Hellrazor surface area?

[Geeman]

Anyone know the surface area of a 6'7" HR?

[Slowman]

I'm on a bad connection right now so I can't get the compare function to work within a reasonable amount of time but here try this http://boardformula.com/showanimation/4007/4011/# this will compare the 6'5 and 6'7 HZs and give you their surface areas as part of the comparison in the Tech View.

[Slowman]

Actually it just came back: 8.2 sq feet for the 6'7" HZ (7.9 for the 6'5").

[hullhb]

Sorry maybe this is a stupid question but what is the point of knowing the surface area of a board? Does it affect performance or tell you something particular about a board?

[Slowman]

By itself it doesn't mean a whole lot but when you are comparing one board with another of similar rocker and bottom contour it probably helps decide which would be faster because theoretically there will be more planing area. But a flat board with less surface area may still be faster than say a highly rockered board with more surface area. Rocker will effect how much surface area is in contact with the water and things like concaves can flatten out rocker thus giving back some of the surface area that rocker might have taken away.

Things like volume and plan shape also have an effect. These are the things shapers or designers play with and get the right balance for a board for a particular purpose and with their years of experience you have to take their word on what works how and for what - along with your own experience too of course. But if you'd never surfed I don't think knowing any (or all) of these parameters and their design principles would allow you to work out just how a board would perform. It's when you've experimented and experienced a few combinations of these parameters that you can start to work it out.

[Chris]

yeah well put slowman!!

its a little hard to use it as an exact spec because boards vary and surface area doesn't tell you anything about volume, rocker or foam distribution. I personally like to look at where the area is over the length of a board. is it in the nose, center, tail etc. That will tell you more about how the board rides than just the total value of the surface area...

[Geeman]

Thanks Slowman & Chris.

The reason I asked about the surface area is that I learned that a lower surface area board (of the same model) requires a bit more juice to plane and project a bigger surfer. I'm 6'3" 210lbs. The 6'7" HR I have does go well in the juice but at my size and the average SoCal wave, it loses some of its projection & planing in the slower flatter stuff so I may move up a bit with the same model maybe a 6'9". The FW bigger boards seem to put on too much thickness and float for my taste. I'd rather do a 6'11" HR at 2 5/8 thickness but it's not available and while i'm wishing, lets do a rounded pin eh? Say about 6'11", roughly 1375 sq. in., 38-39L HR. The 6'7" floats and paddles me fine, no issues there.
G

[hullhb]

Thanks for the info! still learning...