So I’m planning on shaping a nose rider and am after some advice on trying to find a basic outline for board shape and stringer. I’ve done some research on the basic principles of what I’m looking for when it comes to rail, nose, tail and fin shape and how the concave should be and now I’m trying to find a basic plan for my stringer and was wondering if there was any good websites to help me find a plan or diagram on what I’m after. This will be my first nose rider that I’ve ever made and looking for as much advice and information as posable.
When you say “plan for stinger” what exactly do you mean? Do you mean rocker? Rocker is something that you might need help with but stringers are more of a preference thing as far as weight and aestetics are concerned. For a noserider I would do something cool like a T-band stringer or maybe even triple stringers. That will give it A COOL aestetic. Rocker is a whole other story. Generally Noseriders have low entry rocker and a bit of flip in the tail. I cant give you exact number though. Good luck.
Planshapes for noseriders are generally wider up front with some parallel lines for holding the board into the wave face. If you are indeed, speaking about planshapes aka outlines, just Google "noserider surfboards using Google images and you will see a gazillion bonafide outlines to mimic.
More important (at least in my book) is rocker - primarily bottom curve to most shapers. You will find good noseriding capabilities with a flatter forward section of the board desired with accelerated rocker out the tail end. For instance, you might like a flatter straighter noserocker of 3-1/4"to 3-1/2" at the tip of the nose with a tail rocker ranging between 3-3/4" to 4-1/4". Hopefully you have a rocker stick to measure this stuff.
It might help you to envision your bottom curve by positioning where the curve accelerates in the tail section under your back foot… kind of a lever under your back foot that allows you to swing the board easily into turns & cutbacks. Behind the back foot you accelerate the curve heading out to the tail. If you want the board to have more of a classic trim point, like the 60’s boards, the front end is straighter and max trim speed is usually attained at around 2 ft. back from the nose… however, with conocaved noseriders, there is a choice as to whether you are shaping a “closed teardrop” concave or “blended aka flow thru” concave.
Closed tear drop concaves are slower by design, allowing you to clock more time on the nose. Flow thru or blended concaves create lift while still allowing the water passing thru the nose section to escape easier generating more speed. The straighter rocker forward section of the board is lifted by generous tail rocker versus thinking you will lift the nose with kick in it. That is very important to keep in mind: tail rocker lifts the nose, not the other way around.
Lots of shapers opt for a lower nose rail… obviously you will make your own choices on what your combinations are. Just remember that good noseriders are designed to keep the tail in contact with the water versus releasing water off them. That should help you in determining bottom, rail & outline shape for the back end of your new board.
If this is your first one, copy the nose & tail rockers from one you know works. Same with the nose concave. There are plenty of designs out there, many suck. Some have enormous nose concaves which make nose riding easy, but paddle like crap. On critical elements like rocker, stick with what you know works for now. There’s a big amount of effort and cost on a 9-6 LB and you don’t want to end up with a dog. Predictable results by minimizing risks.
