At the moment i am surfing a three fin heavy HP longboard with a single concave right through it. I am thinking of building a new board and was woundering about rolled V through the tail all the pros boards seem to have it and i was woundering if its that much of an improvement i have tried other boards and they dont seem as fast. im just woundering what other peoples opinions are and what to shape. please help
The two longboards I have presently have a subtle oval concave nose, flat mid section, with a panel vee going thru the tail. So far I’ve been quite happy with this bottom configuration. You might want to stick with a concaved bottom if thats what works for you.
The best performing LB I ride, has concave in the nose and the tail is a subtle V with a double barrle concave going to about 1/4 up from the end of the tail. 9’4" about 22.5" wide, square tail. Rides fast, turns faster.
The concave through the tail adds drive and lift and speed. The roll will probably noseride better. Take your pick depending on what your goals are.
Is concave in the tail faster than flat? Or is the concave near the tail about drive and bite in turns, and less about speed and drag ? http://www.blakestah.com/fins/
Hey Made a couple of full single concave boards in the old days, both 6’6"x20. Wise made one for a customer, about the same time (RRecluse). Super directional, locked in feel, very stable at speed, liked to trim high, but who could actually measure speed? Sorta similar to Bonzers in feel, if the waves were makeable, we’d make it. If closeouts, we’d staighten off. We even tried riding sectiony 4 mile, and couldn’t really tell if concaves really help. Cruising high on the flats, they seemed to reach out, but then some guy on a twin fin makes the same section. Inconclusive here, but I suspect is more about feel, rather than actual measureable performance gains.
james m …what pros board you been looking at???a name brand endorsed model ,or a real pros board??? i was in new zealand for the oxbow pro finals most guys were riding giant short boards, single to double ,low bladey rails ,thrusters…there was a few traditional looking boards that didnt get through the early rounds…man even joel was riding thrusters ,col Mcphillips was on something that looked flat, you may have picked up light concave with a ruler… flat is reliable all round consistent performer which goes fast ,you can change performance characteristics at the rail release point ,to get the water to go where you want and give a particular performance feel without comprimising as much speed… regards BERT
sounds like a walden magic model?fun board if is was not a pop out.
thanks for everyones help. most of the boards in shops have concave to rolled V and Erin Nicholls board that i saw last year was concave to rolled v thru the tail. Pretty much all the surftech board are too, I know that Roger Hall makes a board with full concave though. Also about degrees of concave, how much is too much and single or double? Also do you loose much rail to rail transfer with concave through the tail?
that probably explains why he didnt make the 44 last year