Yes what you said about rocker is correct, its better in the chop, but it also comes with the downside of not having as much up wind ability. This is why wake boards are not recommended to learn on.

If your are riding in choppy conditions which are gusty or over powered a flatter board with a bit more flex is advisable, making it easier to keep your upwind ground. Many board designs today using rocker are now putting channels in their boards to disperse water in a more precise ways making landings smoother and softer compared to a flat based board with rocker whereby water is not being channeled in as an accurate manner. Also another upside of having channels in a board is having more hold/ grip on the waters surface increasing turning and also adds to upwind hold.

outline and shape determines many things such as speed, turning and pop. Using the rockerd board again as an example. Looking at a rockerd boards outline, it is generally thicker in the middle and thinner at the tips (also again helping with the distribution of water when landing)

because a rockerd board is curved the middle sits lower in the water making the board slower (making a flatter board a better light wind option) a board with less rocker will be faster due to the board not sitting as low in the water, and hence allowing it to hold its surface tension longer on the waters surface.

A board which is flat but has allot of flex can handle choppy conditions well when ridden with a bit more weight than normal on the back foot. A board with more flex when edging hard can develop a bit of rocker (due to the nature of the flex in some boards this may vary) helping the board cut through the chop better compared to a board with more stiffness.


i seriously could go on for pages about board design, but unfortunately in this day and age of technology and science everything is just to complicated.

but if it comes down to it, its how you ride the board not the board its self for all we know the latest reviews could be written by a kook of a bloke which couldn't tell the difference between a blank of wood with foot straps and one of the best boards on the market today.

ride with what you've got, have fun

for me twin tips that taper slightly in at each end perform better in the waves. a lot of the new boards out there have the shape of a rectangle which is ****house for wave riding. anyway, you don't see anyone riding a surfboard the shape of a rectangle
an example is the shape difference comparing the slingshot glide and the sx. The sx is better for wave riding as the shape isn't a rectangle like the glide. The ends taper in a bit

my question was really more about wether the board I described has the attributes required to be a good board for playing around in small waves(like what the airush hammer is designed for), or is there somthing about this board that will make it a real dog that will hold me back. I am not exactly sure what characteristics are desired for a twintip in the surf, but from what I gather the board I described might just fit the bill. I do think it might be a little narrow though. I also agree that 160cm is quite long, but plenty of hybrid type boards designed for surf are similar lengths. What do people think?

yeah, i do intend to try it out, but it is always good to know that you are using the appropriate equipment, otherwise making progress might be harder than it needs to be.

how much difference do fins make?. That board currently has 4 x 50mm fins, but I think putting some bigger surf style fins like what most mutants have will help grip on the wave face