Surfing Waves

Hi,

I realize this topic may have been covered before, but I was unable to find any solid info.

Anyone here ever notice any "performance" difference after denting the bottom of their board? I'm fine with standard deck pressure dents but just sustained a pretty significant dent on the bottom of a new board.

The board is relatively new and I believe the damage is from a heavy lip to its mid section. The bottom of the board has a dent across the entire bottom, horizontally, right underneath where you would stand, a foot or two up from the fins (and subtle but watertight cracking in gloss coat on the rails where it must've hit.) Almost like it flexed or something right at this point, but I wouldn't call it a buckle and it is not delaminated. The dent is pretty shallow, but runs the across the entire width of the board and is about 2-3 inches wide. Its almost like a horizontal channel or something. It is difficult to photograph but I tried to capture it (see attached img).

This is a Lost carbon wrap, stringerless board. As a note of interest, the areas of the dent that pass through the carbon strips is equally dented, although I suppose they are more for overall durability/flex than immediate impact resistance.

I'm pretty certain this won't create much of a noticeable effect when riding, and I'm not riding at an expert level with sensitivity to these things. However some bottom contours or channels are even more subtle than this dent so its got me wondering how much it could effect the feel of the board.

I'm gonna test it this weekend, so i will post an update, but I'm interested to hear any input you may have.

Thanks

Ksulliva01 wrote:I'm pretty certain this won't create much of a noticeable effect when riding, and I'm not riding at an expert level with sensitivity to these things. However some bottom contours or channels are even more subtle than this dent so its got me wondering how much it could effect the feel of the board.

You are right - bottom contours can/often are pretty subtle. So in theory, yes, it will affect the board (although going across the board rather than down the board, probably not as much). Perhaps it will create a little bit of resistance to the water, maybe some 'turbulence', fractionally slow the board down. But, again, cant disagree with you saying it wont be noticeable. Maybe if you were surfing glass smooth reef walls you might possible notice if you were an expert; but if you are surfing the average lumpy wind affected waves, there is so much else going on that its very unlikely

I guess, at least, now you have an excuse if things are going bad - its the board!

I am not at a stage where I would notice such things affecting performance but I think if you are on the upper end of surfing you might be able to notice the difference. I barely notice a difference if I switch fins so that kind of thing would go completely unnoticed by me

Ksulliva01 wrote:The board is relatively new and I believe the damage is from a heavy lip to its mid section.

How did the lip of the wave crash down on bottom of the board ? When you were paddling out or getting flap jacked on a beach break closeout ?

Ksulliva01 wrote: The bottom of the board has a dent across the entire bottom, horizontally, right underneath where you would stand, a foot or two up from the fins

So is it 12 inches up from the fins or 24 inches up from the fins ? Reason why that needs to be clarified isn't about performance lost, but of the LONGEVITY of the board. I wouldn't worry about how the board will turn now, but how long it can turn before it snaps.

I honestly don't know the exact moment it happened but I did go over the falls (backwards) on a botched duck dive attempt and considering that was the most violent occurrence of the day by far I assume thats most likely when it occurred. See pic for location, pretty bad spot.

Actually I think closer to the fin boxes would've been worse. Does the buckle line go to the edge of the rail ?

If the glass lap at the rails is creased in this dent then the board is closer to being fully creased or snapping .
The double lap of glass overlaying at the rails is a major structure strengthen factor in a board. Closer to fin fin boxes would have meant a smaller area of foam thickness to aid the strength and the forces of the fins adding to the whole shebang!

I looked into my crystal ball, a new board will enter your life soon!

jaffa1949 wrote:I looked into my crystal ball, a new board will enter your life soon!

I sense two objects flying in opposite directions at a high rate of speed.

So after a new session with the board on a pretty glassy day, there's really no noticeable performance difference.

The crack in the rail is slightly longer now after another session which is worrisome, but still feels smooth to the touch, it is below the top layer of glass and is watertight still.

I just had a similar dent on my board, it snapped right in half when a lip came down on top of the board. Luckily it was a used board and only cost me $100 so whatever. Great board for 6 months though.