Theres a wealth on knowledge in the archives about building noseriders, and all information is purty consistent. Alot on info suggests that parallel rails are the call, but on Tom Wegeners website he claims that hips back is the key to a great nose rider. I understand that late tail kick and bottom concave, rolled bottom, and 50/50 rails play there part. But whats the call…hips back…parallel rails??
noseriding in the pocket - hips back.
maximize time on the tip / stay up on the shoulder - broad, parallel.
keep in mind, though, that you’re supposed to noseride in the pocket. it isn’t just form…it’s function! the style and skill of noseriding pushed people to want more time on the tip. consider the design differences between Bing’s Nuuhiwa Noserider and a board like Robert August’s Alex Knost model. both are great noseriders. Nuuhiwa has broad, parallel rails, and you can noseride that thing for days! you could do jumping jacks on the tip of that thing! Knost has hips back. the noserideability of the Nuuhiwa is legendary, but if you’ve ever seen the video on Surfline (i think) of Alex at malibu, or any of his clips in surf vids (i.e. “Sprout”), you’ll know he’s great on the tip. so, to the purists, who feel noseriding is for the pocket, hips back is their method of choice. but for those that want to maximize hang time, they’d probably be more comfortable with the added support a parallel-railed noserider offers.
The way I like to think about noseriding in the pocket is that you want to get as much water on the tail as possible to hole you on the nose. Pulling the tail in as late as possible gives more area to hold water on the tail as do the up rails. The kick in the tail sucks the tail into the water also. I dont think that the parrallel rails and late hips are mutually exclusive, as I “Think” the parrallel rails hold the board on the correct trajectory on a lined up/feathering wave, which is where the old school noserider works best. Loot at the rails on Tylers Riddler (See single fin yellow)to see the effect those rails have.
Please correct me if I’m wrong on this stuff.
There is no more Alex Knost Model from Robert August. Alex now rides for Dano in Costa Mesa (Newport Beach.)
i know…but that doesn’t mean all the boards just disappeared…i love that board!
I have two boards that fit each of these criteria. A 9’6" with parallel rails and a 10’er with hips.
The 10’er is a new board and I have not had it out in waves that were any good for noseriding for any more than a few seconds. But it does show potential to be a good noserider. I am still getting the feel of it. It is vastly different to ride than my parallel railer. Dimensions are 10’ x 23.5" x 16.5" nose x 15.75" tail x 3.25" thick. The wide point is 12" behind centre. The blank is a Surfblanks Aust Yater rocker.
The Parallel railer is 9’6" x 23" x 19" nose x 15.75" tail. The wide point is dead centre. It has a concave in the nose. This board does noseride well, but it does tend to out run the pocket sometimes. It works best if you come out of the white water and head for the nose while the tail is still buried in the white water. If that makes sense. It will run almost parallel to the wave when in trim. It has a very flat rocker and a flatish bottom. This is why it out runs the wave a bit I would think. Where as the 10’er has a fair bit of rocker, no concave and a rounder bottom. It feels like it wants to slow down when I head for the nose. Which will help it to stay closer to the pocket. I hope.
I origonally designed the 10’er for small waves. I think it has to much rocker for that. It seems to be better in faster hollower waves. Were the 9’6" is better in the smaller stuff. Well you live and learn. Both these boards are heavily glassed with 50/50 rails. platty.
Great information guys!! Beautiful boards(as always Platty). I really love the hip back on the 10’er. My style is definitely laid back closer to the pocket, so i think ill pull the hips back 6" to 8". im going to be building a 9’8" 20 x 24.75 x 17 board in the next couple on weeks, and this info was very useful and timely. Thanks