Veloce was very balanced.
Owned Vivace and Energy, a bit faster and MUCH better to jibe.
Had a dog Preister Built, my Hypertech faster, livelier, and jiber way more precise.
Delta Speed was carrying the hard rail concept just beyond my abilities, I owned a couple.
Sputnik 265 one of the best all around boards for SF Bay and 150 lbs rider.

Wow sounds like you need to upgrade to a M_Oz Customs
Freight might be the killer huh

At the club I hang out at, they've chopped the nose off of dozens of boards, as have I, and they all sail exactly the same.
The culprit is weight. Stock is long but lightweight.
Chopped is 25cm shorter, but slightly heavier
There is no "windage" problem.

Surely you are mistaken!
Seems easy, just chop the nose and lay up some glass.
Try it. Gotta seal it, you know.

Maybe If you vacuum bag.
Chop off the nose, even 12". It weighs almost nothing.
The resin batch you mix and the first layer of cloth weighs almost the same
Then add hot coat, seal coat, sand it and paint it...are you sure it,s completely waterproof?

If I rebuild something I match the original construction

Mine, I weigh the chopped off nose.
Then weigh resin, glass, approximate paint, and sealer, and come out losing the battle.
Worse, the chopped board does not feel better. Feels dead with no glide.

Like a big speed board.

I think open ocean demands thinner rails, more tuck in front of feet, much deeper V with possibly Rocket bottom [Tabou], and shorter length of flat from tail.

the issue with to much tuck is it is draggy. that said slightly softer upfront is what i would do next time.

rail volume is linked to lenght x width x thickness for a given volume. increase any of those dinensions and the rails can thin further.

i spent a lot of time on the rail volume. the chine was used to reduce edge volume without losing overal volume and to stop rail from tripping

whilst the rails are boxy in context the board is thin so its all proportional really. im not a fan of thick boards which is what wave boards do to keep the volume up and retain thin rails for carving.

personally because im heavy id rather a little extra width.

Gestalt said..
the only way to know is to build 2 boards and do A B comparisons.

Yep and in all sorts of conditions with different riders of different weights and skills.

LeeD said..
Maybe If you vacuum bag.
Chop off the nose, even 12". It weighs almost nothing.
The resin batch you mix and the first layer of cloth weighs almost the same
Then add hot coat, seal coat, sand it and paint it...are you sure it,s completely waterproof?

Come on LeeD, everything would end up heavier if you do it wrong. Of course if you cover the cut off in resin and put on layers upon layers of glass eventually it will end up heavier than the original ... what sort of discussion is this?

As far as chopping the nose off a board to gain something ... it is very questionable. Shorter than the uber-long 1990 early 2000 slalom boards are not just cut off versions of those! And in general modern slalom/freerace boards are very much easier and safer to use!

Same here Mark, surfers look at my surboard rails and shake their heads

Yes dredge but question to Mark of his final design and maybe slightly heavier and durable construction.
Have you build and rode it yet?

Cool, can you post photos