"Cutting Edge Professional" Bourton Shapes
CUTTING EDGE PRO SHAPES
INTRODUCTION
Compared to 20 years ago where a surfer/shaper tended to
shape or promote versions of the boards he shaped for himself,
and most of the time with a lot of success, nowadays professional
surfboard design has become a lot more personalised
and complicated than it ever was. The professional level now
is so far beyond the old surfer/shaper technique, it is becoming
more reliant on articulated feedback from elite surfers.
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Despite the use of computer aided software to master winning
designs, it is near impossible to repeat a magic board over
and over again, very minor element changes could tweak the
performance of the board by a fraction. As a shaper I tend
to shape a few boards for my team riders in a quest to find
the one he likes the most; the elite surfer can distinguish
delicate intricacies that seperate one board from the next.
This knowledge and expertise of detailed design features,
that the elite surfer can provide, is invaluable feedback
for future surfboard designs. It is critical to have the right
equipment on the World Professional Tour and the focus on
perfecting fine details gives the professional surfer, more
confidence in critical competition heats.
The delicate intricacies of professional board designs compliment
the major basics such as plan shape, rocker, rails, bottom
shapes, fins and glassing, which are all especially tuned
for professional surfers. Click on a link below to find out
how Murray Bourton can transform your standard
short board into the top range high performance, heat winning
surfboard.
Obviously the boards at this cutting edge level are
aimed at surfers who are very experienced and
tend to like less than more foam content in their boards,
but for the average guy it is easy to blow the design up to
suit heavier and less skilled surfers. Research and development,
using team riders in order to deliver the best outcomes for
the paying customer does work.
PLANSHAPE
Perhaps the most generic of all the facets of
the pros boards is their plan shapes. Currently
the subtle hip squash tail seems to be the
flavour for most. Troy Brooks, Luke Munro
and Ry Craike seem to favour this
tail and generally I believe they like them the most
because the basic rounded square has more surface area behind
the rear fin allowing maximum thrust through the 2nd
half of the turn, good for setting up airs and all the modern
moves only possible with a short burst of speed.
It is important for the hip to be not too abrupt, hence the
use of the term subtle hip.The subtle hip creates a little
more impulse on the wave face where the surfer can break out
of a committed turn easier, if he so wishes; handy for a quick
detour up the face for a floater to get around an unexpected
section.
The round tail has been getting more popular
of late, popularized in these circles by Kelly Slater
who rides them regularly as does Occy. The
roundness creates a flow between turns and
once mastered can be surfed powerfully but you need to bulk
up your rails and reduce the tail lift to get some drive back.
Ry Craike has had success with some of the
round tails I have shaped him particularly since I have beefed
up the rail.
Swallows and fish designs seem to the least popular with my
professional team, yet they are my biggest sellers in the
marketplace, mainly I think because most pros do not go for
the fish design when faced with small wave competitions. The
reason being again is the change of tails, so even though
they go wider and shorter, they prefer to just have a wider
rounded square. Troy Brooks won Haleiwa on
his 5'10" small wave rounded square groveller a couple
of years back, so it’s been near impossible getting
him anywhere near a fish ever since.
It is important to understand that in this cutting edge category
that paranoia runs deep and the top elite seem to gravitate
toward the design which is winning contests under their opponent’s
feet!
LATERAL BOTTOM SHAPES
By lateral bottom shape, I mean the shape of
the bottom from rail to rail. The two major players in this
department are the concave and the double
concave, although the humble old vee in some of the
wider stuff still exists as a functional alternative. All
my top shelf stuff is currently is single to double
concave.
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The single is about 3mm through the centre slice, and holding
that depth to the front fins then plunges
into a small 1mm vee on the pod. Inside the
single at the 12 inch slice from the tail a double
concave is shaped into the single. The main point
of this is to break the suck factor of a single concave and
it really works effectively.
The fact is that in concave designs, the rail line has more
curve than the stringer line, meaning that when on rail the
board is looser and more willing too fit into the hook. The
small vee in the tail allows the trapped
water out of the concave a little earlier, decreasing
the tail pressure and allowing the surfer to unweight
on to the front foot quicker than normal. The concave
is a must in the standard small wave performance boards
because it helps lift the board when it is going slow and
allows it to dart around on the surface.
Most of my team still want to use concaves in their bigger
wave boards that would be more controllable with the use of
a vee, lately we have married the two concepts by using a
concave-vee set up. The vee dominates the
tail one third and the concave rules through the centre, gradually
diminishing toward the nose. The purpose is that at high speeds,
concaves can be difficult rail to rail but with a
vee under the back foot the concave can be levered with less
effort; it keeps the concave in check but benefits
from the speed under the front foot that the concave delivers.
The extreme tow board designs have a 12mm
concave all the way through, which is built into a much flatter
rocker and they literally break the sound barrier. At this
point in time I have been experimenting with where the deepest
part is placed and what effect it has.
