I’ve found two early-mid 80’s boards at garage sales recently…I noticed that the rails are hard the whole length of the board – most notably in the tail, as is common today - but the edge continues the whole length of the board. What is the performance characteristic of this? Why have we moved away from it?..j
A hard edge gives drive, but it also catches easily. Most modern boards get their drive from the fin cluster, so that is where the hard edge is. It is not needed as much further up the board. It is more user-friendly to have a soft rail up front because it resists rail digging, especially useful for landing airs or sliding back down the face after a fins-out lip bash or even just turning on a steep wall. A full length hard edge can give a board more drive through full rail turns, but you have to be a really good surfer or else the advantage washes away when you dig the hard rail losing all the speed (or falling off) that edge helped you get in the first place.
i made several boards with hard edges all the way up. i found it difficult to catch rail. the hard edge got up on the plane easier and had a lot of drive. it recovered easier from radical manouvres as they needed less speed or momentum to get flowing again. the biggest problem with them was having customers freak out that they would catch! i lent a few boards to mates who thought this would happen and they all were suprised and delighted… this process was not financially viable as i virtually had to let every customer i made a board for with hard edges ride their board first before they would be confident enough that it wasnt going to catch! in all the boards ive made i have found the three most likely causes of cathing to be 1- poor entry rocker, 2- incorrect fin placement, 3- volume placement, particularly in the nose,tail and rails! http://www.feraldave.com 
I agree with Dave again! Jeez, if we ever meet, Dave, we should have a beer and a laugh! But anyway, my personal boards have always had a little more edge in the front of wide point than is market standard…I think catching is due to pinching Too-low rails in the nose…I.e- they will catch if they don’t float. Keep the volume through the nose and a constant curve. Does’nt need to mean lots of rocker/nose lift, just a curve with no flat… I think of the rail profile around the entry point as rocker for the sideways movement of a board in the water - If that bottom side half of the profile is too tight, its like having too little rocker… Josh http://www.speedneedle.com.au
If a board with all hard rails has drive and catches easily, what about a board with all soft rails? The opposite?
Theoretically, soft rails all around will be very forgiving, but will leave you wanting when trying to get on edge… On another note, for a heavier rider (5’8", 195), I’m looking to shape/order a board that stays thick further up towards the nose, and keeps the hard rails further up as well. I’m hoping this’ll keep me from digging in, as I tend to get a lot of body lean into my bigger turns. Any ideas?
I had an Eric Arakawa designed board that had the hard tail then soft from in front of fins - rail set up you commonly see on shortboards nowadays. The rails were low boxy, the board was longer and narrower than your usual shortboard. The board was great for slashes on the face, I could realy commit and push the tail around and then get the thing back under me on the way back down the face, however I felt I couldn’t get much drive off the bottom. I’ve read a few convincing posts here to the effect that water wraps around soft edges creating more friction or grab but squirts (releases)off hard edges. My feeling with my board, is that soft rail would grab on the face allowing me to push the tail around however on the bottom turn there was not enough release to get real speed out of long turns off the front foot. I think rounded high rails with a hard tucked edge would give me the best of both worlds - I’d get grab on the weighted rail and release off the other rail.
“I think rounded high rails with a hard tucked edge would give me the best of both worlds - I’d get grab on the weighted rail and release off the other rail.” _______________________ That sounds like it would be something to look into, letting me keep the volume out to the rails for more buoyancy, while the edge will break up the suction some. I found on my ‘magic’ fish (currently one ding from retirement) it is 20+" wide, allowing for alot of stability, while it is only 6’2" tall and I think 2.65 thick all the way out to the rails. I’d love to dupe that with the tucked under rail and about 2" longer…