Rocker for a short egg single fin

I’m looking to shape a short egg single fin like those Joel Tudor “good karma”. Dimensions will be around 6’3*15.5(nose)20.514.5(tail)*2 ¾. I want to keep a flat rocker (for speed and for the easiness to catch waves) and i was thinking to less than 3’’ nose and 1.5” tail, with a bit of V the last third of bottom … is it ok? And what about the rails? I want a fast board, for nice waves (2 to 6 feet clean but sometimes powerless waves, mainly beachbreaks; i’m 6’1 tall and 75 kg). I shape with epoxy and EPS or XPS.

I normally surf thrusters … but i have just shaped a 5’9 retro fish and i’ve fallen in love with the retro style and the nice carving turns…

Thanks… Loïc

As we so well know everything you do to a shape gives you one thing but at the same time you loose something else. The rocker you’ve called out for the board will give you lots of straight line speed and as you add vee to the tail and increase the length of it the board will become easier to turn but loose lift. So don’t start the vee too far forward. You might consider increasing the tail rocker slightly and putting mild concaves in the tail panels to give the board more lift as you turn it. The mid section rails want to be some where between 60/40 and 50/50 and the rest of the rail line flow according to your preferences. Nose rocker could be increased by a half inch but discribing rocker in numerical terms can be misleading. How it is trimmed into the bottom configuration, that is how continuous it is will have everything to do with how the entry rocker affect take offs and board trim in the critical part of the wave. The tail rocker wants to start just a little bit ahead of where you start to panel the tail. The rest of the bottom configuration should suit the waves you’re riding but making it flat isn’t a bad idea. It’ll be a great versatile board when you done.

I hope some experienced shaper will chime in with their thoughts on this type board. It’s always been one of my favorites.

Mahalo, Rich

The dimensions look good to me and 1.5" tail rocker is pretty much standard. I wouldn’t necessarily shy away from v though. 1/4" to 3/8" dome v just in front of the fin box transitioning to dead flat behind the box will give you down-the-line acceleration when you roll it up for a turn. Put the v under your feet like a McCoy nugget and you can add another 1/2 inch of width at the tail for drive or keep it at 14.5" for quicker turns. The key is to flatten out the v behind the fin for trimming speed. V through the tail block will act like an anchor when the board is flat. When the v goes off the tail you have to keep it on one plane or the other to keep your speed. If that’s the way you surf, great. If not, flatten it out. DO NOT GO WITH A GLASS-ON FIN!!! A big 10-inch box will allow you to adjust the fin location to find the magic spot. Very critical for a short single fin (or any board for that matter)…

I too plan to build an egg, but I’ll be building a 7’4" range egg.

I understand a V-bottom, but what is a dome vee?

Where should the vee start? 1/3 from the tail?

What shape should the front 2/3s of the bottom be? flat?

I was going to build a 2+1 so I had the flexibility of having both a single fin and a sidebiter tri.

Does this effect the bottom contor and where the vee starts and stops?

thanks

–4est

Dome v (to me, anyway) is a v bottom that does not run off the tail…once you flatten the area behind the v it kinda looks like a dome, get it? You can round the top of the v or keep it sharp. Round allows smoother transitions, and is forgiving. Sharp v is more directional and sensitive. I start mine about 1/3 to 1/2 up but what you might think about is where you want the sweetspot to be when you turn. And the sweetspot is dependent on other factors like outline, rocker and rail type. Generally I like the v right between my feet when you turn.

All of the v bottoms I’ve made or ridden like to have the fin on or just behind the highest point of the dome. I don’t know about the side fins…Halcyon?

As far as the rest of the bottom, its up to you and the waves you ride and the way you ride them…flat for beach break, hulled for lined up surf. Hull if you ride front foot, flat if not. Flat for mush, hull for the good shit. Check the archives…key word hull or look up the photo resources and look for a 7’3" that Paul Gross made. He has a great instructional on hull vs V there.