Surf board speed is important in surfing because it can help catch waves and makes maneuvering easier.
In an article about surf board shaping, Hayden Shapes claims they have designed the holy grail. In fact, that is the name of their board. One of their customers wanted a board he could use on giant waves like Mavericks to catch waves under the lip at the deepest point. These surfers use long boards that are wide, thick, and pointed to handle the power and speed the wave generates.
Short board speed is important
The board Hayden Shapes created also helped this customer carve a turn on the face of giant waves. Most of us don’t need that kind of technology, but in tackling bigger waves, the lesson is not lost. The bigger waves move faster. Surf board speed becomes more important to catch and maneuver on all size waves, however.
The first trick advanced surfers use is accelerating as soon as they are up on a wave. This is using the front foot to move the nose of the board up and down the face of the wave. Observing videos of surfers, you will see they combine a wide variety of hand and body movements to accomplish this task. The first objective is to move faster than the falling lip.
The second objective is speed and driving the rail into the face of the wave to rise up the lip or reverse on the face. After a trick or maneuver is performed, the speed has to be gained again. We learn on soft top boards which favor stability and ease of wave catching over speed. Long boards favor ease of wave catching and the ability to drive a wave in the pocket. Where to place your feet relative to the fins creates long board maneuvers.
The short board is also conscious of the back foot to fin pressure and surfers can ride the front of the board for more speed or place pressure on the fins to make sharp carves. Boards with cut outs, convex and concave bottoms, and cut off tails can create more speed and maneuverability at speed.
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