Saw mention of this elsewhere and thought it a valid topic.

Just how important is the weight of a board compared to the shape and stiffness of a board?

Unless you are jumping or wavesailing (where you are slashing a lot of turns etc) I would have thought that shape was more important.

Also would a heavier board handle chop better when going faster?

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grumplestiltskin said...
Also would a heavier board handle chop better when going faster?

I have found that heavier boards do handle chop better, if you are cutting through instead of hopping over. As an extreme example I've got a (really) old Hi Fly, weighs about 20kg+ and it just slices through the meanest of chop like a hot knife through warm butter.

That said I find I can actually accelerate quite a bit with chop sometimes (on my modern board). I guess lack of surface tension.

I'm not sure how much difference +/-1kg would make though. Would like to see other opinions.

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evlPanda said...


I have found that heavier boards do handle chop better, if you are cutting through instead of hopping over. As an extreme example I've got a (really) old Hi Fly, weighs about 20kg+ and it just slices through the meanest of chop like a hot knife through warm butter..

yep i undertand what you meen evlpanda nothing like blasting through chop rather than skimming over it, i'm trying to figure out
how i can get my board over the 20kg's so i can blast through the chop,
i have came up with a few idea's like strapping a truck battery in front of the mast track, but i'm worried the strap under the board will slow it down , so plan (B) maybe make a fiberglass box to hold the battery, extra weight with a bit of luck maybe get it up to 25kgs and call it the chop blarster
if all that fails i can drill a few holes in the nose, and waite till it fills up with water ,that sould keep the nose down and maybe get the board up to over 30kg's
anyone got any idea's on how we can create a chop blaster

I had an old Tiga 271 which got pretty heavy. It punched thru chop like a champion. Great board so I've now got a Tabou as my freeriding allrounder - designed by the same bloke. It's slightly on the heavy side and good in chop. Light boards are much easier to pump onto the plane though. To maximise directional stabilty with minimum compromise on pumping ability you'd want the ballast weights right at the nose and tail

In theory a lighter board bounces over from peak to peak and is easier to ride fast as only minor foot movements are needed to maintain its attitude

I can see why..... but for experts

A heavier board will bounce less and bounce slower, giving somebody of lower skill level more time to react...... but will be slower overall as it slows down when it punches thru chop rather than planing over the peaks.

IMHO

As far as wave gear goes, in 30kn and really nasty chop, shape matters more than weight IE: modern concave widestyles bounce like mad and older style narrower boards with some Vee up front are much more pleasant

UK's Boards magazine did this test recently with various boards and found they could not find a difference and also noteing the claimed vs actual weight which could be a little as 200g

just eat some donuts

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windwarning said...

just eat some donuts

I tried this in reverse recently (lost 6 Kg) and found early planing changed but I didn't notice the board's chop handling change.

i tried to figure that out" is stiffer faster" so i made a board knowing it would be about 1kg heavier

i used the lightest foam you can get 11kg/m3 and applied microballoons then sanded them off, then used carbon laminated divinicell 10mx250/m3 stringers, the nose stringer i had to use a heavy toolbox too bend it while the resin set,

all was going too plan until the final top laminate, it was a cold winter's night so i decided to stick an electric blanket on and a woollen underlay as well, well the woollen underlay trapped all the heat in, and with the bag at about 35psi it crushed the top and bent more rocker into the board, so i decided that one was going to the tip(and made another board) a couple ove weeks ago i decided too finish it, witch ment i had to fill the tail rocker in with balloons(more weight) i found some old footstrapps and sailed it for the first time last week in about 20kts with a 6.7 and a 32 fin, the board is incredibly fast and with the tail rocker and cutouts it is very loose in the jibe, i'm looking forward to tomorrow s/w maybe 30knts

the board weigh's 6.8kgs with straps, and even at that weight i cant see a production board being as stiff

here's a couple of pic's on the concaved deck