colas said..Daveb27 said..
Coming from a prone surfing background, I think width slows down rail to rail transitioning and trimming, which can affect performance.
This is true, but I found out that it is also true of high volume (thick) rails.
And we have then two competing factors: More width raises latency in rail-to-rail... but also allows the shaper to "spread" the volume on a bigger surface, and thus reduce the rails volume... which helps rail-to-rail.
I was convinced that narrow was the way to go for quick rail-to-rail, but after using boards somewhat wider but with rails thinned as much as possible, I am not so sure... They paddle slower, that's for sure (width and thin rails both add drag), but on the wave I think I am enjoying them more.
Notwithstanding the fact that width and rail shape are only two of the many factors that effect board design and their 'turnability', this makes a ton of sense to me. A big part of SUP for me, tho, is early wave entry. So I like the speed of a narrower board. Especially important in a crowd bc if I don't want to be the guy who paddles for waves and doesn't make them. But the stability of a wider board is also important, bc I don't want to be the SUP guy constantly falling in the line up. Compromises...
