My initial thought was to place the extra foam in the chest/ hips area for paddle power, but after reading this in the archives it made me think of it in a whole different way.
“If you measure “hull” depth as the rail apex to the stringer (lay a level 90 degrees to the stringer and measure the distance from the level bottom to the rail apex), my deepest “hull” is usually just in front of the hump and roughly coincides with the first rocker break.”
So where the front of the hump starts ,towards the nose, should roughly be where the wide-point (hull depth) and the rocker begins on the bottom of the board?
From that post it seems like the top of the deck should correspond with the bottom of the board. From the post I gathered that the wide-point and rocker break on the bottom should roughly match the front of the hump in the s deck. I just wanted to make sure my thinking and drawing were correct.
Not sure about the question either. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to foiling the deck. This is a personal choice for comfort. Rocker however is a constant and definitive of how it will ride and the speed you will develop… or not. Shape the deck to your preference and vision. A lot of guys like thickness under the chest for paddle power but at my age of 60, I think a little more foam aft is better to pick the wave up easier and sooner. Once you have your rockers figured out they really shouldn’t change too much. Deck shape and foil are up for tweaking for a more comfortable ride. Two different worlds with some connection .
Regarding having extra paddling power under your chest. Age has been catching up to me and I’ve been experimented making boards with more foam under my chest. I haven’t been happy with my results. While having extra foam under my chest certainly helps with paddling out and general paddling on flat water…I’m finding that it is a hindrance to actually catching waves. All of these boards seem to get hung up at the top of the wave as if the extra foam under the chest is preventing me from getting the proper angle of attack to get over the ledge to go down hill. Almost like the kook you see paddling while laying too far back on the board. Perhaps if I were surfing ground swell waves with a lot of forward push my findings would be different but our waves here tend to jack up and heave. It’s actually got me thinking of going the opposite direction to a longer narrower shortboard with more rocker. Any thoughts?
…the problem is that you have too much volume and bad distributed possibly.
Reduce length always if you add volume in the nose for hot dog surfing.
If you change drastically the planshape like using a HPSB and then shaping a “rocket” type of board, better go 4 inches shorter; 8 inches shorter for a fish; etc
Increase tail rocker.
I have been pursuing this same line of thought for some time now. I have concluded same as you that extra volume boards aid in paddling, but have to be compensated for when catching a wave. They generally require a bit of getting used to. You have to take a few extra strokes at takeoff, and move your weight forward a bit more. Once you get the hang of it your wave catching ability is greatly enhanced. I like my volume evenly distributed with a less abrupt transition than a typical s-deck.
Here are a few shots of the fruits of my research into higher volume boards. The white one I’m riding is a 7-2, and the yellow is 8’. All are over 3" thick. I’m in my 60s, and not surfing every day, and my usual spots can get pretty crowded and competitive, so all that is factored in.
The sketch at the bottom is a reflection of my current thinking, i.e. a more pulled in nose. Not shaped yet, this is planned as a larger board, 8’, and thick, but with a thinner narrower nose, more reflective of a typical shortboard shape than my previous stuff, but not too far different from the 9’ beachcomber board shown.
KD is a pretty damm good longboarder. We surf together at a secret spot in North County… The guy does not have a problem paddling or catching waves… or nose riding on his new Swaylock’s inspired log… I think it’s a longboard question… maybe KD can re-word or better explain his thoughts…Stoked on your first shape KD… Happy to see you are going to build more boards!
Thanks Ray! Appreciate all time you let me pick your brain in the water. Now let’s see if I can spit this out. Soooooo here’s the archive thread I was talking about. http://www.swaylocks.com/forums/shaping-s-decks-looking-input
In post #2 what is LeeV saying in relation to s decks and the bottom of the boards?
Go to the displacementia blog scroll down a bit read PG did a piece on this very thing about rocker to rail break using a greenough spoon to illustrate
