- The greatest thing about the channels is that there is no top end speed limit.
- They just continually build speed.
- You're taking the water that would normally run across the board and down the rail and catching it and storing the energy, releasing it at planned locations along the deck, more so the tail though, as opposed to the rail.
- The only negatives that I have heard from channels is that they're too fast, I can't get in the barrel. I just tell surfers to deal with the speed and surf accordingly.
- They also hold on the face better because they've got like fingers on the wall. They sit and hold better. Run higher and hold longer in the barrel once the speed is controlled and understood. If you don't outrun it you can stay in it longer.
- I guarantee that once you get on one and learn it you will always have one in your quiver for the rest of your life.
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| The 7'8 Hokua Bottom......DROOL......... |
9 comments:
DW,
do the channels also grip to reduce yaw at paddle speeds? to the casual observer the grooves would give resistance to spin.
i know without the factory side bites the Mana yaw increases in flat water.
When you reach this performance level people don't buy based on how it paddles.
Channels lift the tail sucking air and increasing the skate. At high speed everything gets looser
After building several thousand trench bottom boards and riding them for 20+ years, here is my take on them.
Channel bottoms 2,4,6 channels either coming off the tail or just fading between the fins work like this.
Channel bottoms hold and will let you ride a smaller board in conditions you would normally need alot of rail to handle.
Trenchers Track like they are on rails they do not "skate" they suck down to the water they give the bottom of the board more surface area and direct water through the fins tightening the board up and giving more directional force through the fins. Concaves will "skate"
Trenchers are harder to turn,
They generate speed better than a flat bottom.
Channels do not give lift they give control.
I do not like riding a channel bottom in mushy conditions they "stick" with the added surface area on a fast wave they are awesome and they hold and will pull through sections in the barrel you could never make on any other board.
I see no benefit what so ever to adding channels to a SUP they are tight enough already and plenty fast. Want more drive, hold or looser change your fins and get a custom built just for your surf style.
Take 2 boards same everything, fin sets, size, shape, except one with a 4 or 6 channel trench bottom. The trencher will be noticably faster and hold the face like it was glued to it, but over all be incredibly harder to turn. A good surfer on a good wave riding a trench bottom is pretty cool to watch the turns are more square and not as perfectly rounded arcs. Example Matt Archbold rode trenchers, Martin potter, Occy rode trenchers in Hawaii. Archabold rode them consistantly, also Christian Fletcher rode them a bit for their superior drive and speed to get big air.
NC Paddle Surfer when you get down to Florida this winter I have SUP boards for you and Jacky to test out. I know you will be amazed of the performance level I have going on in my little crack in the atlantic here in NSB. I have SUPs down to 5'10".
Peace,
Ron Neff
Absolute Trip Stand up paddle surf boards
Does the boards rocker play into this channel design?
I haven't ridden any super short boards, so in my mind I'm thinking you need some speed to get these short shapes going, instead of plowing along?
Boards that I have seen with channeled bottoms, all have had much flatter rocker.
All in all - I can't wait to see what this board (Naish 7'8") will do
This all sounds like FUN. I'm glad I ordered the 9'0 and 7'8 Hokua.
So wouldn't you want the 7'8 to be fast as possible for our beach break conditions, thus the channels are a good thing?
I have been experimenting with SUP shapes for surfing for a few years now and SUPs are all I ride. I got these things working realy well.
This is what I figured out. A SUP is not a large surfboard it is its own thing and should be built as such.
Unlike a prone surfboard a SUP has what I call a planning width. This allows in itself for more speed than a prone board because of the more surface area on the wave it utilizes more of the waves energy and spreads our weight as riders out more over a larger planning area. This in itself is fast. Add a proper amount of rocker which for a SUP for the surf I ride excessive rockers. My 9' has 11" in the nose and 4.5 in the tail, My 7'6" 9.5" in the nose and 4.75 in the tail. This simply would not work properly on a prone surfboard it would be a water plow.
Where alot of SUP surfers make the mistake when they go less than 9'6" in SUP length is thinking they can just stand there on a wave and glide. This is not the case, surf that smaller SUP as if it was a 6' prone board. As you have to surf it to make a small SUP go. Push speed out of it by making every manuver have a purpose in that getting to the steeper parts of the wave utilizing the gravity/trim to pull through sections and hard turns and cut backs to keep you in perfect postion on the wave face.
With this said I have yet to see a cituation where I have said to my self I need more speed out of my SUP if anything they could stand to be a little slower so I would not have to cut back so much. But I am naturally a fast surfer and prefer manuverability over brut down the line speed.
I ride the FCS system and see Naish uses it to, try this fin set up for your quad MR-TX side fins and Q-1 trailer fins ride the plastic ones they flex more and will shorten the arc of your turns and they are the fastest and loosest quad fin set I have used even though the MR's are a big fin they are much looser and drivier than M-7's or any of the other smaller fins I have used.
When I used to build boards for pro surfers everyone I ever made a board or quiver for wanted the same thing. Flat into Vee as simple of a hull design as possible. Why? For the simple reason that complicated boards are usually complicated to ride and every complicated bottom design has a unforseen instance where it will act up and do something weird when you least expect it. I am not saying concaves and channels, bonzers and hulls do not work they do. BUt do you realy want to take a few weeks to figure the quirks of one out?
Will a off the shelf channel bottom work for me? or for you? I honestly could not tell you but if I was dropping the dime on one I would opt for a simpler design. But I do not like figuring out a new board I just like to jump up and ride it like I have been surfing it for months. If you realy want speed get a true Bonzer 5 fin.
The large manufacturers spend alot of time developing plugs for these molded boards and they have to make them be a general one size fits all which in surfboard and SUP design it is much more personal and unique, We all surf differently and we all have different body types, weights and strengths and weaknesses in our surfing. Recognizing that and developing a board to compensate for the shortcomings will put everyone to a higher level both in enjoyment and the progression of the sport itself.
Here is my face book page with some boards and video and stuff. Take a look.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Absolute-Trip-Standup-Paddle-Surfboards/122560101125216
Peace and have fun "Push the realm of SUP surfing"
Ron Neff
Thanks Ron.
I'll try that fin setup.
The Naish boards have more rocker than most. That must be why I love them. The 9'3 has 4 1/2" of rocker. The 9'0 4"
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