I’m trying to decide between 60/40 rails and 50/50 on my next noserider. One of my performance noseriders in the past had 60/40 rails that seemed to hold the face of the wave a lot better than all the 50/50 railed boards I’ve ridden…esp the pinched 50/50 railed boards. The 60/40 rails were actually pretty low. The board seemed to be more stable for walking and was a better paddler. Ill attatch some pics. I figure it definitely will be less foregiving on turns. Seems 50/50 pinched rails seem to slow the board a bit and make it a bit more “tippy from side to side” Just looking for some input. I’m surfing East Coast fast beach breaks and really like the smoothness of the 50/50 rails and they are definitly like butter on turns. Seem to work great when its high tide slow and mushy, but when it gets fast and steep…not so great. Any thoughts?
I see the rail radius two ways… it’s volume, and it’s location. A fuller rail has more volume, and will resist that “tippy” feeling. It will also create more suction, letting water wrap around it more than a pinched, low volume rail, which will be more “tippy.” In terms of location, I mean where the apex is… 50/50, 60/40, or an upturned rail. In the nose, an upturned rail forces the nose rail up, as water hits it and is deflected down. That’s why you see up nose rails and beveled rails on a lot of noseriders. A down rail in the nose, I think, can be more catchy, and prone to pearling, particularly if your speeding down the line… less so if the wave is sort of “spining,” kind of like a stationary or “standing” wave, with a lot of water moving up the face, but not much speed down the line. Add concave… or belly… under the nose, and it complicates things even more.
One last thought… take it or leave it… how any section of rail works along the length of the rail is greatly affected by the rail ahead of it. Think about how a rail is foiled, and how the apex can shift from up, to 50/50, to down… or other combinations.
Thanks so much for the input. Im leaning towards a nice 50/50 rail for the nose transitioning into 60/40 to upturned rail in the tail. My current board is the one discussed on the thread pure east coast noserider. The board has pinched 50/50 rails a bit too much noserocker at around 4 1/4 which definitely slows it down and pushes water. I feel we went with too many characteristics that led to the board being slow. Too much rocker foreward. Too much belly with slower rails. Too much roll in the tail and heavy glassing. The board is so freaking loose and foregiving though. Probably would be perfect for a real mushy slow break. Im pretty much thinking of nice teardrop concave. Flat mid and slight roll in the tail for the bottom. 4ish inches tail rocker. 3 1/4 nose rocker. 9 4. X 19 1/4 x 23 1/2 x 16 1/2 x 3 inches. Nice square tail. What u think. My main fear is making it too unforegiving.
The rail design at the tail area is more influenced by the fin set up. At full round, you need a lot of fin area (like a “D”) and as far back as possible. With down-turns, a 2+1 set up is better with the center about 7" or so from the tail. Down-turned rails all the way around will catch on turns and not nose ride, and the few designs like these (i.e. Infinity secret weapon models) have various bottom contours and are always 2+1 (or more). Others use tail channels and such to compensate. Eps versions that ride higher with all-around down turned rails work better than poly versions, and most of these boards are very thick anyhow and around the 8 ft range.
Save the one you have now for the mushy surf. In fast beach break, a performance LB isn’t going to last very long before snapping, so consider around an 8 ft - something fun board shape with a less rounded nose.