TECH TALK
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Choosing your dimensions
#1 SORTING THE DIMS
A common point of confusion for many people ordering a surfboard is the sorting the three basic dimensions of a board... the length, the width and the thickness. Once you understand the impact these three basic dims have upon the performance of the board, it becomes a lot easier to sort them out. Here's how I look at it…
LENGTH
Think of your board as if it were a baseball bat. A long bat will have lots of swing to it, but will come around slower and will be more difficult to swing in tight spaces. Conversely you can swing a smaller bat in tighter spaces and it will come around quicker, but it will not have the power of the swing of the longer bat.
So the length of your board is the swing of your bat, so to speak.
WIDTH
The width of your board determines the stability and rail to rail response of your board, as well as affecting the boards ability to glide.
A wider board will be more stable under your feet and have more glide, but will have a slower rail to rail response.
A narrower board will be more sensitive and have a quicker rail to rail response but be less stable under your feet and have slightly less glide.
So when you're choosing the width of your board, think about the level of stability and rail to response you're after, as well as how much natural glide you want the board to have.
THICKNESS
The thickness of your board really determines the overall volume of your board.
The thickness of your board can be varied quite considerably and yet still have minimal impact on the performance of the board.
A small adjustment in thickness will have much more impact on the volume of the board, than adjustments to the width or the length of the board.
And of course it is the overall volume of your board that really determines the boards paddle power. Higher volume equals more paddle power, lower volume, less paddle power.
So this is why I will almost always use the thickness of the board to finalise the overall volume of the board because the length and the width are very much more about the performance and response of the board.
CONCLUSION
So there you have it…
Length… Is the swing of your bat
Width .... Is rail to rail response, stability and glide of your board
Thickness… Is your volume and paddle power
