hulls

I’ve been on a quest for the perfect hull for San Diego for several years. As a result I’ve reached some conclusions about various combinations of belly and concaves. Now I know a lot of people are going to holler about real hulls having no concave. Maybe they’re right and once you start putting concaves in it’s no longer a hull. I happen to call my variant the “hillbilly hull”. Under that general designation I have shaped a variety of planshapes and bottoms. Always staring with a nice roll in the nose. Malibu style dictates a somewhat flattish middle and tail and results in a very fun hull that you can read all about on Greg Liddle’s websight.

Now it gets interesting. When I’ve introduced a bit of concave to double concave towards the back, I’ve noticed more accelleration off the bottom and while kind of pumping down the line (not thruster style wiggling but more like weighting and unweighting a transition while pool skating). The more extreme the concaves the more bonzerish squirt there is. The boards still turn and drive from your front foot but are capable of surfing off the tail as well.

Now when the concave is started further forward again, you start losing the front foot driven goodness that is the hallmark of a good hull. You can still move forward and pump down the line but real cutbacks need a tail weighted bias. The plus side is a fast, glidey board that’s more in tune with the San Diego spots I frequent (Tourmaline, Cliffs, Pipes).

I used to call these boards little eggs, fried eggs, or little fried eggs depending on the combination of belly and concaves and I may go back to doing so. I have one of each and love them all equally depending on the day. If you spot me in the lot at Swami’s or Tourmaline, holler at me and you are welcome to test drive anything I have in the van.

Peace