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Just to clarify-do you mean shorter or narrower tail? BTW I have heard that more tail length gives more control in strong fully powered conditions and vice versa. Narrower tail- board more turny and pivoty. Wider tail -early planning, better upwind, but less maneuverable - or I may be wrong ?
The treatment is to simply cut off some tail without doing anything else to the outline. So the tail will visually to most look wider, since it is wider at the very end. And the OFO measurement will increase. But the tail is in fact exactly as wide, only shorter. This is why the OFO measurement is fundamentally flawed and should never be used. And indeed, the idea of how close the strap is to the tail is flawed too. It is conceptually much better to think about how long the tail extends behind the strap. This tail length is a VERY fundamental notion. When I cut the tail, the way I have set up my general design principle makes the tail get a touch thinner, progressively from the center and back. So the 78 is in fact 3mm thinner at the back strap. A shorter tail does not really affect control a whole lot, in particularly not in a straightline. Just look at slalom boards. Less area behind the strap in fact make the board more free to move smoothly over chop. But tail length is relative other variables not very important in this aspect at all. The advantage of a shorter tail that you can turn much tighter with everything else being the same. The downside is a bit worse planing with everything else being the same. In practice the only situation when this matters is when pumping onto a wave in cross offshore winds. That seems to ba a special situation where more tail length adds some needed support.A shorter tail gives a bit less top turn grip too. This can be compensated with a bit less outline curve in the tail. In the boards that are being developed now I also add a bit of a tunnel double concave. This is done by increasing the rocker inside the double from between the straps and back. But despite this increased rocker, the effect is a more tracky feeling in the turns, with more projection out of the turn. So you get a bit more grippy feeling in general. But I also run a bit more rocker at the rail in the tail, which in fact gives more looseness. So overall I kind of compensate one change with another. But the end results is still a slight shift in character. As mentioned the 78, 85 and 92 gets a bit shorter tails, as this has worked well on the 72 and 99. But the 99 actually get a longer tail. If you are a lighter person using the 99 in smaller waves this will actually be a disadvantage. But for heavier people using it in better waves, in particular light cross off conditions, it will be a better compromise. The new 99 in fact also has a bit narrower tail, induced by a tiny bit more outline curve from between the straps to just in front of the winger.
Gestalt
> 9 months ago, 5 Aug 2023
