I’m about to shape an 8’0" funboard/egg and am a bit uncertain about what type of rocker I should be going for. So I thought I’d reach out to the swaylocks community for a litle guidance. Any advice would be appreciated.
I’ll start with a bit of background about what I’m trying to acheive with this board. I live in so cal and surf points and reefs almost exclusively. My main board for years has been a 9’8" single fin noserider with 50/50 rails. The focus of my surfing has been noseriding, triming, and smooth arcing turns. Lately, I’ve been riding shorter boards and focusing more on riding from the tail.
I’ve spent the past few months riding an 8’0" mini longboard with a 2 + 1 set up. I’ve been having a lot of fun on the board. It paddles and catches waves well, and I can whip it around a bit. The plan shape is basically that of a small longboard with a square tail. The rocker is 3 3/8" in the tail and 3 7/8" in the nose. The rails on the tail, while being relatively hard down, don’t have a crisp edge, and the rails through the middle are soft and eggy. Also, it has a relatively neutral bottom – no concaves with a very subtle vee in the tail.
The problem I have with the board is that I don’t feel much projection when I push off the tail, and it doesn’t track on higher lines as solidly as I’d like. It feels like it kind of wants to trim, cruise, and do glentle turns. I’ve experimented with a lot of different center fins and placements, so I’m satisfied it’s not a fin issue. I’d like to shape a board that is more high performance. I’m thinking it should have more of a performance down rail (I’ve enjoyed riding boards with a Brewer type rail) with a crisp edge in the tail and a signle concave to spiral vee. I’m also planning on having a 2+1 setup. I want to feel solid projection when I push off the tail, track and pump on higher lines, and be able to whip it around fairly agressively. I plan on surfing this board in better waves (shoulder to overhead). I’m going to go for a square or squash tail and a more pulled in nose, which comes to a suble point. Also, I want to maintain a fairly full egg like plan shape. I’m trying to stay away from shaping a full on big guy tri.
So that long introduction brings me to my question. I see that with stock blanks there are two principal types of rocker profile: (1) a higher tail / lower nose rocker, which is in the 3" range in the tail and 3"-4" range in the nose (such as the US Blanks 8’0" or 8’3" H); and (2) the lower tail / higher nose type rocker which is in the 2" range in the tail and 5"-6" range in the nose (such as the US Blanks 8’1"EA, 8’2"A, or Arctic Foam 8’2"E). I’d like some advice about which type of rocker profile would be best suited for what I’m going for. Also, I’m not averse to ording a blank with a non-stock rocker.
I’m particularly curious about the tail rocker. My sense is that I’d like more nose rocker than my current 8’0" has. As for tail rocker, I’m not really sure whether I should be going for a lower tail rocker or something in the 3" range. My hunch is that the Arctic Foam 8’2" E, with 2 1/2" in the tail and 5 1/4" in the nose is the right choice, but I’m not certain.
Thanks in advance for all thoughts and adivce, and apologies for the somewhat lengthy post.
