how wide could you go on a nose of a longboard before it got ridiculos and wouldnt surf well. Most boards that i have seen in the 9 to 10 foot region dont go any wider then 19. but the mike doyle model by robert august is 19.5 and it said it was pretty absurd to be that wide. Could you go over 20 inches wide in the nose without making a board that wouldnt ride like crap. And if you could do that your wide point would have to be around like 24 or 25 inches, then you would run into the problem of ease of padlling. would making a nose rider wider then 19 inches create more a of a headache then a help.
Yeah, I just had a board- 9’9"x 21x 24 1/2 x 16. It worked but not well enough to justify the width. I have another board 9’11" x 21 x 25 x 17 works good, it’s only 2 3/4" thick to counter the increased board width. I use it for small mushy waves, it’s like a side walk. But anything that has a decent curl/wall to it, I tend to use one of two boards 9’6" x 19.5 x 24 x 16.5 or 9’9" by 19x 24.5 x 16.5 …None of these boards are over 3" thick and all of them have pretty much the same bottom curve and contours. (single concave to slight belly) Of all these boards, the 9’6" is ridden the most by far, and it is my favorite board, even though it’s totally trashed. I’m a pretty big guy- 6’2" 195… thought I’d add that. -Carl
There are different types/styles of noseriding/noseriders. If you have not read “Tom Wegeners” design articles http://www.tomwegenersurfboards.com/articles_page.htm, I’d strongly suggest doing so. The type of noserider your after may dictate how wide you want to go. My 10’6" is only 17.5" at the nose and 24.5" at the center. It nose rides nicely in the fast step sections. I’m also 195lbs.
In short if you want to noseride out on the shoulder go wide, if your want to noseride in the pocket and step sections you don’t need that much width.
You hit it, super wide noses will excell on wave that are not steep or hollow, as soon as it start sucking out, the tail will break free, A narrower nose likes a hollow section to be ridden in, where the nose riding SHOULD take place. I have clients that give me orders with 21" dimensions on the card, it is either the board looks like a stirring stick, or push out the center to 25" to keep some curve. I almost always try to pull in the nosesand tails on longer boards (over 10 feet) otherwise they become so parallel that it is obscene. Ghunt, isn’t his exactly what we did when laying out your 11 footer?