Surfboard Design Elements - Foil / Flex

In this episode, Luke Howarth from Howie shapes and I discuss the subtleties of a surfboard foil or profile. The distribution of foam in a surfboard is often overlooked but it can have a big impact on how your board performs.

We chat about the evolution of foil in a surfboard and how it relates to the different styles of boards. I ask Luke about what he thinks of 'swing weight' which is a term commonly used in discussing bigger boards and explain why I prefer to focus on 'momentum'.

You cannot talk about surfboard foils without discussing the various deck designs available such as s decks, single concave and double concave decks as well as the Greg Webber 'Crinkle cut' design that melted social media.

Ultimately, we end up discussing flex and who we see as the shapers pushing the boundaries. Flex is difficult to measure in a surfboard and how we want the board to flex for optimum performance changes for different waves. Luke shares his experiences with stringerless EPS boards, his research and development process and how he applies carbon on them.

Surfboard foil is not talked about enough but hopefully our chat will stimulate some further discussion.

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