Thursday, June 14, 2007

Parabolas


N WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 10 SECONDS...DROPPING TO W SWELL 5 FT AT 9 SECONDS.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the subject of parabolic rails could be the subject of several separate posts...and is probably something more typically discussed someplace like Swaylocks...
However, the Wegener alaia with parabolic rails got me thinking and I did some research (minimal, really) on them... parabolic rails should not be confused with parabolic stringer technology (a whole other topic)...
Parabolic skis and snowboards have been around for a bit and "Y"'s (Tom Morey) Swizzle Surfboard is one of the better known parabolic railed boards i'm familiar with...from Y's site here's a very brief descriptor:
PARABOLIC RAILS allow the board to dynamically climb or slide up or down the face of the wave. These parabolic rails are similar to those of the modern high performance skis.
Getting a bit more into it without getting overly technical:

A surfboard with parabolic rails generally is a board with a narrowed waist/hip and features a wider nose and tail area (interchangeable in a sense...front is back, back is front). The peanut outline waist lets the rider turn utilizing the rail itself and eliminates the skeg as a turning pivot. Like a snowboard or a skateboard, the nose and tail of the board are turned up/kicked at each end, which allows spinners and forward/backward rideability that isn't achievable with conventional surfboards. The parabolized surfboard often includes channels in the underside, this helps the board's water traction and provides increased turning control.

(Source info)

2 comments:

Mick said...

Really interesting Doc. I was aware of the swizzle and wondered why it met with so little success, apart from it's looks. I'll forward this link to Tom W and D.

Anonymous said...

soon alaia-like boards will develop tails, like modern saketeboards and kids will be busting kickflips off wavelips. imho. CF