I’m planning a new shape, an 8’-8’6, something not too light and with plenty of glide but still a little loose in back for waist to eventually head high waves. Going for a mild pig inspired pintail of sorts I think.
My objectives for the rocker are glide both while paddling and while in trim, so I’m wanting something with low rocker. They look so great in trim.
My question for you is, what do you think an appropriate number for “low rocker” is in this situation, for the sole purpose of getting a blank. Otherwise I’d eyeball it.
I was looking at US blanks 10-2B, chopped and flipped around I could start with say 2.5" entry and 1.70" in the tail but those numbers seem high to me, but I have no clue honestly. Could bring it down a tad with the 10-8 but not much.
Scared of starting from scratch but may do that if I can find a good foam block w/ stringer already in. Whaddaya think or should I take my rocker stick down to the surf shop ha ha thats a joke.
Edit:
Hmm forgot I can’t reply anymore but thanks for the help fellas.
When I think of low rocker for a midlength I’m thinking along the lines of 3.25" in the nose and 2" in the tail. As for piggy midlength singlefins, Brian Hilbers (Fineline) has been doing his Hot Generation (arc tail) and Puerto Rico (rounded tail) models and those have been pretty popular. I’ve (weakly) emulated both designs and I think they’re the best surfing midlengths I’ve ever built. For the way I surf, anyway. Everyone I’ve done one of these for has loved them, so all credit goes to Mr Hilbers for the design.
Here’s a vid of him shaping a midlegnth Hot Generation. He starts with a longer blank and cuts ~8" off the tail. That moves the centerpoint of the blank’s rocker back toward the widepoint of his template, and it shortens the tail rocker. I’ve done similar on various lengths and it really seems to suit the design. I tend to order my blanks with less nose rocker and leave the stock tail rockers alone.
I don’t know why you are so willing to send all That foam off of a longer blank to a landfill. There are plleennty blanks in the 8’ range by Arctic, Millennium and US Blanks that could easily do the job. What a waste of foam and Not very “Green” of you. Not only that but you will have to turn out a mountain of foam dust to get where you want to be. Order yourself a suitable blank. That is unless your in some inland local of Uganda and just can’t afford the shipping on anything less than 10’6". And; Your rocker #'s are ridiculous. Get on the internet and cruise the catalogs of all three Poly Blank Suppliers plus Marko and you will see what I mean. Never the less if you were naive enough to really shape a board with minus (almost negative) rocker; you could easily order a blank with that kind of rocker from any of the above. Or you could go down to the Depot and buy a piece of dead flat insulation foam and go from their. PS – Take yor rocker stick down to the local surf shop. And that’s not a joke.
One more thing I’ll mention about rockers and then I’ll leave it alone. Once you get to ~3.25" in the nose rocker on a piggy midlength shape you actually do start to bury the nose as you paddle if there’s any degree of chop in the water. The piggy shapes tend to be more sensitive to your paddling position because the center of mass is further back and you have less support under your chest than you would with a popscicle stick shaped noserider. Ther’s less margin for error. You can’t just scoot back toward the tail to keep the nose higher without it getting into your way when you’re trying to paddle into a wave.
So when you’re talking about dropping below 3" in the nose that makes for a markedly more difficult shape to paddle. Remember, the less surface area your board has, the more work you have to put into getting the board up to speed and the later your drops will be. There’s nothing graceful about pearling on longboard or midlength. Besides, unless you’re a 125# stickboi you won’t be noseriding on a midlength anyway, so there’s not that much utility in going super low on a midlength.
If this is your first board in the shorter length then you’ll need to learn how to surf it. So concentrate on that.
Nothing hateful about it. The original numbers mentioned in the OP are ridiculous. They are just what they are. There’s more rocker in a suitcase. I was once criticized(not to my face, but 3rd party) by a well known shaper on Maui for shaping a “Reverse " rockered board. Like it was some kind of accident. But the #'s originally mentioned here aren’t even that logical… My big question is where did numbers like that come from? What bothers me is the comment that " those #'s seem high”.
OK, he wants a low rocker and you warned him, because you think it will not work, but it seems to me that he has an idea. So let him try, where is the problem?
Regarding low rocker, I’m not an experienced shaper and my boards have lots of tail rocker and reasonably front rocker, what about alaias, toothpick or the foam experiment of Ryan Burch?
[Quote]My question for you is, what do you think an appropriate number for “low rocker” is in this situation, for the sole purpose of getting a blank. Otherwise I’d eyeball it.
[/quote]
He asked the question. It was answered. If there is a problem, perhaps it is in a dissatisfaction with the answers? I don’t know, I actually wasn’t aware there was a problem.
I don’t think anyone has tried to prevent him from building whatever he wants, however he wants, only to steer him away from building something he doesn’t want.
Here is an 8-4 I made some time back, similar but not identical to the planned shape. Low rocker makes for great glide, and ease of paddling. I don’t have the exact numbers, but can get them. Prob something like 4" & 2". (apologies to J.M.)
I’ve made a handful of boards with very low rocker. They paddle great, and glide through flat spots, but they also have problems. You need to be a good surfer to make them work in a wider range of waves. They are hard to drop into steep waves. In bigger waves (head high or bigger) can be sketchy making the drop if you don’t angle in. The nose can dig in when there’s any chop, and that will throw you head over heals.
I have a board with numbers close to what you are thinking about. I’ve had that one out in solid overhead, but I prefer it in waves head high or less. I think you can do a low rocker but add a slight kick in the nose to help from pearling. Adding tail rocker will help make the board turn better. I’ve used 3" in the nose and close to 3" in the tail on some boards and that seems to be a good alternative.
Here’s a board with similar rocker numbers, but it’s only 7-6.
I think those #‘s are extreme. And to hack two foot off a blank to get them is even more extreme… I’m sure the ride report will be that it rides bitchin’ and we’ll all start building boards with little or no rocker.