Surfboard rails explained.
With all the styles of surfboards out there, you may be considering your board’s shape. Each shape affects your board’s performance, which in turn, affects yours as well. The shape of your board’s rails, knowing what each shape does, and understanding how it affects your performance are all imperative in developing your own personal style.
What is a surfboard rail and what does it do?
A surfboard rail is the outer edge surrounding the blank of a surfboard. The angle of the rail at the nose and tail of the board affects maneuverability, buoyancy, and stability. Soft rails, or more rounded rails, are best for beginners due to their buoyancy and stability, while hard rails, or sharper rails, are used by advanced surfers for their maneuverability and how they can aid in attempts at aerials.
But how do rails work, and what’s the difference? Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or expert surfer, knowing what the rails do and how each shape affects your performance is important for your growth, so read on to find out more!
What is a surfboard rail?
A surfboard rail is the edge of the surfboard and runs all the way from the nose to the tail. They will be the thickest in the center of your board and the thinnest when they meet at the nose or tail. When you grab your board, you’re holding onto the edges with both hands—those are the rails.
Rails are extremely important to how your surfboard moves through the water. When you turn, the rail is the first part of your board that cuts through the waves. They also affect the way your board paddles, floats and turns—all of its most important jobs when you’re surfing.
Rail Shapes
Rail shapes are extremely important when considering how your board surfs. The softer—in surfing terms, meaning how rounded the rails are curved—the rail, the more forgiving the surfboard becomes. If your rails are harder—or sharper—it means you will have better cutting power through the water.
The softer your rails are, the better your board will cut through the water due to less resistance, meaning that the thicker they are, the more resistance they have, but the more buoyant the board becomes.
Rails must find the happy medium between being able to cut through a wave and still being buoyant. Because of that, most surfboards will have a variant thickness along the rail, making it thinner at the nose and tail to help with maneuverability and thicker in the middle so you can better float.
They can also be rounded or tapered, which gives them more or less buoyancy or stability, or tapered—the fuller the rail, the more buoyant, and the more tapered, the more you sink.
Soft Rails
Soft rails usually perform better in gentler conditions. When you’re looking at a board with soft rails, it will look more rounded. Because it is larger and has more surface area than a hard rail, you will have more foam remaining in your surfboard blank and have more buoyancy in your board.
Because the board is more curved, the water will wrap around the surfboard rather than be cut by the board. On the other hand, the board will be harder to move around, because the water is not so purposely cut.
Soft rails, due to their buoyancy, are best when used by beginner surfboards.
Hard Rails
A hard rail is used for more high-performance boards used by advanced surfers. Their edges are sharper, and often sport more of a ledge from the top to the bottom, making it appear more like a knife.
This cut means boards with hard rails have an easier time cutting through the water, which means the water does not hug the board as much as it does a soft railed surfboard. Because of that, it is easier to turn and maneuver through the water.
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Rail Foil
Surfboard rails are also often foiled, which is how the volume of the rails are distributed. Changing this ratio affects how the board performs and where it is placed in the water.
Most are categorized into three different shapes: 50/50, 60/40, or 80/20. When you’re looking at your board, each shape is shown through the percentages, as explained below.
The 50/50 rail means that both sides are symmetrical and have the same amount of volume on each side. These are used by beginners usually and in soft rail boards.
The 60/40 rail can be used by hard and soft rails and aids in agility and maneuverability. One side of your board will have slightly more volume than the other.
The 80/20 rail looks the most drastic out of the three, meaning that one side has significantly more volume than the other. This type of foil is usually used in hard rails and most frequently in advanced shortboards.
Which is better: harder or softer rails?
It all comes down to what you intend on using your board for. Soft rails have the benefit of better buoyancy that comes from the rail volume, and it is often more stable when performing turns. They can also push through the water, rather than cut, and allow you to get through tougher waves at a better speed.
Hard rails, on the other hand, are easier to turn due to their ability to cut through the water, increasing their performance as well. They have better control in larger, more powerful waves because the board will sink a little further into the water and let you stay more stable in more powerful waves. Because their hard cut contains less volume, they also let the surfer have more maneuverability when turning.
If you are getting a custom board, it is suggested to get medium rails on your board, leaving you more options on both buoyancy and being able to cut through the water. You will also be able to sink the rails into the edge of a wave, like many modern surfers do, which gives you the ability to turn and gain speed.
Medium rails also help make your board stable while still being able to maneuver in tight turns.
Regardless of which style is best for you, finding out which one and working with it will only help you improve in the sport. Starting out with a soft rail and moving up to a hard rail as you develop is how most surfers start—and how they improve.
RELATED QUESTIONS
What does rail to rail surfing mean?
Rail to rail surfing is when you gather speed by carving—or making deep, radical turns “off the rail” or off the sides of your board. Surfing rail to rail is imperative if you want to get the speed and momentum you need to perform tricks, especially aerials.
What is a pinched rail?
A pinched rail is when the rail on your surfboard is tighter—pinched in—to the rest of your board. When looking at the rail from the nose or the tail, the angle pitching into the deck of your board will be more drastic when you have a pinched rail.
What is a full rail?
A full rail is when there is less taper than normal on the rail, giving the board extra volume. It is not determined by the shape of the rail, so a soft or hard rail could also be considered a full rail. It is best for surfers with more weight on the board.
Please note: This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or medical advice. Please consult a legal expert or medical professional to address your specific needs.