longlasting and very hollow lefts on shallow sand banks (it broke my longboard last summer). All in all, it’s hard to pick a board that does it all : good paddler, both good in small or slow waves as well as in fast and hollow barrels. Therefore I tried to come up with a simple table for an “all-around” longboard (neither a pure glider/nose rider nor a hi-perf rides-like-a-shortboard model so that I could lay down all the parameters and pick the best options. I quickly found out that I could seldom answer any of the points I had listed and I’m not even sure whether or not my answers are right. Some of you guys do know a lot about shape and design and I thought you could help me fill in the blanks. Plus, this generic table can be of interest to anyone, which is why I thought I could post this message. Pierre Notation works as follow (sorry I could manage to post a table) : example : longboard length (+)(?)(+) * First sign refers to Paddling and Catching wages. * Second sign refers to surfing fast and hollow waves. * Third sign refers to surfing slow or small waves. (+) means a significant positive impact (-) means a significant negative impact (0) means no significant impact (?) means I don’t know ! * Length (+) (?) (+) * Outline : - overall width (+) (-) (+) - widest point moved forward (+) (?) (?) - widest point moved backward (?) (?) (?) - “eye shaped” outline (?) (?) (?) - “parallel” rails (?) (?) (?) * Nose width (?) (?) (?) * Tail : - tail width (+) (-) (0) - roundtail (?) (?) (?) - pintail (?) (+) (?) - squaretail (?) (?) (?) - diamond tail (?) (?) (?) * Rocker : - nose rocker (-) (?) (?) - tail rocker (?) (?) (?) - progressive curve all along (?) (?) (?) - sharper curves at the ends (?) (?) (?) * Thickness : - overall thickness (+) (?) (?) - tail thickness (+) (?) (?) - nose thickness (?) (?) (?) * Rails : - 50/50 (?) (?) (?) - 60/40 (?) (?) (?) - thick/boxy rails (+) (?) (?) - thin/foiled down rails (?) (?) (?) * Deck shape : - flat (?) (?) (?) - domed (?) (?) (?) * Bottom shape : - flat nose (?) (?) (?) - concave nose (?) (?) (?) - flat tail (?) (?) (?) - V tail (?) (?) (?) * Single fin : - wider based fin (?) (?) (?) - deeper fin (?) (?) (?) - fin moved forward (?) (?) (?) - fin moved backward (?) (?) (?)
Pierre?..you wouldn’t be Pierre Gascogne, would you?! Yes or no, you have beautiful waves in France…long live La Barre!
Pierre?..you wouldn’t be Pierre Gascogne, would you?! Yes or no, you have > beautiful waves in France…long live La Barre! No I’m not. Pierre Gascogne is the guy behind Surf Session, a french magazine that also edits the translated version of Surfer’s Journal. I live a bit further North than Pays Basque (Guettary, Biarritz, La Barre …) in the Landes forest. I surf a spot called Biscarosse.
Cool idea. I like the chart. Here’s my attempt at filling it in – I would love to see other’s input.>>> * First sign refers to Paddling and Catching wages.>>> * Second sign refers to surfing fast and hollow waves.>>> * Third sign refers to surfing slow or small waves.>>> (+) means a significant positive impact (-) means a significant negative > impact (0) means no significant impact (?) means I don’t know !>>> * Length (+) (0) (+)>>> * Outline :>>> - overall width (+) (-) (+)>>> - widest point moved forward (+) (+) (0)>>> - widest point moved backward (+) (-) (0)>>> - “eye shaped” outline (0) (+) (0)>>> - “parallel” rails (+) (-) (+)>>> * Nose width (+) (-) (+)>>> * Tail :>>> - tail width (+) (-) (0)>>> - roundtail (+) (0) (0)>>> - pintail (-) (+) (-)>>> - squaretail (0) (0) (0)>>> - diamond tail (0) (0) (0)>>> * Rocker :>>> - nose rocker (?) (?) (?)>>> - tail rocker (?) (?) (?) Too much of anything is no good.>>> - progressive curve all along (0) (+) (-)>>> - sharper curves at the ends (-) (?) (-)>>> * Thickness :>>> - overall thickness (+) (-) (+)>>> - tail thickness (?) (?) (?) Not sure I understand how to answer here.>>> - nose thickness (?) (?) (?)>>> * Rails :>>> - 50/50 (+) (-) (+)>>> - 60/40 (0) (+) (0)>>> - thick/boxy rails (+) (-) (0)>>> - thin/foiled down rails (?) (+) (-)>>> * Deck shape :>>> - flat (0) (0) (0)>>> - domed (0) (+) (0)>>> * Bottom shape :>>> - flat nose (+) (+) (0)>>> - concave nose (0) (0) (+)>>> - flat tail (0) (?) (0)>>> - V tail (0) (?) (?)>>> * Single fin :>>> - wider based fin (0) (-) (0)>>> - deeper fin (0) (?) (0)>>> - fin moved forward (0) (-) (0)>>> - fin moved backward (0) (+) (0) Swaylock
Cool idea. I like the chart. Here’s my attempt at filling it in – I would > love to see other’s input.>>> Too much of anything is no good.>>> Swaylock Thanks a lot for your input. Compiling this with info that I’ve been able to gather in other swaylocks postings should allow me to make a bit more sense out of surf designs. Pierre