The extra momentum helps to plane over all the speedbumps trying to get out the back at snapper on a 6ft sunday

so when you're flying out to sea and punch straight into that almost broken wave at mach 10 you don't fold the nose off to board up into your face.

spot1 said...

some of my mates have been buy new boards from the bigger name brands
and they seem very heavy,is ths just to keep them strong or just to make them plane better.

It's called over-engineering. ^^^
Shops don't like it when new boards come back in two pieces.
That's why kiteboard brands build lumps-of-lead.
lol.

Taking this a bit off topic, but a related question.

How does the sidecut of the a surfboarf affect your ability to plane/go upwind?

The reason is, I have a 6'3 board which is very wide (21") and also quite thick. I'm a tall guy and 85kg so this made sense for me, as the extra volume would be able to handle my extra weight. Issue is, that I seem to struggle staying upwind when compared to the crappy old surfboards I used to use kiting that were not nearly as wide (therfore without such a big side cut) and also a lot thinner.

My current thoughts are that the thickness of the board would help with boyancy, but restricts by ability to hold an edge. I thought these would cancel each other out.

Regarding the sidecut, I'm wondering if having a more drastic sidecut reduces the amount of effective edge in the water substantially, and therefore restricts upwind ability? i.e. because for every cm of effective edge, there is more surface area of the board in the water due to the longer distance between the stringer line and the edge (when compared with a narrower board). Due to the extra boyancy from this extra volume, you therefore can't engage as much effective edge as you would with a narrower board.

Thoughts?

The new ones are nowhere near as bad as the first ones... Back in like 06-07 the yellow Slingshot SRT's and Liquid Force surfboards were ridiculously heavy...
Now for 2010 it's hard to tell the difference between the premium brand kite surfboards (Like the new Slingshot's) and some of the mediocre or cheap surfboards out there...

are they haevy because you're on it?

fatty!

Warren Cornish the guy who has always made my surfboards and now my kiteboards and pretty much eveybody elses in this area makes them strong and light and they all get worked real hard,he uses either polystyrene blank /epoxy resin or polyurethane/epoxy or polyurethane/polyester resin combo's, 6ounce glass lapping the rails both ways is the key, most boards break from the rail in not from the stringer out, polyurethane blank/epoxy resin is prob the strongest combo,my boards are a polyurethane super super light blank/epoxy, have only one layer 4ounce bottom and 1x4 1x6 on deck and full lap on rails both ways,and they hold up very well,even tho im not that heavy i still punish my boards, but Mick one of the guys here who def isnt light,about 85kg (and a few others that are around 90-95kg) absolutely punishes his boards at lennox,and they hold up.

I used to snap a board every month or more often - Obvioulsy i was searching hard for a stronger board. That was in 2007. Im still riding what i found. It suits me for all conditions, - light wind unstrapped, strapped medium or full speed mega waves. Its outline is loose and it goes upwind really well. Yes its heavy. But I'm happy with my purchase in 2007. I ride it 3 or 4 times a week on average. It must have done 500 hours of wave slicing for me. Its tried and tested and i dont need to research or wonder if the hype from the big brands is true. ive seen so many SRTs broken. Theyre a waste of money.
Everyone else who I know who rides my board is also stoked on its performance and durablity. for there is no question of which board?
Litewave Surf Quad.
Here's a pic of my board a couple of days after i got it in 2007 - its still going STRONG. Sorry about the pimpy logos, its my Enews banner and the original is on my work computer - not here now.