Thanks how I have become to think of rocker lately. God knows why. Maybe once I’ve recovered from three straight days of surfing I’ll be able to explain myself a bit more clearly.
Something else I wanted to add was are displacement hulls better suited to higher rockers? I would call a shortboard a displacement hull. Has anyone tried a shortboard with a really flat rocker throughout? Did it go like crap? I bet it did. Go on, you can admit it.
I’ve had a couple of regular shortboards with very flat rocker. They go better than you think. I had one that looked like it was perfectly flat, almost convex when sitting on a rack. The other, a 6-2 Nellis, was one of my favorite shortboards while I lived on Oahu. Used it mainly for Town surf and smaller days at 'yards and Rockies. Both boards were very fast, with little or no gyrating to get up to speed, and surprisingly loose.
Responsive I can see… a lot more planing area means greater water deflection. But it seems they’d be hard to make steep drops on.
Why/when would you consider a shortboard a displacement hull? -C
My guess (emphasis on the word “guess”) would be that it would depend on the surfer.
I have seen guys on longboards with very little rocker make some pretty f#ckin steep drops.
I have also watched some of the pro’s do drop in’s that looked like the board would require NO rocker.
You know…that immediate cut to straight into the face. Andy Irons comes to mind as an example.
Another example would be the Kelly and the board he won Pipe on…very little rocker compared to the “usual” Pipe board…don’t you think?
Or am I way off base here.
I’ve actually been thinking about this lately… what a concidence…
If you look at a lot of pics of guys making drops, the board never really goes vertical on waves smaller than about the length of the board… about head high. Most of the time, the board is closer to horizontal than vertical. But when it gets big and steep, and you’re making the drop straight to the bottom, not dropping in on a diagonal, the board is more likely to go vertical… nose down and tail up. You know… when you’re legs are straight and your arms fly up in the air and you look like Birdman! The most important role rocker plays in this situation is when you hit the bottom… not on the drop itself. That’s when your entry rocker works to keep your nose up until your weight comes back down on the board, and your feet start to push down on the deck… hopefully more on the tail than the front foot. So I’m starting to question how important rocker is on dropping in on waves that are head high and under. I think rocker has more to do with turning radius than the pearling issue.
But yea… I think you’re right about it being about the surfer, too. I’ve seen pics of guys make air drops where the board is still horizontal? They land it tail first and just swing it right into the bottom turn. Still, I’ve had good feedback from guys who I’ve added a little more forward rocker to their boards in order to start making that mid-face turn a little sooner, especially backside. Adding entry rocker lets them initiate the backside midface turn earlier, and they’re more likely to make that section after the drop.