There are many aspects and parts when it comes to surfboards, and each part has a specific role to play. The nose, the tail, even how thick a board is all makes a difference in how they feel in the water and what kind of waves you can ride with them.
When it comes to these parts of a board, what are the rails and what do they do exactly? The rail of a surfboard is the perimeter edge of the board. It determines how the board turns and interacts with the water.
Rails are the outer edge of a board. They affect how well your board can dip under the water, affecting turning and speed. When riding a wave, the rails dictate how the water will move around your board.
Depending on the type of rails your board has, they can increase your speed or help with turns and maneuvers on the waves. Thicker rails have more floatation while thinner rails cut more easily into the water for turning.
In general the rails on a board will be thinner at the nose and tail and thickest in the middle to allow for better maneuvering. This distribution is called the foil.
Different shapes have different pros and cons depending on what your specific needs in a board are.
The Different Types of Rails and What They Do
When it comes to the options for picking out a surfboard, there are two types of rails to consider. They are soft rails and hard rails.
Soft rails are thicker and more rounded than hard rails. This extra volume creates greater buoyancy or floatation on the water along with greater stability, especially on longer boards. This makes for a more forgiving board in terms of ability.
Thanks to the extra float, water glides more easily around the sides of the board encouraging forward momentum. This comes in handy for small surf where extra buoyancy is helpful in catching the wave.
For this reason you’ll often find soft rails on surfboards made for smaller surf, like longboards and grovelers. Though these boards can have varying foils, especially in the nose and tails.
When it comes to turns and maneuvers, soft rails are much more challenging. Their thickness and rounded edges are harder to roll under the water, limiting the ability to turn on the waves.
Different designs and varying fin set ups can help with this.
Hard rails are thinner and have a sharper, downturned edge towards the bottom than their counterpart. To compensate for the loss of buoyancy on hard rails, these boards will be thicker through the middle than the nose and tail to maintain float.
Hard rails are found on more high performance boards as well as some fish and other medium length surfboards . Their thinner, sharper edges are able to cut into the water much easier than soft rails, allowing for quicker, sharper turns.
This is because they have much less resistance with the water. Hard rails also require more skill as they have less volume and therefore less stability than soft rails.
Rail Edges
Along with hard and soft rails, is the shape of the edge through the rails. The sharper the edge, or how tapered it is, the easier it will cut into the waves.
While fuller or more rounded edges offer better stability, sharper edges will turn and move rail to rail more easily. The most common distributions are 50/50, 60/40 and 80/20, although there’s a myriad of variations.
These refer to where the edge, or apex is on the curve of the rails. You can have full rails or tapered rails with both hard and soft shapes.
50/50 is found mostly on soft rails, as the curve is most rounded here. This option has the most buoyancy.
60/40 can be found in soft rails and hard rails, where the apex is further towards the bottom. It’s a good blend of stability and maneuverability.
80/20 is usually found on high performance boards where the edge is furthest to the bottom. These harder edges help in driving into the water for turns.
Other Aspects of Surfboard Design
The rails on your surfboard are only one part of the equation in determining performance and rideability. In addition to the rails, you should also consider the nose, tail, rocker and foil and how they affect your surfing.
Nose
The nose is roughly referred to as around the top third of your board. Nose shape affects how a board paddles and catches waves.
Wider, more rounded noses, or straight lined rails, will paddle easily and catch waves more easily. This is thanks to their extra surface area and greater buoyancy.
However this shape will have a hard time maneuvering the wave.
Rounded noses are found on lots of beginner boards as well as small wave boards as they also provide better stability.
Pointed, curved noses take more effort to paddle and catch waves, but their pointed shape allows them to better carve the water. The curve allows the water to flow around the rails of your board and move easier through turns and maneuvers.
Tail
The tail of your board relates to its responsiveness on the water. It’s the last part of the board that water flows over and where the fins on your board are placed.
Like the nose, the wider the tail, the better buoyancy, speed and stability it will have. Whereas narrower tails will sink more into the water, giving more maneuverability and control in bigger waves.
There are tons of different tail shapes, but the most common being the pin tail, round tail, squash tail and swallow tail.
Rocker
The rocker of a surfboard is its curve when looking at it from the side. It has a huge effect regarding speed and turns.
The greater the rocker, or the greater the curve, the easier your board fits into the steeper, or more curved parts of the wave.
In this way, a greater rocker provides better maneuverability, it responds quicker and allows for tighter turns. But this greater maneuverability is at the expense of speed.
Due to its curve, the board sits lower in the water, creating drag while paddling. Less rocker, or flatter curves, have more surface area in contact with the water.
This helps the board to plane through the water better, increasing speed. Flatter rockers are meant for flatter waves.
Foil
Foil refers to the distribution of thickness in your board when viewing from the side. How the foam is distributed through your board affects its performance.
Starting at the nose, more volume, or thickness, here provides extra stability and easier paddling. A thinner nose makes duck dives easier and increases maneuverability.
Through the middle, less thickness helps when going from edge to edge and making turns. A thicker middle gives better floatation where your body weight is distributed.
For this reason, heavier surfers need thicker middles on their board. A thicker middle also helps to increase speed and is harder to snap in two.
Through the tail, thicker again relates to greater buoyancy and therefore stability. Great for newer surfers learning to stand. Thinner tails give greater control in the waves, allowing a rider to hold onto the waves better.
Foil can be set up in many different ways. In general you’ll find a board is thickest through the middle and thins out towards the nose and tail. This allows for the greatest buoyancy without compromising maneuverability.
Key Points on Surfboards
When it comes to surfboards, there’s a million different variables to consider. The key points to remember, more volume and length equal more buoyancy and stability.
Less volume and less length equals more maneuverability. Rounded, thicker rails help with buoyancy, sharper, thinner rails help with turns. Flatter curve is for flatter waves, a greater curve is for bigger waves.
The better you are at surfing, you may choose to sacrifice easy paddling and stability for the performance of thinner, shorter or curvier boards.
Related Questions
Are Hard or Soft Rails Better?
When it comes to better or worse, there’s no answer as far as rail options.
It all depends on your surfing, and what benefits you’re looking for. Are you working on turns or riding big waves? Go for harder rails.
Are you riding soft waves or need extra help? Go for softer rails.
What Size Surfboard Should I get?
When it comes to size, or length of a board there’s several factors to consider. What type of waves are you planning to surf, what your skill level is as well as your height and weight.
Some shorter boards, like the fish or groveler, do well in small waves, but in general smaller surf is for longer boards. As well, if you’re a beginner surfer, the longer the board the better.
Length provides extra stability. If you’re more advanced, you may choose a shorter board for progressing in turns. Lastly, if you’re taller or heavier, you may need a longer board for better stability.