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How does the rail line influence your surfing?
The development of the surfing industry depends also on the innovation of details such as rails, for example.
The important staff of it is the rail line. Rails have similar names such as a template or plan form.
You can determine what kind of rail line you have only by looking at the surfboard from above.
The very concept includes the curved line of the board which runs from the nose to the tail. So, this part of the design of the surfboard is also called the edges of the board.
The design of the lines of the surfboard is based on the amount of curvature.
A certain curvature at the lines of the board helps to influence your maneuverability skills or accelerate you during the trip.
Because of their form, rails help to make turns, increase speed, or give more buoyancy to the surfboard. These characteristics will be determined for rails when buying a new board taking into account your needs.
There are many opinions as to which form of the rail is best suited for certain conditions but, nevertheless, all forms of rails come down to two main ones – curved and straight lines.
A type of surfboard with curved lines
A curved line of rails has an important advantage – this line speeds up your surfboard on turns. This is due to the fact that such a staff helps you to immerse the rails in water.
Those boards that have a greater circular bend of lines make it easier to control themselves when changing directions on the water. This happens because the side of the surfboard has less protection against the water.
If we make this idea completely exaggerated, then such a surfboard line would be ideal for turns if it is made completely rounded.
But here, the problem arises that, in that case, with such a line, it would be practically impossible to keep the board straight.
Soft rails have a more rounded line shape that looks like an egg in a cross-section
While hard rails are more suitable for kinds of surfboards which are short, a soft kind of lines can often be found on long types of your equipment and staff for slow water.
A round rail forgives mistakes – this means that you will be less likely to bury in the water on a flatter part of the wave.
The disadvantage of this form of rails and lines is that they greatly slow down the surfboard and make it difficult to maneuver on large waves.
On the other hand, soft rails allow the surfer to make maximum use of the radius of turns of the fins alongside the whole line.
Thick rails will help to take into the waves and maintain speed on the flat sections of the water but, at the same time, such lines are difficult to get drowned in the water and it leads to high energy costs for turning and turning.
A surfboard with a hard line of the rail
Such a surfboard with a more angular line is suitable for high power surfing.
A straight line can be found on longboards or on such boards that are designed to ride at high speeds and sufficiently large waves.
Due to its straightness of lines, such a surfboard cuts off the wave in a figurative manner and thereby, increases the surface area of the board itself.
Guns of such a line model are aimed at stability which is necessary at high speed, and this corresponds to their design and functionality.
But on such a surfboard with direct rail lines, it will be difficult for you to make turns and change the direction of your riding as well as maneuver.
Such a surfboard line really slows down your turns but you will not regret it when you see its speed in the forward direction.
If you imagine a limousine and a Volkswagen, then it will immediately become obvious to you what conditions these machines need for the maximum performance. The same thing can be done with surfboards.
A hard rail, which is also called a down rail, is more elongated, smaller, with a sloping edge, and sometimes, it can even have an angle with the bottom of the surfboard.
Hard rails are more suitable for a modern shortboard. They better crash into the water giving stability at high speeds and allowing you to turn faster but, at the same time, complicating sharp turns.
The ideal conditions for a hard rail are large, sharp, and blowing waves.
Most surfers feel good on surfboards with a hybrid form rail which has the advantages of both hard and soft form rails.
With this form, the surfboard will still be fast on sharp waves and will allow you to use the fins to the fullest on small and gentle waves.
Thus, what kind of surfboard you will have depends on the conditions in which you are going to ride.
Before choosing a surfboard, you should evaluate the size of the waves that you will encounter and the need for turns. Or maybe, you should evaluate in advance at what speed you want to cut through the waves.
When choosing a surfboard, pay attention to the bends of its corners, especially, if you pick up a board yourself.
Because sometimes newcomers believe that the bends at the edges of the board are just a design feature, not knowing that all parts of the structure affect how your surfboard will ride.
In the last days, hybrid edges are gaining more popularity as they allow you to combine the necessary characteristics on the water and not choose one when you lose another.
The creation of such surfboards has advanced the surfing industry one step further in its evolution which now allows you to get maximum power from the surfboard when riding.
