All board design starts with a nose, a finite position, a point of entry, and a position to relate all measurements from.
Much like the stringer.
Look at any board and the first foot or so initiates the visual appeal, and draws the viewers eyes down the outline.
But whats the practical purpose of the first foot of foam and fibreglass?
Either the deck or hull curves?
First, it is quite important to know what kind of board we’re talking about: standard thruster? Fish? Noserider longboard? Gun?
MAAAAAAAAAASSSIVE noserides!
i’m more of a hips man, myself…but i’d have to say that rocker is key.
Snot and boogers.
Sorry 'bout that Balsa!
I suppose it was a generic board I was thinking about.
When you see people paddling out, paddling for a wave and then surfing, the nose-foot isnt in the water. ( but then Swoogiemaster reminded me of an obvious instance.)
If its not in the water, whats it doing there or is it like ‘car hood ornaments’, where its function came from its ancestors ( longboards), but the relevance is now lost.
Or am I wrong? Soulstice says ‘rocker is the key’, were you referring to the rocker of the nose? and of a longboard, or of shortboards as well?
I broke the 1st foot offa my shortboard 2 weeks ago, it didnt change the function of the board, but it messed with my head, so I thought Id ask…
First, it is quite important to know what kind of board we’re talking about: standard thruster? Fish? Noserider longboard? Gun?
i was referring to boards in general…and the rocker overall. a board with good rocker will still ride okay no matter how whacked out the planshape is (to a point). but the perfect planshape with a rocker and foil that’s messed up is guaranteed to be a dog.
A lot of people who know my boards say I have a “trademark nose.” I like to keep the first foot of my noses, on most boards, anyway, on the narrow and thin side, compared to other boards of similar design. My philosophy is, why do you need all that extra material up there?
However, I have to say nose ROCKER and THICKNESS FLOW is very important, as they both flows into the rest of the board’s rocker and foil, and can either push too much water or sink too easily. I like to think a board’s rocker has to be balanced with its thickness flow. Flatter noses can be thinner and wider. Really flipped noses can be narrower, but foiled so they increase thickness rapidly. I like a bit more rocker up front, so my noses are usually a bit narrower, but foiled so they increase thickness smoothly and quickly. I find boards with kicked but narrower noses punch through the lip easier and tend to stay attached to your feet as the nose rocker tends to push the board into your feet. Flatter noses have no such affect.
Thanks NJ, you hear a lot of people wax on endlessly about the back half of the board, inc fins, but the front doesnt seem to rate as highly…?
If its not worth thinking about / discussing / improving… then it must be perfect, right?
But this would be the place to find design knowledge and open minds !
Thanks for the insight NJ !
Quick question, if the rocker at the front pushes water as well as holds water, would a flatter rocker be faster overall, even paddle faster ?, so could you keep it flatter in the front half but just flip the first 6 inches or so?
I’d say you want to decrease the amount of “wetted surface” (as many call it here) to reduce drag when up and riding, so an appropriate amount of rocker helps do that. But taking a shape like a fish, which is short and flat, as well as thick in the nose and tail, and flipping just the end of the nose might be an interesting concept. I’ve seen boards that have a square nose with a little flip, but a big, wide bevel under it that serves the same function… forces the nose to rise when it penetrates the water. I say build one and report back!
Flatter is faster when paddling, because the board isn’t planing at such a low speed (on shortboards, that is), it’s bogging, and more rocker means pushing more water.
Hi NJ, Im actually fishing here, Ive got a plan to build a board without a curved hull and Im looking for 'why things are the way they are ’ type explanations. Your post about the nose rocker was good.
Your comment about “just flipping the nose” is just what I was looking for too.
Check todays “Imagine you are the first shaper thread” for some of my potential designs.
Regards.