All boards I’ve seen are made with thickness very tapered(thin) toward the tail as compared to center. Since the rear portion of the board is the most in the water it would be more floatation if the tail were thicker - say almost or even as thick as the center portion. Has anyone ever had direct experience with a thick tailed board. One can surmise why it may be desirable to make it thinner in the rear portion, perhaps, such as making it less prone to pearling, etc. But these are opinions and ‘guestimates’ at best and as far as I know not actually proven. Mainly want to know if anyone has had DIRECT EXPERIENCE riding a thick tailed board and if so what did you notice ? I don’t necessarily mean wide tail but THICK tail.
All boards I’ve seen are made with thickness very tapered(thin) toward the > tail as compared to center. Since the rear portion of the board is the > most in the water it would be more floatation if the tail were thicker - > say almost or even as thick as the center portion. Has anyone ever had > direct experience with a thick tailed board. One can surmise why it may be > desirable to make it thinner in the rear portion, perhaps, such as making > it less prone to pearling, etc. But these are opinions and ‘guestimates’ > at best and as far as I know not actually proven. Mainly want to know if > anyone has had DIRECT EXPERIENCE riding a thick tailed board and if so > what did you notice ? I don’t necessarily mean wide tail but THICK tail. Yeh!!! A surfboard is just a skimboard that you can paddle into a wave. Once forward momentum is gained the flotation no longer is that neccesary. I had a 6’4" with a thick tail like the Cheyne Horan Zaps, I designed it for peaky waves, where you are constantly working close to the curl, not a lot of wall out ahead. In Feb. 1988, I flew from Fla. to San Diego for an ad photo shoot with Rob Keith of Breakout Magazine. Well folks, the next morning we were on Feidel’s boat headed to Todos Santos. The waves were 4-6 foot with a fairly fat tide when we first arrived. It looked very much like Sebastian Inlet at the same size, but the wave had so much forward speed that my corky tailed board couldn’t penetrate on the bottom turns. I had to ride over my board, using the center rail more than the tail. The tide went out fast and the surf jumped up to 12 feet in only a half hour. I rode it, I ate chiquita too. I made a full page stand up tube also. I also got dragged through the rocks from the outside in a duck dive before I had come up for air. The moral, thick tail, small, slow waves
All boards I’ve seen are made with thickness very tapered(thin) toward the > tail as compared to center. Since the rear portion of the board is the > most in the water it would be more floatation if the tail were thicker - > say almost or even as thick as the center portion. Has anyone ever had > direct experience with a thick tailed board. One can surmise why it may be > desirable to make it thinner in the rear portion, perhaps, such as making > it less prone to pearling, etc. But these are opinions and ‘guestimates’ > at best and as far as I know not actually proven. Mainly want to know if > anyone has had DIRECT EXPERIENCE riding a thick tailed board and if so > what did you notice ? I don’t necessarily mean wide tail but THICK tail. I agree with Jim Phillips, small and mushy is the only appication for a thick tail. I compete often in the NSSA, and most of us in the senior Class ride thick tail boards due to lack of size during contest conditions. I know some guys with boards up to 1 1/2" thick in the tail and they pick up a ripple in a bathtub. the draw back is when it gets big or fast, the board responds very very slow. Chas Wickwire makes good boards of this type, and Channel Islands makes a “Flyer” for small wave applications with lots of tail volume also.