Front Rails

General Discussion
1

When I search on “front rails”, very little comes up. I understand that rails aft of wide point are more active, especially in the rear 18", and this the reason so much design is focused on them. So I thought I’d start the discussion. Is it safe to say that, besides noseriders, the front 12" rails in the nose section don’t function very much at all on smaller and or mushy waves? More importantly, in those same waves, the rails between wide point and 12" back from nose are in contact with the water during trim and glide. I’ve always thought that for this reason they should generally be soft and either 50/50 or slightly down? This section does part the water, passing it down to the center and aft, so the more flat area the better, so it planes earlier and faster. So Im thinking down and soft if you’re on waves that have a bit of energy and 50/50 soft for waves that dont? Ive tried boxy rails in this section and found them to me fast, but made the board feel harder to control. 

EDIT:

Found a related post out here and I think I may have this all wrong. Here it is:

Soft rails cause rail grab because they allow water to wrap. They also reduce lift. Do this up front and the front edges hang up and plane later.

Hard rails reduce rail grab because water is sheered out. They also induce lift. Do this up front and the front edges are free and plane earlier.

Thick rails resist the wave face, reduce rail grab.

Thin rails penetrate the wave face, inducing rail grab.

A tucked edge in the front 1/3 creates lift, keeping the nose and edges up and free. This reduces rail grab/catching.

Now Im trying to figure out if these principles apply to both weak mushy waves the same way they apply to large clean waves.

2

  They do.

3

Convex control surfaces add control, edges add release.  

Much of the choice comes down to what you’re trying to do with the board.  What conditions, how you’re trying to surf those conditions, how much of the work you want the board to do vs the surfer, etc.   For some designs you WANT the board to ride higher and release more quickly/abruptly, and for others you want exactly the opposite.   

This applies to the rails at the tail as well as the nose.  Some traditional noseriders use 50/50 rails in the tail because they want the tail to hold in when the rider is perched on the other side of the board.  Some high performance designs run a tucked rail+ edge all the way to the nose.  By itself that combo is more lively and resonsive but also harder to control.   

4

thanks for confrming

5

Gdaddy, always showing up with clear succinct advice. Thanks for reminding me that requirements dictate features.

By the way, Im stil riding the 6’9 egg you helped me with. Last year I swapped the california classic with a skip frye and it made a world of difference, can do quick pivot turns on the bottom turn now

6

Good for you on that egg.  Once you get the design right on one of those they turn into a keeper that you hang onto regardless of what else you’re riding.