Ran into this site that advocates riding displacement hulls for surfing big waves. My big wave riding days are long over but I found this stuff interesting but a bit over my head (sorry about the pun).
What do you think?
http://www.quantum-surf-physics.com/future-surfboards-marine-designs
Lots of reasons to stay away from that nasty cold water , but that girl in the video is one brave soul .
hard to read, white lettering on white background. Looks like an interesting and thought provoking site, probably a bit over-technical (for me) and a bit over simplified at the same time. The forces at work in a breaking wave are difficult to pin down.
But from an empirical standpoint hulls make sense for large waves, keep u connected with the wave face when a skip or a bump can spell disaster. Makes sense to me 
Not as fast though.
…lots to read there uncled . I do a 10’ - 12’ late 50’s vintage gun which would be regarded as a “displacement hull”…It has a deep bowl entry , slight roll middle , running an excellerating vee through the back 1/3rd …whenever any big wave surfers pick it up , they all want to ride it …they understand what it is ,and how it works ,although it’s vintage in design …would love to see one ridden in the right waves for it…it’s a lovely design…pic= one of the masters of displacement guns
Nump
From late 1959, to 1968, my most frequent daily driver was a full-on big wave gun. During that time my boards ranged in size from 9’ 10’’ to 10’ 7’'. I was fine tuned into how those boards behaved in ALL conditions, in both California and Hawaii, summer and winter. The ONLY significant thing that made a difference in board performance, for me, was wave size. Bigger was ALWAYS better. (size matters, eh?) While water temp in theory, MAY have an effect, it’s not something I was ever aware of. (and I paid CLOSE attention to everything)
George Downing! The most knowledgeable waterman we have.
His youngest son Kainoa is my classmate and we’ve been friends for over 45 years. Keone is 5 years older and my brother’s friend. I used to ride their boards up until I started making mine. I still have my downing boards.
That pic has 2 very important people in the design of the modern surfboard. Behind George Downing is Wally Froiseth, the man who George, and one of the original hot curl designers. You cut out John Kelly, who was another original and very important surfer in Hawaii.
Downing’s Makaha longboard surfboard design maintains a lot of the characteristics of the older guns, in a modern longboard.
I’ve noticed that warmer water is salter, so you are more buoyant when swimming
I had a little trouble with the link showing what I think uncled wanted us to see.
For those having the same issue the following is what the websites author is advocating in terms of design for large waves.
I like it!
I have no experience with big wave riding.
But I have relevant experiences to catching nose in chop.
Formula windsurfing boards are known to catch nose on the back of waves or big chop when sailing a fast downwind course.
Some techniques exist to avoid it, like railing your board (see image below).
However, some boards seem to catch harder than others, leading to nasty crashes! Boards with more vee in the nose tend to catch much softer. If you look carefully you can see some double concave vee at the nose of this board.
