No matter your experience level or skill set, surfboard positioning can have a considerable effect on performance.
An effective stance allows you to shift weight comfortably forwards and backwards.
Position yourself approximately shoulder width apart or slightly wider.
The Nose
The nose of a surfboard is one of the most critical elements to its operation, determining how easy or difficult it is to paddle, catch waves, turn, and manage friction between itself and water. That is why its shape, thickness, rocker profile, concave shape and concave feature play such an essential role.
Wide nose boards provide more surface area and volume, helping your board’s forward momentum stay intact and paddling easier and catching waves more readily; plus it also increases glide.
Avoid going too wide as this will weigh you down in smaller waves, however going wider may help when swinging through turns quickly and using the fuller nose to power moves off of waves. Keep your speed up though as an increase in swing mass makes turning full rail turns difficult and likely to form drag which reduces speed dramatically.
Wide nose boards also enable you to easily duck dive beneath waves, providing another benefit of having one: this allows for faster access into and under them; this could save your life in cases such as getting caught in a lip or face drop on steeper waves, as well as helping increase chances of catching more waves quickly.
There are various nose shapes, each offering their own benefits and functionality. The primary ones include round, rounded-pointed and pointed noses.
Pointed noses are commonly found on high performance surfboards like thruster shortboards and big wave guns, providing greater buoyancy, lift, volume, and forgivingness over traditional round nose models.
Rounded nose boards tend to be easier for less-than-high performance paddlers to paddle and are also less harsh on turns on waves.
They’re more responsive when paddling through turns, making them harder to get on and off waves but an ideal way for beginners to master full rail turns. Duck diving may be more difficult with them but still works fine to drop into waves from below.
The Tail
When it comes to board performance, tail shape is one of the key design considerations. Tail design ultimately determines a surfboard’s response to moving water – including stability and maneuverability – so this feature should not be neglected when designing boards.
Wide and thicker tail shapes provide extra buoyancy and stability in the water, while narrower and thinner tail shapes have reduced surface area, meaning that they grip into the water more closely, making them easier to turn and maneuver.
While wider and thicker tails are generally regarded as more stable, they also tend to be harder to ride and thus tend to be less popular among non-competitive surfers; typically found on shortboards or longboards designed for hollower waves.
Tail shape plays an integral part in how surfboards handle various wave types. Squash tails are widely used by professional surfers for quickly responding to quick turns in small to medium waves; they’re also an excellent option for beginner surfers as they don’t sink as deeply into the water, making turns easier by not sinking as deeply between rails.
Pin tails are another common surfboard tail shape, typically used to generate speed and gain more hold in larger waves. They come in various configurations including round pin tails that enable more rigid turning lines.
Swallow tails are another popular choice among performance shortboards and wider fishes, featuring an upside down “V” shape with two points at the rear of the board that tapers off into an inverted “V”, providing more speed and power than standard pin tails.
Flyers are short, quick cuts of the outline that begin about eleven to fourteen inches from the tail and are designed to reduce outline size while remaining virtually seamless with other aspects of a board’s outline.
The Rocker
Rocker refers to the bottom curve from nose to tail that helps determine a surfboard’s positioning in relation to waves, and plays an integral part in its design and performance characteristics.
Surfboard rockers are constantly being altered and refined in response to wave conditions and riding styles, with surfboard shapers emphasizing creating curves that meet both individual rider preferences as well as those valued by modern surfing communities in terms of aesthetics and athleticism.
Continuous rocker is an indispensable feature of shortboards, step ups, semiguns and XXL guns that allows the board to transition smoothly between rails, turn in various arcs and launch out of turns with acceleration speed and control. Shapers can alter this performance feature by changing its degree.
Flattened bottom sections increase wetted surface area on the bottom, which in turn enables boards to plane higher and flatter on the water’s surface. Unfortunately, this also increases drag, which may impede speed and manoeuvrability under certain circumstances.
Staged rocker refers to a combination of curved and relatively flat sections on the bottom that combine to increase down-the-line speed and projection out of turns. Some staged rocker curves feature prominently at either end, known as flip and kick respectively, while others are less dramatic and more relaxed.
These rockers are ideal for waves with clean, hollow and powerful waves that pose challenges. Their design allows them to generate and channel power efficiently without losing control.
Rockers can either help or hinder a rider’s performance depending on the nature and ability of their waves, whether by enabling them to generate additional speed or slow them down; this may require them to add weight on their front foot when waves are small and/or steep. Furthermore, rockers can assist riders when changing direction quickly should difficult waves present themselves or when the face of an irregular wave becomes curvier than expected.
The Center
Surfboard centers serve two functions. One, they allow surfers to position themselves when paddling or turning midair; two, they determine its overall shape and ride characteristics.
An outline or plan shape of a surfboard refers to its outer edges when seen from either end and is measured one foot from both the nose, at its widest point in the center section, and tail ends.
Though outline is the primary measure of surfboard performance, all three measurements work in concert. If one changes it will affect all three.
Narrower noses tend to be associated with higher-performance boards while wider noses tend to be found more commonly among beginner and small wave boards. Wider noses capture more water in their wake for greater stability and lift.
However, wide noses add weight to a board, making turning more challenging – this is especially relevant with longboards where their length allows more flex in their decks.
Surfboard rails are another essential element in their design; modern surfboards typically feature either 50/50 or down-turned rails.
A 50/50 rail begins as a straight edge at its nose, then quickly transitions into a sharper edge at three quarters of its length – which continues into its tail for seamless water drainage beneath the board. A downturned rail has become more popular on modern surfboards as it provides for an enhanced ability to maneuver.
As with the rail shape, bottom contours also have a significant influence on how a surfboard rides and turns in the water, playing an integral part in controlling speed and direction in big waves.
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam has long been the go-to choice for building surfboard cores, dating back to the 1950s. Early EPS boards could be toxic; however, their development has come a long way and are now suitable for surfing.