Checking out Robert August’s website, I noticed his concaves are much different than most other shaper’s. His are teardrops, and they don’t go anywhere near the rails. The concave looks almost like the shape of a football, if that makes sense, but most other shapers put concave that looks more like an egg.
He (August) claims that the concave he uses gives the board more lift.
What do you guys think?
Nice fashion statement!
Concaves are important, so is shape of.
Much more important is tail rocker, width of nose, WP location, curve in the hips, size of fin, rail shape, balance of board, and several other things I can’t think of because I’m discussing dinner plans with G/F…and watching Seinfeld on TV.
Seinfeld? My wife’s dad grew up with Wayne Knight (Newman) in Cartersville, Georgia. I met his mother, Grace, several times. She is so humble. Still lives in the small sixties house in which Wayne grew up. He’s rich and buys her everything, but she still lives that humble, modest life. Very cool.
By the way, Wayne Knight isn’t fat anymore. He’s actually ripped. He lost all the weight and works out several hours a day with a personal trainer.
In real life he is very shy and unassuming. A classy guy all the way. Very nice.
But he’ll always be Newman to me.
Hello Jerry!
nose concave = hype factor
dont see many pros competing on concaves…but you will see them in adds and promoting them for the sake of sales…
if they were that good youd see em in competition where it counts…
many claim it makes there board so much better …
theres so many other areas of design that have a far greater influence…without introducing another complication to water flow…
while the shape of a board seems a very subjective topic,the bottom line is some curves will allow you to do things others cant , just comes back to the maths…
every design variation doesnt mean it will perform better , it just helps one board builder stand out of the pack …more about marketing than performance…
the simplest boards work the best …they just look real boring and unsellable in a hype driven marketplace…
regards
BERT
I dunno, man.
You’ve got a good point with the pros, but a lot of the pros have access to better conditions, too. If the waves you regularly surf already have enough power, you probably don’t need that concave to put you on a plane faster.
I’ve been surfing shortboards for a while, but just started on longboards last year. I’m 5’7", 165lbs, and usually surf in mushy-mush East Coast conditions. The boards I have in my quiver are mostly made to ride exactly this kind of surf, with some carry-over into better surf when on travel. In addition to a couple of other shorter rocker fish, I’ve got a Davo fish that has a pretty pronounced concave down the middle. It’s like cheating, the board planes early and just flies down the face of the wave. In fact, the Davo is so easy and so good (speedwise) for my local conditions, I’ve had to stop riding it for a while in fear of getting rusty on my other boards in better conditions. I also have a 9’4" Hobie Performance Noserider that has a good bit of nose rocker. It was the third longboard I’ve ever ridden, so I’m low on experience, but I immediately noticed a good bit of difference in hull speed down the line the first time I took it out. Other guys who ride their longboards pretty regularly have commented on that board’s glide, too.
If I was going out to buy another longboard to ride East Coast surf, at this point I’d definitely have the nose concave on the list of “must haves”, but would place the majority of emphasis on rocker, nose,tail shape, and weight.
I’d still be curious to see how well the Robert August concave works, particularly in cruddy waves.
But hey…I’m no pro.