Saw one of these finally in the flesh ... how do riders rate this style of shape - ie - crazy super thin rails , gradually rolled deck , quite wide widths to fit the volume in .... really curious how riders find this style ... .

Since Gong has been doing these kind of boards since 2010, I can assure you it works.

They are definitively easier to balance on, once you get the hang of it: keep your feet near the stringer to avoid having your feet near the rails where the dome is and to avoid sinking the thin rails too easily. The widths help also generate power in average conditions.

The drawback is choppy conditions, where they can bounce more on the wave than narrow - but more tiring - boards, and very fast (high period) waves where the width adds some latency to the turns, even though the rails are easily sinkable and provide decent hold, you need to move your feet around more than on narrow boards. And narrow boards are faster. For instance the Gong shaper told me he saw the limits of his wide designs only in his recent Costa Rica trips, where he had swells consistently above 16s period. He then made a line of narrow boards (The Curves SP) for these conditions, but discontinued it... they did not sell. Wide and thin is very user-friendly for most people.

when I say wide widths , im referring to 28.5 for a 100ltr (prowave) ...

I cant resolve in my mind wether its better to cram 100ltrs into say a 27-27.5 , and have a fatter rounder rail , or the fanatic route .... as you say the bigger and faster waves get the more that excess 'footprint' is going to produce excessive hull lift etc ... Ive jumped on a 25" x 87 ltr chunky and could catch every wave , jumped once on the 27.25 fanatic 7'6 (80 LTR) , and could barely stand (such thin hull and thin rails) ....

I guess some would say step-rail is the perfect answer ??!!

You say "wide and thin' very user friendly - (granted point of view for say x32 , widestyle Allwave , maddogs , flows etc ) but also sinkier for wavier ranges (like prowave) than need to be (for the volume break ) ...?

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seabreezer said..
when I say wide widths , im referring to 28.5 for a 100ltr (prowave) ...

Yes, for instance the Gong Karmen is 28 3/4 for 105 liters.
A board geared for less latency in turns, the Alley is 27 3/4 for 105 liters.
The discontinued Curve SP was 26 1/2 for 105 liters.
Of course Gong has also wider boards, but more geared for intermediates.

As you can see these are "production boards" dimensions, wider than what the pros use. Some brands had narrower boards some years ago, but they are now all in about the same ballpark, as the market for real "pro" boards is not enough for production lines.

Note that thin rails are not a panacea. If you look at pro boards, a lot have boxy rails. Thin rails can bog down and slow the board in turns if they are too thin for the wave power. As always, what you want is a board that get on the rail easily, and for this the shaper will play with a lot of factors, rail thickness is only one part of the recipe, and too much (or too little) can spoil the meal. And the thickness distribution front/rear is also very important.