rodriguez said...Dean, what length and width are the two boards in Phills vid
Your board appears to gain it's max speed when your about a foot from the nose,is that it's design function or the way you prefer to ride it? I raise that because your sons board is ridden in the more traditional shortboard stand and deliver position.
Very good obsevation Rod, I will always find the right buttons to push on any new board to get the most speed, then the most power can be put into turns, so the board can dictate where I stand. Also the slow melow waves we were riding in the vid should be taken into account...the day before was totaly different, a solid head high, 20+ second ground swell.
Some of the reason I will ride more forward comes from my age....or rather the period I did a lot of surfing with single fins, more rail in the water powerfull carving drawn out turns, the quality of the waves dictated this as well. Wayne Lynch talks about this more forward style in a video clip in the "tin shed" of the Patagonia site.
Have a look at some local waves in it.
Adams board is 7' 10" x 31" mine is 8' 2" x 30 1/2" , quite similar in size, but Adam is 95kg & 6' 4", 18kg more than me. His fin setup is tri, mine single, that can be seen in some stalls/slips out of his turns. He was complaining about lack of initial drive, but as momentum his increased the fins track ok, & can be more forgiving in a fast snap, where a single fin can overpower & pop/ spin out. They can be more technical to use at times. I like the thrust/drive from a single fin, & I obviously like to nose ride, the acceleration you have noticed is dramatic on a fast wave, the first time I went to the nose on these boards it was like steping on a bar of soap
So its a great tool to use for getting down the line or through a very fast breaking section....come off the bottom, point the board along & up the wave pull in tight & high...run up the the nose onto the concave, the large single fin provides thrust & positive directional control, small multi fins here can slip hear, the big single never fails.
Another very interesting thing to see in Phills shots is the amount of water over the rail, again providing grip & stability on a wall.
A lot of people including me, have tended toward lower sharper rails for "performance" surfing. more bite/grip, but there is something in these soft rail, round outline fat boards.
Cheers
Dean
