Way back in 2004 Longboard Magazine wrote an article entitled “The Art of Noseriding”. The more I read this article the more it confused me about the one significant design to make anyone a noseriding phenomenon. It featured some of the best noseriders of our time. Surfers like Noah Shimabukuro, Kassia Meador, Alex Knost, Dane Peterson, and more talked about their perfect noseriding board and its characteristics. If you went through the article looking for characteristics to make your next ultimate noseriding board you would come away lost and more confused than ever. The boards ranged in size from 9’0 to 10’0 in length. Some had nose concaves others didn’t. Some has roll in the belly others had flat bottoms. The nose width, center point, and tail width varied by over 3 inches each way. But if you read closely you would come away with a few points they all had in common. A noserider is typically heavier than the everyday board. Typically 21 to 25 pounds are even heavier. Most of the noseriders mentioned had 50/50 egg shaped rails. One of the most common things mentioned was that each of their boards had a flipped tail.
I asked Austin about his noserider the “Soul Glide”. I wanted to know if it carried these “typical” characteristics and what he thought they did to make it a good noserider. His comments are as follows”
“The typical Soul Glide is 9’6 in length. The nose width is 19”, the middle point is 23 ½”, and the tail width is between 16 ½ and 17 inches. The bottom is slightly rolled (old timers call this belly) and comes stock with a shallow nose concave. It usually weighs around 23 pounds. The rails are 50/50 egg shaped. Nose rocker is flatter than most with a lot of late tail kick.”
Author- Longboard Magazine had an article about the “Art of Noseriding” and each board had three main things in common. Could you tell me what each of these things do to help a person noseride?
Austin- Fire away.
Author- Typically the noserider is heavier what does that do for noseriding?
Austin- The weight makes the board more stable. It calms down the board making it a stable platform for cross stepping. It slows the board down making it easier to get into trim. The heavier board rides lower in the water increasing the drag and again slowing it down to get into the pocket.
Author- I see the Soul Glide has 50/50 egg shape rails. First what is meant by 50/50 rails and what does that do for noseriding?
Austin- A 50/50 rail means that it has 50 percent of the rail curve above center and 50 percent below. A 50/50 rail is typically used on a noserider because it’s not designed to allow the water to release from the rail but actually sucks the water around the rail adding drag and downward pressure on the tail area. This again allows you to work the board into the critical pocket of the wave and helps to counter balance your weight when you walk forward.
Author- What is meant by tail kick and why would we want it?
Austin- Tail kick is an increased amount of rocker in the tail of the board. Tail kick serves more that one purpose on the Soul Glide. The first is when you paddle into a wave it keeps the flatter nose rocker board from pearling. The second purpose of the tail kick is that it provides nose lift. I know this sounds strange but bear with me. The 50/50 rails suck water over the rails and then back over the tail. When the rails do this then the water runs over the tail providing an increased suction in the tail and a downward pressure on the tail. This again acts as a brake to better position you in the pocket.
Author- Any other characteristics that a noserider should have?
Austin- I add belly to my noserider to increase drag and suction to hold into the face of the wave. It also helps in rail to rail turns, like a drop knee turn, and makes it easier to set up the perfect trim. I also add a shallow concave to the board. Most people think this is to provide lift and it does do that but not how most people think. The real reason is that a concave flattens out the rocker in the nose allowing the board to plane in the water increasing lift.
Author- Anything else if I want to be the next noseriding champion?
Austin- Wave choice and positioning is also critical to becoming the next noserider champion. Spend time watching your favorite noseriding and see how they use cut backs to position themselves in the most critical part of the wave. A noserider spends its time in the pocket not outrunning the wave.
After spending a few hours with Austin talking noserider traits it became apparent that the design of a noserider has many different characteristics working in tandem to produce the desired effects. Lift, negative pressure, positive pressure, suction, drag, it was almost like Austin was building the wing to the space shuttle.
