Longboard bottom contours

Many years ago I read an article in LongBoard Quarterly, as it was then. It was exploring the parameters of longboard design and as a young guy riding the new revival in longboards I soaked it up like a sponge. According to the article a flat bottom would start planing at anything slightly over paddling speed and would be fast but tricky to control. Well I took this as gospel, I mean it was written by Paul Gross or someone like that and heck…it’s right there in black and white in LBQ so it has to be true…right? I was riding rolled bottom Volan cruisers with soft rails at the time but soon started experimenting with lighter high performance designs. Somewhere along the way Wingy got me on some Mark Martinson designs. Soft low rails, flat bottoms. No breaks, concaves or edges. Well it was strange because the 9,4 worked well but the 10ft Predator of his wouldn’t paddle into waves, not the sloping slow beach break waves we get here in North Devon.

I recently returned to riding a heavier traditional style board, a 10,2 Blacker with a really rolled bottom. The first thing I noticed was how fast it was! It’s gradually dawned on me that the rolled bottom has much less wetted surface and less suction acting on the bottom of the board. You all probably know this already but for me it was a ‘lightbulb’ moment.

Anyway it was a blast but I found the board to narrow for my taste at 22" and had to really nurse it through turns on small waves where it should have excelled. So we’ve been putting down some ideas for a 10foot twin stringer design.  The stringers will be dark cedar and set 10" apart. The aesthetic of the blank lends itself to something akin to the Hynson down railed noserider or the Penetrator. My good friend and shaper Chris Jones has always been a great admirer of the late Con Colburn and we are thinking of a Wingnose design.

Now…and this is where I need ideas, is it possible to combine the low dropped rails with the flat planing surface under the nose without ending up with something that pearls and catches a rail in the tiniest bit of chop? Can this design work with some nose lift added?

Also has anyone experience of a board with this kind of bottom? ie flat under the nose gradually going progressively more rolled as it goes into the tail area. Dropped 70/30? Rails in the nose going to soft 50/50 s in the back half of the board. How do they ride? John Peck says his Penetrator design is slow off the tail ( well it’s a rolled bottom and soft rails and of course it will slow down when stalled anyway) but speeds up when he walks forward. Is this because he’s in the trim zone for that particular shape?

Any experience or advice would be very interesting. I’d really like to build something different to the same old trad noserider shapes.

Thanks guys.

While I don’t agree with some of your assumptions regarding the rolled bottom on the Blacker, I would have to agree that what worked for you worked for you, if you know what I mean?

From what I know about longboard bottoms, the rocker is just as, if not more important than belly, roll, concave, or vee.

Get a long straight stick and try measuring the rocker on the boards you like.  Then try measuring the side-to-side contours.  Next check the rail transitions (foil.)  Lastly, check the fins.  Sometimes just the wrong fin will make a board tricky in the take-off zone.  A concave in the nose can make a longboard more difficult to paddle in.

The flat rockered noses of the Con Wingnose or Peck Penetrator might be a bit tricky to ride but most people would agree that flat is fast when it comes to rocker.

If you’ve found something that works, pick that thing apart from stem to stern and write stuff down.  Use that data when ordering your blank and when you shape it.  It all has to work together. 

 

Any experience or advice would be very interesting. I’d really like to build something different to the same old trad noserider shapes.

Have you seen the Smooth-e by ACE?  I think its a great alternative to the same old noserider shapes!

Here’s what a Shaper I talked to at the beach says: rolled bottom to last 1/4 of board. Flat at rear, or vee. So I take it the roll is deepest out nose, and progressively fades to zero at the last quarter where it goes flat out tail…rails 50/50s I’m thinking might be classic? I hope I remembered what the man said? :/?

Normally I would not comment but rocker is #1 and johnmellor has given very sound advice.

“If you’ve found something that works, pick that thing apart from stem to stern and write stuff down.”

Proper rocker for given waves? What John is saying is IMO the best way to proceed.

Me I’m in Ventura County So. Cal. and we do have flat faced low energy waves and longboard wise ,John’s comment “The flat rockered noses of the Con Wingnose or Peck Penetrator might be a bit tricky to ride but most people would agree that flat is fast when it comes to rocker.” I was around and at least rode the Con and stayed outta the way of the John Peck MP Penetrator’s (fast boards).

In short, low nose/entry rocker and flat bottom with tail rocker like in photo US Blanks 9-9B +1/4" @12" tail (public rockers) add some concaves under your feet and Zoom.

Eh nose rides too, some skill required.

Aloha