 ROCKER
Rockers are the invisible unknown, and with
most shapers, once a good one is found he will tend to stick
with it for a while and milk it. Unfortunately one man’s
rocker is not necessarily another man’s, this I have
found time and time again, although a basic direction seems
to be common to most of our team riders.
At this point my rockers are evolving in the direction of
less nose lift and more tail lift for two
main reasons. First and foremost extra tail curve,
and I emphasise not sudden tail flip, gives the surfer more
freedom at higher speeds, and in hollower situations.
Decreased curve in the front half of the
board allows easier entry, but more importantly acts
as an accelerator under the front foot, which more
or less stands over the beginning of the longer flat part
of the curve; it then only needs body weight to be moved over
it to get the plane and run. There is no need to shuffle forward,
meaning without having an ugly wide stance, the surfers back
foot sits over the steering wheel and the front foot over
the accelerator.
The sweet spot on a thruster is not easy to find and once
found one does not want to leave it, so it makes sense if
the board can be turned and pushed from one position. For
extremely tight turns the back foot needs to be moved back
but only slightly. The anatomy of a male is top heavy
so his torso lays on the flattest part of the curve and makes
paddling much easier. The extra curve in the tail has less
paddling negativity because there is much less weight in males
legs.
As I move into bigger waves the same principal applies but
to a lesser extreme as I try to smooth the curves out keeping
in mind that guns do not need to create their own
speed they just need to control it.
RAILS
The rails are probably the most sensitive
aspect in a surfboard, being the outside perimeter
of the board, so when plunged into a turn it is the first
part the surfer is going to feel.
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If the rails are too thick, too thin, too pinched or too boxy
you are going to notice it. Excluding paddling, the
volume of a rail is the most crucial to a surfer’s body
weight and height. Common sense dictates that a heavier
guy needs a thicker rail and vice versa but there is a lot
more science in the rail shape itself.
Most of my team riders are moving toward thinner boards with
flatter decks and boxier rails, they are thin enough
to bury on impulse yet boxy enough to release out quickly
to get into the next turn. This allows the surfer
to fit in more power with more frequency.
The old pinched rail seems to be a thing of the past and is
only valid for the guy that needs meat in the centre but still
requires a lower rail. The benefits of a rail that semi resists
being buried can be realized in more drive and reach, which
means that the other elements in the boards design that deliver
the same, need not be too extreme, such as rocker and fin
size and cluster.
The forgiveness of a boxy rail is also why
these guys can pull off lots of wild moves in small
waves without bogging. The main drawback with using
the boxy rail is that if the board is too thick, then you
assume the rail is way too thick, but you would be surprised
how much volume you retain when you squeeze it out to the
rail after thinning the centre.
Troy Brooks still needs a little thickness
and he uses a vee deck with a small boxy shoulder which means
he gets the best of both. Although boxy by nature the rails
are still soft underneath and only become razor 5 inches in
front of the front fins.
I think the need for the correct rail design is going to alter
the perception of ones board thickness in the future.
FINS
Perhaps 30% of the feel of a surfboard can be
attributed to the fins; the fin shape, material
content, method of fixing and positioning are super
critical to the success of the board.
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Most of my team prefer the lightweight fibreglass
fin to be laminated on or in simple
terms fixed. We use the Soar fins
and the most popular templates are the D3
and the MF which are both quiet basey but
slender in the tip. Drive off the base and release off the
tip is what they are after and these templates deliver. To
the left is an image of the D3 and the MF fin template used
by most of my team riders.
It’s amazing when you check the position of the fins
on other boards and they are always the same as your own.
There is no mention of fin positions in the media or around
the traps but every shaper worth his salt knows. A little
less standard is the toe in toward the nose, my team riders
seem comfortable with 2 inches out from the nose but every
shaper has his own quirk on this; in reality there is only
a bees dick in it.
Fin tilt is the same deal but consensus says dead upright
is a big no no.
The need for glassed fixed fins in my opinion
is understandable in small surf because there
is a fine line between a catch or bog when boards are moving
at slower speeds and with the fixed the board and
fins feel together as one which
really helps spontaneity in difficult conditions. As speed
increases however I think the high tech new fins
available with FCS and Future will advantage our team riders
once they accept them.
GLASSING
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All
of my team boards are glassed with only one layer
of 4 oz top and bottom. We use the diagonal
weave method, this discourages creases
and adds nose to tail flex, which helps absorb
shock (the biggest cause of snapping).
To give the board a decent backbone we use a 4 ply stringer
that is still only very fine but super strong.
To thwart the common tail edge cancer we use carbon flaps
which can handle all the extra pressure put in this spot by
the heel or toe. Also on the bottom behind the fins we use
strips of 4 oz along the bottom flush to the edge again to
keep that cancer at bay.
These days with all professional sports equipment, weight
is paramount, so all these special little glass strengtheners
add up to a board that is laterally strong
but easily dented on the deck. Basically a dented deck is
acceptable but a cracked tail edge is as bad as a snap and
is really the death knell.
A light and strong (in the right places)
polyurethane is for sure possible, and I consider my team
glass jobs a testament for that.
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