As in: The outline’s connected to the foil, the foil’s connected to the rocker, the rocker’s connected to the bottom shape, the bottom shape’s connected to the rails, the rail’s connected to the deck shape… and it’s of to surf we go! da dum de da da dum!
but then again, the leash plug placement really does make or break a board!
Even a board with a bad outline, poorly executed, will ride well with the PROPER ROCKER. The rocker will also dictate the rail line. However, even the correct rocker can be mucked up by a novice shaper, and thus destroy any chance of the board riding well. So, my final answer is rocker.
(there you have the interaction between: rocker to the tail, area, thickness under foot, type of rail, type of bottom under foot, interaction with the fins, and type of tail)
Um…I’ll go with rocker. I’m not an experienced shaper but I thought about it and I break it down like this.
Why rocker? Least variable feature. Considering all board types over say the last 30 years, the one feature that looks most similar in all board types is the rocker.
All these features vary widely and many can be seen easily by the untrained eye. That tells me they are more flexible.
Rocker is more subtle in it’s variation and many boards built for different purposes have very similar rockers. To me that means rocker is very important. If you take important to mean small variations can make big changes in performance. If rocker is changed to the same maginitude that some other features are pushed and pulled, it could wreck the performance of a board.
After listening to all your deep comments, I would dare to say that I was wrong. Now, I can see the light…the most important feature in a surfboard iiiiiiiisssssssss…
Rocker… Harbour, Stewart, Infinity, just about all the design gurus I have heard mentioned on here all say that Rocker is THE feature that is most important. That is the feature of the board function and purpose and the riders aperations and ability. Everything revolves around that.
Oh and YELLOW is the most important colour…hahahahaha
This thread is turning out boring. It’s more fun when experts disagree and spend pages of posts defending their opinions, while us novices in the crowd ride the sidelines picking up gems
So… since rocker seems to get top billing on everyone’s list… What’s runner-up?
You mean like pilot fishes that live from the rests of shark’s meal…
Swaylocks became the new “reality show” to entertain an audience of surfboard design fans…
I always have a more organicist than rationalistic vision of a surfboard. Who can answer what is more important to a human being: the heart, the brain, the lungs, whatever???
I mean that every single feature in the surfboard construction can affect the performance as a whole.
It’s almost a metaphor of living in society.
So, now talking seriously, I guess the right answer is…“balance”.
Find the right one, position yourself in the right place and the rest really doesn’t matter.
Recently I’ve ridden a variety of surfcraft from 40 year old tankers to much more modern streamlined shapes to an air mat. Different rockers, different outlines, different bottom contours, different materials - i.e. heavy solid balsa to ultralight inflatable, different fins - i.e. raked singles to D fin singles, 2+1, thrusters, etc…
Guess what? They all worked. Take your pick and go find some waves.