From my research for building a board i found out this.

Older boards tend to be a similar thickness throughout the board. They tend to have more rocker than newer boards.

Newer boards are more tapered at the tips and thicker in the middle. Its typical to see a 3-4mm at the tips and 10mm in the center. Newer boards also have more channels and concave options aswell.

Rocker smooths out chop and gives you good carving and holds more power. But the more rocker you have the more power hungry the board. A super flat board cranks upwind like nothing else but hates chop and can't hold much power.

So... an old board with a single thickness has to have a present rocker to try and trade off between upwind, chop riding and power holding ability.

The newer board thats waists towards the tips has abit of an advantage. In lighter conditions its less rocker means it can crank upwind well. Then when the chop builds the tips can flex and give a smoother ride. When your powered more the tips flex and increase your rocker thus giving you a better power holding ability.

So the latest boards give you better upwind ability and work in a lot wider range of conditions.

Then extole us with your obviously superior wisdom and prove me wrong.

I have an old Nobile 555 and love it.
BUT I recently attended a demo day that Kitepower put on.
I had a go on a new board and found a massive difference.

Lots of power through the turn
Very easy through the chop
Soft landings
Good upwind


There is a marked improvement and that will be the next thing im looking to upgrade.

Kitch

Also don't think just because a board has rocker it will be power hungry, I've just changed from a North gambler to a Tona pop which has more rocker and is stiffer. Pop is way better upwind, been told its to do with the board not flatenning out and using the rocker to point upwind? That and as it has concaves and grooves it has a greater surface area so planes better than the other which is wider but flat on the bottom.

With regard to the first question though, don't think I've seen a lot of changes myself except the fact now boards are becoming more style specific.

The biggest difference is the marketing and colours.

stamp said...

Plummet said...
Then extole us with your obviously superior wisdom and prove me wrong.

i don't know where to start. pretty much everything you mentioned is wrong. a couple of things off the top of my head:

-boards have had tapered tips for years now. eg the first u/ground flx
-rocker has increased if anything over the past few years.
-channels and big concave have been around for a long time. my 05 liquid force element had mad channels, i still ride an 07 liquid force mission, it has channels. and my old stonker from 04 had ridiculous amounts of concave.
-flexible tips don't 'increase your rocker' in any way and don't come into play until you load up. they're supposed to flex as you load up the board and spring back to give more launch. (personally i think it's a hoax and you get better pop from a stiff board, but that's just an opinion)

Your right that shiit has been round a while. but not with every board manufacturer and it was quess work before and now refinded and working well.

flex does increase your rocker. go put to bits of wood on the ground put your board in between them and stand on the board. Watch with amaisment as your board sinks closer to the ground. That my man is flex changing the rocker. The same thing happens in the water. The more power you hold the more the board flexes and the deeper rocker it has.....

And no one has mentioned footpads????
The boards may have only slight improvements and graphic changes ever year, but the foot pads have improved heaps in the last five years, heres a pic of the north 2008 footpads vs the 2013 footpads - big improvement.

Seems like we arnt waxing our legs anymore (5mkid) - oh wait ! the 'love hearts' boardys belong to a chick - silly me! ( I think the inverted shot was the older 2008 pad - who can tell !!!!)

Sorry stamp I'm with plummet. Flex does increase rocker. Reckon I'd trust someone whose built a board myself beef.

anyhow beef how the hell are ya man and how's the new kites going?

Yeh buddy they have improved since 2006 for sure lol. And puppet is right the snowboard inclusion has made a difference. the r and d money spent is cause of the cliental that snow board. People with money!

And yeh try and shinn monk man it'll blow ya mind. I know what conditions you kite in and the monk is the ticket.

If you were on flatter water I'd also say try the wainman joker but hey your not.

Lol, good a balanced argument then! What I do love about the monk is it flexes down its axis rather than just at the tips. Must be one of the reasons you can hold such an enormous edge on it.

Only 74kg, on an 11m edge today never once felt overpowered! Just damn fast!


...oh yeh and high!

hey Eppo / Cauncy.... Puppet wringed the $$$'s out of me 2day for a monk, and gotta say easiest money i have ever let go of....absolute unreal board (132*41) thxs for the info the other nite

No probs. I did a damn intercostal muscle and was my first kite in three weeks! Soooo good to be back at it, appreciate more when you can't! And I had to be smooth, as it is still a little tender. Wouldn't want to be on any other combo. Was some decent swell today fellas!

Well then beef, definitely try the wainmen joke then mate!

Hopefully catch up this year again buddy.

djdojo said...
you may need to demo a lot, but there's more chance these days you'll eventually find the perfect board for your riding style.

^^^ What he said

Demo lots of different stuff and if it works for you then think about trading up, otherwise stick with what you have as it still works just as well as when you bought it

Depends on how much pop you are looking for really and how much chop you ride in.