The separation (or coincidence) of rocker low point and wide been mentioned in this thread, but NJ’s the only one who made an allusion to thickness, the other item in the mix.
For what’s it’s worth I push my thickest rail forward of midpoint width and rocker low point to get a gunny feel in a shortboard (and a looser feel in a semi-gun). My theory is that the rail foiling, when set up right, acts to speed water flow during those g-force buried driving turns (lol).
By the way, having a thick point way front of centre plays havoc with other lines. Wierd combinations of flat and domed decks and problems with bunny ears at the rails. Helps if the “thick point” actually little changed for 50% of the board by using similar top rocker to bottom rocker. But listen to someone experienced like Mike Daniels, not a hack like me.
I know fish boards have widepoints farther foreward that 1 or 2 inches. If we're talking performance shortboards and you move the widepoint up say... 2" , do you move the rail thickness up 2" as well? How about just taking a blank and cutting 6" or so off the nose? Will this have the same effect?
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Some fish have the wp way up, mine don't. If the board's short enough that you can get your front foot close to wp, it'll sort of work. Like I said, this is one of the things we've learned in the last 30 years.... I'm not a fan of ''retro'' fish with wp up a foot. Yeah, I know I'm a heretic. Burn me at the stake.
In response to the second part, the wp, locus of center thickness, and fullest part of rail should not be too far from each other, IMO. And cutting 6'' off the nose can do different things on different blanks; but I think I see what you're getting at. In general, it would shift thickness forward.
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Hey mike, my best board so far ( twin keel ) had the WP +2ish and an even width in the nose and tail, and it was insane fun, cheater fives and trim from the front, but still turned pretty good ( considering my skill level haha ). Wouldn't put it more forward than that if ( when! ) i do another. Thanks for sharing trade secrets!!