This particular design together with the quad bat tails is a result of my own need to keep short and loose but not to lose any paddle. In fact the intention was increased paddle coz me uncle jack has been giving me loads of grief of late and the time it takes to get to my feet has almost doubled. Problem is that even though I am painfully slow to my feet once I am there I consider myself competent enough to deserve a design that I can still throw about, particularly in waves 5 ft and under.
Firstly to achieve max paddle in a short board without boating up the thickness the only alternatives left are plan shape and rocker. The HPR has a wide nose purely for the paddle and a fail safe to resist a flatter nose lift from pearling easily. The downside of a wider nose is front heaviness that slows the board’s reaction time rail to rail and restricts vertical type turns. To counter this I have pulled the tail in by using double flyers to break the water flow and diminish the surface are in the tail encouraging the surfer to surf further forward in order to help throw the wider nose around. The rear fin position is also crucial for this to work and the HPR has a rear fin placed more than an inch further forward than most boards which results in a close cluster of fins since the front fins have remained where they are normally positioned. The tighter cluster gives the board two things; firstly more east west and second a bigger sweet spot making the board still operate okay if you miss the spot on a late take off.
A boat first pushes water as it rises up to get on it’s plane, but the HPR is already on its plane from the beginning coz the flattest part of the rocker is under the chest, this is emphasised even more with a concave shaped in the same area; so it gets up on plane real quick resulting in a board that slips in like a honeymoon you know what! Besides the extra paddle benefits, the straight and concave give the board a faster running speed particularly when the front foot is applied.
How do we keep the board loose? The flyers and the rear finforward have been mentioned, but to add to that the HPR has added tail lift in the last 2 ft of the board which does not effect paddle; as the torso is the heaviest portion of the body and it is sitting over the forward flat that is already doing it’s thing, so the lift gives the board the vert it needs. Another facility to help get a widish board with a concave on rail is the use of a vee in the last 2 ft of the bottom which helps lever the board from rail to rail quicker and easier. It is notable however that vees lose thrust so my answer to that is to incorporate what I call a drop wing which is essentially a small concave in the rear flyer that gives the tail back it’s squirt and thrust and it works so well the board simply flies out of turns.
Perhaps the final bit of science for speed and looseness is the inclusion of the H2 fins, due to their extreme canter that help the board twitch from rail to rail with ease, and secondly they seem to be the fastest fin out due to their sophisticated foils and concaves.
All boards come with a deck spray that attempts to minimize the appearance of a wide nose in order to encourage the rider to throw it around like he would a narrower nose and when he does the science in this package surprises all that ride it.
The HPR starts at 5'10 and runs up in 2 inch increments in length to 7'2.
The HPR Design Philosophy
13th Jan 2009
This particular design together with the quad bat tails is a result of my own need to keep short and loose but not to lose any paddle. In fact the intention was increased paddle coz me uncle jack has been giving me loads of grief of late and the time it takes to get to my feet has almost doubled. Problem is that even though I am painfully slow to my feet once I am there I consider myself competent enough to deserve a design that I can still throw about, particularly in waves 5 ft and under.
Firstly to achieve max paddle in a short board without boating up the thickness the only alternatives left are plan shape and rocker. The HPR has a wide nose purely for the paddle and a fail safe to resist a flatter nose lift from pearling easily. The downside of a wider nose is front heaviness that slows the board’s reaction time rail to rail and restricts vertical type turns. To counter this I have pulled the tail in by using double flyers to break the water flow and diminish the surface are in the tail encouraging the surfer to surf further forward in order to help throw the wider nose around. The rear fin position is also crucial for this to work and the HPR has a rear fin placed more than an inch further forward than most boards which results in a close cluster of fins since the front fins have remained where they are normally positioned. The tighter cluster gives the board two things; firstly more east west and second a bigger sweet spot making the board still operate okay if you miss the spot on a late take off.
A boat first pushes water as it rises up to get on it’s plane, but the HPR is already on its plane from the beginning coz the flattest part of the rocker is under the chest, this is emphasised even more with a concave shaped in the same area; so it gets up on plane real quick resulting in a board that slips in like a honeymoon you know what! Besides the extra paddle benefits, the straight and concave give the board a faster running speed particularly when the front foot is applied.
How do we keep the board loose? The flyers and the rear finforward have been mentioned, but to add to that the HPR has added tail lift in the last 2 ft of the board which does not effect paddle; as the torso is the heaviest portion of the body and it is sitting over the forward flat that is already doing it’s thing, so the lift gives the board the vert it needs. Another facility to help get a widish board with a concave on rail is the use of a vee in the last 2 ft of the bottom which helps lever the board from rail to rail quicker and easier. It is notable however that vees lose thrust so my answer to that is to incorporate what I call a drop wing which is essentially a small concave in the rear flyer that gives the tail back it’s squirt and thrust and it works so well the board simply flies out of turns.
Perhaps the final bit of science for speed and looseness is the inclusion of the H2 fins, due to their extreme canter that help the board twitch from rail to rail with ease, and secondly they seem to be the fastest fin out due to their sophisticated foils and concaves.
All boards come with a deck spray that attempts to minimize the appearance of a wide nose in order to encourage the rider to throw it around like he would a narrower nose and when he does the science in this package surprises all that ride it.
The HPR starts at 5'10 and runs up in 2 inch increments in length to 7'2.