I saw this Doc Lausch Longboard somewhere online & grabbed the photos. Dig that reverse curve in the tail - pretty dang Sunova-like if you ask me…
Convergent evolution or the sincerest form of flattery?
Or some other source altogether?
Anyone know if the curve is there to actually use in a turn like a sidecut, or if its just another way of making a parallel outline in the middle & a narrower tail, like stings or wings?
To me, it looks like the sidebites are about a yard too far forward. But what do I know, I don’t usually use the things…
That outline is a little like many of Berts in the hip…
I could’nt comment on the origins of the similarity one way or the other, and the Doc’s one is perhaps a little more extreme.
I’m not a longboard man, and Bert might like to respond with his take on it, but to my mind the hip has to do with putting a section of greater curve in close proximity to the back foot. A curve to turn off further up, shortening the turn radius, but subtler than a wing. It would have the drive of the total rail length but free up the turns.
I think its got more to do with this than the other theory, that of pulling the tail width in over a shorter distance.
So your back foot, the wave and the rail all have a meeting point. It would be “…A yard too far forward…” because so is ones’ bact foot on a longboard.
All Bert’s personal fave boards, long and short, have a hip.
My take on Wings/hips has always been for a sharper chop:- I kind of like full definition if I’m going there at all…It worked for me in a Widowmaker set-up because I learned to surf on a single fin, and thus my back foot is’nt real close to the tail.
Screwdrivers are better known by the original expression Skitails…because they resemble the outline of a snow ski and were developed by Rodney Ball who ended up retiring from surfboard shaping to teach a Californian Collegiants (sp) Downhill Racing (Snow Ski)Team. Skitails surfed like snowskis…off their edge, not from displacement…because skis have nothing to displace.
They allow MASSIVE rail to rail (without rail sink or vee) due to the reverse curve in their outline (ie they give rail to rail while remaining flat, with little or no displacement)…and they like to be turned by the torso of their surfer, not by rail entry.
Beauty - I knew guys here would have the knowledge.
Speedy, funny what you say about foot placement on a longboard…I’m (like you) a big-time single fin guy and I don’t really think there is such thing as foot placement on a longboard…they can - and should - go anywhere. Well, (in my case) as long as they’re just a little too close together.
Its really that bit I’m looking at, how much can a well-placed reverse curve help a narrow stance to be more dynamic? I’m glad you guys mostly agree that its a way to do wings without the harsh release point (at least, I think that’s what I was reading between the lines…)