just trying to gain some more knowledge here and was hoping some of you could tell me what some customary nose rocker measurements are. From what I’ve gathered so far anything under 5" is considered low and anything over 6" is considered a lot. I’m trying to get a grasp how much rocker certain boards are using. For instance I would think that most mini simmons used like 4" of nose rocker right?
What kind of rockers are being put on grovel boards like retro fishes, performance fishes, and then the new school grovelers like the Lost Rocket, Lost Stealth, and the white diamond, and black diamond. I was thinking these would all be in the 4 1/2"- 5 1/2" range.
Also what rocker measurement is being put on an ordinary performance shortboard (6"?)? How about a 8 foot gun (not even a ballpark guess)?
If I’m way off base let me know or if you know the exact nose rocker measurements of your boards feel free to post them so I can get a better idea.
Channel Islands Biscuit uses 3.25" in the nose, same for the Lis-style fish. I usually stick with rockers of ~4.0" for daily driver groveler shortboards. But that’s for local N. San Diego conditions where you never have to worry about pearling on anything under head high.
I’d never put a 4" nose rocker on a fish to be used in this area. I have a 5-5 fishie (17-21-17) with a quad setup. I used 3.25" in the nose and 1.5" in the tail and I never have a problem with that board up to overhead size waves. I could have gone flatter.
I was recently working with my shaper to get a Stealth/Black Diamond (http://www.lostenterprises.com/prod/view_surfboards.php) inspired board. He suggested 5" rocker and I thought it would be too low so I asked for a 5 3/8" but then I realized I have no idea what I’m doing so I thought I’d use Swaylocks as a vehicle to learn a thing or two about all types of board rockers. He doesn’t even have blanks yet so changing things on my board won’t be a problem.
Exellent! In Blue Horizon surf film Andy Irons remarks on David Rastovich surfing a “little board I think a 6’ 10” " at Teahupoo. What would the rocker be like on a board like that.
On my mid-simmons (6'6" x 22 x 3 ) I put in 2-7/8" nose and 0" tail. Works great in under head-high anywhere from Scripps pier south to newbreak. Gotta watch the late drops in the shoreys though, I'm mastering a twisting popup to get it cranking down the line. Got tired of being pile-driven. I would think anything over 4" nose would hinder a groveler.
Let’s say you have 2 shortboards with 5" nose and 2" tail rocker. I had a shaper who used to have a flat section in the middle he called the “speedbox”. Griffin instead has rocker that pulls gradually from the middle to the ends with no exaggerated flips. Which would be faster?
DublAK2 - I don’t know numbers for boards like that. I don’t even know for my boards, but I have it written down. I put over six inches in the nose of my small wave board - it’s a 7’5" - but there is only about 3/8" at 18" from the nose, and an inch at a foot. I like a lot of flip, six inches, in the first foot. I don’t like plowing chop, or digging the nose on late drops. I also have a ton of V in the first foot.
As was pointed out, the numbers gdaddy put up are what I’ve seen on those types of boards around here.
llilibel03 - Even with everything else being equal it’s hard to say which would be “faster” - Faster how, down the line, turning? And the placement of the flat “speedbox” would matter too. I suppose the flat should be fast down the line, but then again, it would hinder turning…
I’ve never put more than 5 3/4" in the nose in any of the boards I have. My small wave board that I just shaped has 4 1/4" and only 1" tail rocker. I try to keep small wave boards flat as possible on the bottom. On my 6’4" I have 5 3/4" nose rocker and 1 1/2" tail rocker. This board works well when it gets head high and bigger in New Jersey. The flow of the rocker is just as important as the amount, like TaylorO said. If you want a board that is fast and turns well I would have the rocker flow at a even rate until right before where your front foot would be then have it go flat and kick it up again out of the tail about the last 6"-7".
Here's my last three boards, made for flat to semi-hollow waves. Fairly conventional I think. I generally have slightly lower nose rockers to help catch waves.
5'6" traditional fish 31/2" nose 1 3/8" tail, apex at widest part 4" ahead of centre
6' wide-ish short board 41/4" nose, 2" tail, apex at widest part 2" behind centre
6'4" step up 51/4" nose, 21/4" tail, apex at widest point at dead centre
The surfing in this video is the kind of rocker I do for HPSB's
I have a constant curve with no flat spot. However there are models and different types of rocker were you would want a small flat section. However better surfers make there own speed. Bottom line is how do you like to surf?
Phil Byrne Phil Macca 6’ 1" Nose 5 3/16"Tail 2 1/2"
to help understand what these mean I will consult the excellent Mick Fannings “Surf for your life” book.
I’m not going to argue with him! I’ll just add my subjective impressions.
The 1 1/2" he quoted as the bottom end of the medium rocker range I would find very low. For me 2" is low, however he does say his personal range starts from 2 1/4".
The 3" he quoted as the upper end is high but not extreme in my world and near as dammit to my Pancho Sullivan rocker of 2 7/8".
Pancho and Macca are both power surfers but I can attest to not needing to be great or powerful to enjoy their boards. The high tail rockered Pancho board makes full rail turns attainable for me by use of a fair bit of front foot pressure - both full rail bottom turns forehand and backhand and the cutback. While I’m not capable of doing either with power I do get to enjoy the feeling of engaging and biting a good length of rail. The Pancho board likes bowly waves however it will do 2’ nicely, it just has a tendency to lose speed and need working when the wave gets flat.
The Macca board’s 2 1/2" of rocker is good at anything, from small waves to quite powerful. This is the board I’ve been using the most recently coz its summer and I’ve been camping and want to take only one board. It is capable of grovelling but most of the waves I’ve been surfing have a fair bit of guts in them. However beachbreaks seem to throw up such a variety of sections from flat to steep that a neutral rocker like 2 1/2" makes decision making on which board is best easy.
One thing to note is that although these are pro shapes I know that Macca gets that template in a variety of rockers - Byrne kindly replied to my email query on that subject, so the 2 1/2" is just an example which Byrne thought suitable for the general public. The Pancho board is supposed to be taken from one of his comp boards and I suspect that it is not detuned for the general public due its tail rocker being quite high.
Here is a plan of one of my models that works great for most surfers. The model for my son is a bit different and his secrete weapon so I can't post it as much as I would like to. However this rocker works great and I have a Pro that loves this rocker. Everyne is built differently and surfs with their own interpetation.
It’s not always about the number, it’s about the curve.
This is as true regarding rocker as it is outlines.
I have used a rocker stick religiously for decades. People still notice the “dot” on the center of the bottom of my boards. This is my guarantee of using a rocker stick on handshaped customs.
There’s no argument that CNC milling or private rockers glued up into blanks saves time and labor. But we are talking about rocker specs here, and there are certain generalizations that come to mind:
Flat is fast
Curvy is manuverable
Combinations of both deliver different desired effect & affects depending upon the combinations used with ALL the COMPOUND CURVES going on in one surfboard.
The alchemy in combining successful elements in each design is what has kept me excited and plugged in for 40 years and still going strong.
P.S.
Sweet file Michael. gotta get the Stoker V Machine down to you soon. I hear a big swell is coming in about 11 days.
Thanks but compared to Michael's diagram, mine sucks.
In reference to tail rockers, I've measured boards like Surftech's Takayama Prince Kuhio and Munoz Ultraglide and they are coming in at around 5" each. That's at the tip of the tail and those are some huge boards.
