Just some thoughts and observations, like to hear what others think. I know rail design is subjective, and works in conjunction with all the other design features, so no hard and fast rules. But as a generalization, down rails seem to be characterized as giving good release, and planing up on the surface quicker or higher than soft rails, which are characterized more by gripping the wave (as in the famous spoon in the faucet test).
I think most modern boards have down rails in the tail, usuall with a pretty crisp edge, back in the fin area. While this is good for release, which seems logical in the tail, it also strikes me that in a turn, it has the opposite effect. When you jam a turn off the tail, the hard rail digs in and acts almost like a fin, biting into the wave and leveraging you forward through the turn. A softer rail back there, like on the old classic longboards, does not react the same, as the rounder rail won’t grab.
I have a board with down rails all the way, front to back. I really really like the board, its a longboard but with a pulled in nose and tail, not a noserider type longboard. The rails have a bit of a soft edge up front, still definitely down rails, but with a little round tuck under. But hard edge in the tail as normal. Anyway, I have noticed at certain points on a wave, like when I’m high on the face, and feeling like maybe the lip is going to pitch, and I re-direct back down (not talking about a cutback, but just moving down the face), I sometimes dig a rail. Thips never happens on my boards with round rails or pinched rails up front. So again, the down rail, rather than releasing, in this instance is doing the opposite, digging in.
Obviously there is operator-error to blame here, because when I step back and move my center of gravity more toward the tail, it doesn’t dig the rail like that. But I’m just observing how the release of the down rail can also function opposite.
And one more time I sometimes notice this, on a late take off on a hollow wave. The board doesn’t have much nose rocker, so here again all the factors work together for better or worse. But this is a spot I sometimes dig a rail up toward the front of the board. Not pearling exactly, but the effect is pretty similar. Dig a nose rail at takeoff, and the story ends as quickly as it began!
I can’t really comment yet, but I can edit my original post ;^)
I’m not saying down rails, or a board with down rails, is good or bad. Just another design element to consider. What I’m saying is that you have to think of down rails in two ways, release and grab. They do both. and by extension, soft rails do both too, only they tend to grab onto the wave face better in trim, but release or slip more in a hard turn.
mattwho - no problem, just an observation, I’ve seen it happen to others too, with similar rails. I love the board I was describing, you just have to ride it accordingly. Just making the comment that hard rails release, but hard rails catch too.