Rocker Question

General Discussion
1

Hi,

Im in the process of making my first board. Ive managed to cut it out using my template, skim the hard layer of foam of the outer bottom and top and then sand it smooth so its in a reasonable state.

Im wondering how much rocker to put in the board? Its 6'8", fairly wide at 21" and about 2 3/4" thickness. Ive tried to give it a decent width and thickness as i wanted good buoyancy. The board will be used in fairly slow and sometimes slightly messy waves (i go to saunton sands, uk) - what sort of rocker should i be looking to?

Thanks,

Mike

2

What kind of blank are you using there?

If it’s one of those USBlanks from Seabase I wouldn’t worry about altering the rocker in the blank. I shaped a 7ft one last year and did nothing to the rocker, it works peachy at Saunton, and everywhere else I’ve used it. Certainly for shaping your first board I’d leave as is.

Are you based around N Devon?

3

If you surf Saunton - IMHO you need very little rocker - with a flatter area between your feet.

Now for Croyde - you’ll need a tad more

4

thanks - yep - its one of the us blanks from seabase. ive got a mate coming over tonight to have a look as hes shaped a few boards before.

id like to keep it simple as possible! im based in weymouth, so only get up to north devon a couple of times a month - its more kitesurfing down here!

5

Hey Jase is that the same for most of the US Blank rockers? I want to try the 6’3 eric arakawa model but my shaping skills aren’t progressed enough to start messing with the rocker comfortably. the one i want to buy is this one http://www.seabase.eu/product/U603EE and i’m not sure if thats too much nose rocker already for uk waves? thanks if you can help

6

FWIW, i’ve only shaped 3 boards. seems to me like rocker is a tough thing to get right and an easy thing to screw up.

i’ve just left them alone. i figured the rocker that came with the blank is good enough until i get better with the planer.

maybe you guys can see about getting the rocker that you want “pre-bent” into the blank before you order it… just a thought

7

As far as I’m aware you can order those blanks with a neutral rocker or -/+ rocker, though personally I’ve always gone with the neutral.

For your first don’t worry, most blanks these days and certainly the US one are quite high tolerance and really dont need much shapping in terms of rocker.

8

…there are 2 takes on a blank

1 you can cut down, lower down, rasp, etc the blank with the already dims

this is what most shapers are doing

2 shaping

real custom shaping is a long process with few steps until you start to put the rocker in the foam…

so like you go with your first shape, may be is better to go with the rocker of the plug

then you ll start a learning curve

9

My bias - add some flip in the first foot of the nose. Good for chop and drop. Add a little kick in tail @ 1/4 length. Good for adding a little snap to turns, even in mush/weak waves. Nice and very near flat from kick to about 1/3 way from nose.