Okay, so I just finished the book "West of Jesus" by Steven Kotler. Very good book about one surfer's travels around the world in a quest to understand the spirituality behind surfing, but I think he may have gotten hs facts wrong at one point. In describing the difference between short boards and long boards, he says at one point that a short board is "faster" than a long board. Is this correct? Short boards are obviously much more manueverable than long boards, but I think a long board may actually be faster, in the same way longer snow skis are faster than shorter snow skis. Plus, I think that its partly the speed of a long board that makes them capable of riding smaller waves. So... which generates more speed- a long board or a short board? Anyone know the answer?
maybe not actual speed wise but a lot more is happening, you turn left on a shortboard and you go left a lot faster than if you were on a longboard. when going from a shortboard to a longboard you have to "slow" down your surfing and relax a little thats how i would perceive it
Yup... I've always said that surfing a shortboard your riding like you have got your foot on the gas...longboard you need to ride with your foot is on the brake... if that makes any sense.
Wild Mouse Analogy A wave will only go as fast as a wave will go and relative speed is largely an illusion from short to long. It's akin to a Wild Mouse ride or a roller coaster. When you're in that little tiny wild mouse car getting jerked from side to side, you think you're going a gazillion miles an hour. . . but you're not. On a looping coaster with nylon wheels hurtling through time and space, it's like gliding through a time warp where every thing slows down. The key difference in speed perception is one rider can get his board up and planing faster and more consistently, like what Vinny B does. He's not just a speed surfer, he sees his next line before it even happens, and he never, or at least rarely, loses momentum. It's a lot like a baseball hitter who is in the "zone" where time slows down and he can read the lettering on the baseball as it hurtles to the plate. If he sees it that well, his batting average, and his speed, goes up exponentially. (Maybe, just maybe, I've watched the John Peck video one too many times) "You have to have focus grasshopper."
I think it completely depends on the wave...in steep or hollow waves you can pump a short board and get going faster than you can on a log. I think longboards have too much planing area/friction to go as fast on these setups On flat faced/mushy waves you NEED that extra planing area to avoid bogging and longboards can be faster.
Pumping aside, I think longboards are faster. I'm not sure friction is as much of an issue in water when it comes to surface area and thrust. Longboards have a lot more surface area and much less rocker which provides the wave more area to push on the board and create more thrust.
I don't think you can put pumping aside. A longboard will do it's thing without much input from the rider. A short board or fish requires input (pumping) to get going. I have had longboarders drop in on me and with a lot of pumping I have been able to catch up and go around them, and they were in full trim at the time. I guess if two surfers dropped into the same wave and each just stood there the longboard will go faster but that's not what happens. Pumping a shortboard or fish is a lot like swinging on a swing, with every pump you go faster and faster.
Tests have been done- shortboards can achieve a top speed that is roughly double the top speed of a longboard. Think about this: why don't people ride longboards at superfast breaking waves like pipe or chopes? Because they cant go fast enough to make the wave. Big wave guns are only the size they are because of the need to acheive paddling speed to match the wave speed but at some point the extra drag becomes a liability and this is why tow in boards are small- once the paddle-in need is eliminated the faster board is the smaller board (less drag)- this is why some waves can be bodyboarded but are too critical for standup surfing- speed has a negative correlation to drag.(Longer Skis provide stability which allows higher speed for the ski analogy) Now on a small mushy wave a longboard may go faster than a potato chip short board that is bogging but the top speed acheivable by either is not close. In that wave a board that has enough foam not to bog but is shorter than a longboard (like a fish for instance) will go faster than the longboard. Think about this: when your local beachie is breaking the longboarders trim as fast as they can just to make it down the line while the shortboarders fit in turn after turn- they have so much speed they have to turn to bleed it off. The shortest distance between two points is straight line- right? So a longboarder has to go straight (shortest distance) just to make it down the line on that wave while a short boarder can fit in a bunch of turns (covering a longer distance) by virtue of the higher speed attainable due to decreased drag.
I've read that as well...the explanation i've heard is that at those higher speeds the huge amount of planing area of a longboard creates too much hydraulic drag (friction).
doing some longboard/speed "field testing" Jesus, i love riding a log in hollow waves...but i still think a good shorty is faster.
Which is faster a corvette or Mack truck? I would use the same concept with wave riding vessles - a longboard may be more powerful (MAck Truck) but the vette (shorty) is quicker. I've only ridden a longboard once though, so what do i know...
less wetted surface area=less drag=more speed in planing crafts. this does not apply to displacement hulls. shortboards have a higher maximum speed potential, but may not be faster in weak waves where marginal planing conditions exist.
