Hi everyone, I’m new here, been reading the forum for a long time but this is my first time posting. I’m a crappy surfer and even worse shaper, but this seems like such a cool community. I’d love to learn as much as I can here and hopefully be able to contribute some of my own experience too.
Was wondering about everyone’s opinion of/experience with “edge” boards. Seems like a lot of the hull crowd has really embraced the design. On the hulloholic instragram page, there’s a video (dated December 19th, 2018) of someone riding a 10’9" Andreini “edge” on Kelly’s wave. It looks just unbelievably lively for a board that size.
I’ve also heard that edges tend to lose speed coming out of turns. Others have said that you can accomplish an effect similiar to the edge using a tri plane bottom with sharp corners.
I’m also interested in this claim from Andreini’s website: “works in all conditions even chop and wind.” Could it be true? Living in southern California, I would love to be able to stay out and catch a few waves in relatively empty lineups after the winds start to pick up and scare everyone away.
So what’s the deal here? Is edge just a trendy new thing? Would one be better off surfing a hull or tri plane bottom instead?
Maybe more like a trendy old thing that is simply in a phase of being recycled? I’m not saying it’s invalid, just that it’s something that is experiencing some renewed interest and marketing efforts. If you are anywhere near San Luis Obispo, Ca I have a 9’5" ‘Greenough Design’ fun gun edge board you can try. Best way to judge is to ride one for yourself and see if it works for you.
“Near” is a relative term I guess, I’m down in Long Beach. Looks like about a four hour drive. But you never know!
How do you like the board?
I’m very skeptical of “marketing efforts”… I was a physics major in school - sometimes I’ll read a surfboard design theory and I’ll think, yeah, that checks out, I can see how those pieces fit together. Other times, people use the wrong terms to describe great designs. And then some stuff is total BS…
But there was a great physicist (I think it was Feynman?) who said “in physics, we have a supreme court: experiment!”
Or as Dane Reynolds said in the Electric Acid Surfboard Test (I’m paraphrasing) “at the end of the day, the only truth is how it feels under your feet”.
That being said, from a distance, all I can do is theorize…
I can see how the edge in the nose would help in choppy conditions. At least, it “looks” like it would push water to the sides. But how much of a difference does it really make?
What I really dig is the idea that once the board gets up on a plane, it sits higher out of the water (on the secondary bottom), resulting in less drag and higher speeds. Hulls should do the same thing, but there might be more drag initially because of the “belly”. Tri planes may be similar to edge but it seems like there’d be less of a reduction in wetted surface area.
As. A “Crappy” Surfer and a worse shaper; You would do well to concentrate on improving your Surfing skills first. Get out there on that 10’ Southpointe and ride some of that wind blown crap that nobody else craves… You are most likely never going to get invited to Kelley’s, so I wouldn’ fret about how a 10’9 Andrenni rides at the local Coalinga secret spot. Read listen and post less, you’ll learn more and be embarrassed less.
The reason the edge board came about is so George could ride a wider variety of waves, especially waves with wind chop or bump to them- “crappy” waves- waves his deep hulled spoons didn’t do well in, so yes the edge boards work in crappy waves.
Marc is a good friend and he is absolutely stoked on the edge design- pretty much all he rides now.
the ride is going to feel different than a hull …
long story short during a conversation with Marc, GG suggested Marc take the edge concept share it with a couple of other shapers and let them run with it and see what they come up with…hence the current popularity of it( here in the states)
Although a design developed decades ago and obviously not mainstream there has been those in the know committed to the design as riders and to the shaper/company that has been building them all along at Wilderness Surfboards in SB…
If you go to the Andrienni surfboard site and click on the edge boards a video opens up , demoing an edge board , it is defiantly not being surfed in crappy wind blown bumpy waves , quite the opposite , you can judge for yourself if you think there is any kind of advantage to riding an edge board , and always remember " its not the board its the rider ".
I think I need to apologize for calling edge boards a “new” thing. I was aware that Greenough developed the design a long time ago. Seems like they’ve been getting more popular in the last few years, is all I meant.
I rode a 10’0 longboard for a while, then self shaped an 11’7" glider and recently picked up a 7’10" midlength. The midlength is a triplane bottom so that’s kind of my point of comparison.
Some days in the water are better than others, but the worst thing is not being able to surf. There was a stretch in October when the sandbar at my local break was set up so that at high tide, waves would start to get steep, then back off and roll in without breaking until they got to the shore. That’s what motivated me to shape the glider, it catches waves so early that I can get in well before the wave breaks. I took it out at around head high once too and that was a ton of fun. Then the midlength is my go to for waves that are actually breaking and have a bit better shape.
So I feel like I’m set for most conditions, the fantasy is being able to paddle out in the chop too. John has been so generous in offering to let me borrow his edge board, he and I have been in touch about meeting up so that I can try it out for myself!
…hello, GbSaUsa, I watched the clip…the board did not perform good. You have three variables: wave, surfer and board; in this case is the board, the problematic. Tracks a lot, no control and when you see couple of waves that other surfer is riding on a normal board, you would see the difference in performance.
I am not talking to have the same performance than a HP thruster, but performance is performance; a canard quad modern fish have performance, a modern egg have performance, some longboards have performance; good performance I mean.
Stewart (brand) that I have been seeing, made in Indonesia or Thailand, I do not remember right now, PU/Poly construction, have similar bottom rails, but I do not know how they name them.
Bill Stewart has called these rails “Hyro- Hulls since the early 90’s. It’s not an original idea, but something that has associated with Stewart Surfboards so strongly that people now credit him with it’s origins.
M Ding , if you look at the video that I refered to you can see the board clearly and I do not agree that it is the same as a Stewart hydro hull at all , this design is much more radical and the edge very defined .
I wasn’t as clear as I should have been. I’m not making any comments about any other rail. Just pointing out to Reverb the association between Stewart and his use of the Hydro rail.
“This video was made with the first edge board that Marc Andreini made, since then the boards have gone through a number of refinements and have evolved.”
Looks fast and uncontrolled. Trading control from the rails for speed.
So… balance that out with something else, right?
Thing is, it’s just a PITA to make. If only there was a way to make hard edges easier? You could instead just try to design according to the hardest edge you can get with a vaccum and not need to do a lot of grinding down the resin.
In either late 1965 or early 1966, a fellow shaper at Hansen, Bill Clark, made a personal board with a full length concave deck, and ‘‘chine rails’’ on the bottom. Essentially what is now hailed as an edge board today. Mr. Clark had/has considerable experience as a boat builder. In the early 2000’s, building a personal day sailer for Dennis Conner, the America’s Cup skipper/winner. There are many new things under the sun, but the edge board design, is not one of them.
