My friend gave me an old beat-up Al Merrick Sashimi that I restored. It has no nose. Originally, it was 5’11" x 18 7/8" x 2 3/8". It’s sort of a modern-fish, like a small-wave thruster.
Since it has no nose, it’s about 5’5" or 5’6". I rounded off the edges of the blunt nose and it looks pretty good.
I was just wondering though, does the chopped off nose make a big difference in paddling? Did I lose a lot of volume when the 4-5 inches of nose was broken off?
Despite the lack of the board having a nose, the board still has 3 inches of nose rocker. So, I could still ride the board without the nose and not have too much of a problem with nose-dives. But if they board paddles poorly, I’d rather just get a piece of scrap foam and make a new nose for it, then slap it on there.
The reason I’m not just paddling out and figuring out the answer to this question for myself is because it’s expected to be flat for the next WEEK or two (depressing, i know). So I figured now is a better time than ever to find out the answer.
If the original nose was above the water during paddling, and now it’s gone, then it didn’t make any difference whatsoever.
During paddling, the board’s hull is functioning entirely in displacement mode. What’s above the waterline isn’t displacing any water, so it’s not contributing to flotation, or anything, just dead weight going along for the ride.
Did you lose volume? Of course you did. The missing bit has three dimensions, thus it has volume. What you really are asking, I think, is whether it’s gonna be worth it to replace the missing bit.
There are two possible scenarios that I thinkk it could make a difference: if it gives you more flotation when you paddle. If you need more flotation, a little bit of nose ain’t the way to do it, you should get a board with a larger volume or lose some weight.
You don’t have a problem pearling, so I see you don’t need extra area up there.
If the nose is continually underwater when paddling, the slight increase in length will help paddling a little little bit.
You’re eight inches and 90 pounds smaller than me (maybe this is a good thing) so you may need the nose more than I think you would.