Dave Wood and the Railution
Since COVID struck, surfboard shapers have been doing all they can to keep up with the increased demand. Whether it be new surfers, or existing surfers with time and money to spare, they've all called upon foam mowers who've been one of the few beneficiaries from the pandemic.
The increased workload, however, meant that research and development has been shelved in favour of meeting orders. Great for the industry, not so interesting to write about.
So it was with some measure of excitement that I spoke to Dave Wood about a new rail shape he's been working on, dubbed the 'Railution'.
Wood, for those who don't know, is a shaper from Sydney's Northern Beaches, with 33 years experience. Late last year, once he'd finished his Christmas orders he set to work creating an idea he's had for a while.
"I've seen some shapers reduce rail volume with a bevelled edge," says Dave, and Garry Loveridge's 7S Superfish would be a popular example of that, "yet with a bevel the water's still wrapping around a rail with some volume."
"This rail is very low profile," continues Dave, "like an inch thick down in the water, and then it scoops up."
So as opposed to a straight line from rail to deck, Dave's solution to rail shape is what's called an 'ogee' in woodworking or architectural circles - an 'S' shape that links two curves. What results is a rail that's as thin as some tow boards, yet on a shortboard with standard volume. "The key," says Dave, "is that you've got to put the volume back in."
The first board he made created a lightbulb moment. "It was one of the best sensations I've ever felt," Dave effused. "It was fast across flat sections - there's enough foam for that - and barely any drag when burying the rail. Guys down the beach saw it and went 'Shivers, that's exactly what I'm after: All the foam but without the boggy rail.'"
The first board Dave made was a 5'8", and he's since put the same rail design into a 6'0" with similar results - each of them dead ahead performance boards. "I like high performance boards," says Dave.
So excited by the idea is Dave that he recently registered the design through IP Australia. "There's nothing much to it," says Dave about the design rego. "I've got no idea where things can go and it only cost $250, so I figured I'd do it."
The talk about design registration causes Dave to qualify his position. Many shapers have played with convex rail shapes. Greg Loehr, Cole Simler, and Stretch Riedel are a few of the bigger names, though for those three it was as much about strength as performance - a rail bending through two planes gives increased rigidity and strength - while the aforementioned Garry Loveridge used a bevelled rail for performance.
"I'm not trying to poach anyone's ideas," says Dave. "There's always someone saying, 'I've seen that, I've done that'. But actually, in all my time I haven't seen this exact design before."
"It comes off the cutters perfectly and the fin plugs fit fine. So far, so good," says Dave
The positive feedback - both from the boards and the crew at the beach - have launched Dave into experimentation mode. The first two boards were a groveller and a standard shorty, but, says Dave, "I think the design can go into anything - I really do. As long as you re-input the volume."
Yet he's already wondering if maybe the volume can stay stripped out, though he's yet to test that theory.
The last two years have been lucrative for the surfboard industry, yet shapers are creative at heart. Filling orders, working to customer specifications, can dull the imagination required to keep pushing design slowly yet interminably forward.
Fair to say Dave has sharpened his edge.
Comments
hmmm ...does look a lot like the Delta Designs (WA) rail I used a few years back, as he said quite a few crew have played with this one.
Yep Marty at Delta was doing that over 10 years ago giddy up.
Moose surfboards also been doing them for decades and I have a recent one in the quiver, goes so good.
i have a 15 year old Delta from Marty with that exact rail design
Makes a lot of sense - I have tried a S7 Superfish and although it didn't seem to suit me - the idea of a stepped rail seems so obvious I wondered why it had not taken off or been developed further.
Id love to try one of Dave's boards.
Have sent it a lot on big wave guns , stand ups and high volume boards but it hasn’t been seen as a cool look for short boards so not “ marketable “ enough for main stream but keep doing different I say
I've ridden a few of Stretch's boards with rail channels which are a similar theory in that foam is removed from the rails and shifted towards the centre. The volume redistribution makes the boards roll over easier.
The difference in Stretch's case is the rail profile is maintained - Dave's are much lower.
Stretch calls his rails "love handles"
dont know if he patented that name .....or design.
http://www.stretchboards.com/news/
Closeup of these rails
10ft board tested on +30ft surf
Delta Antman model by Marty Littlewood circa 1999
Yep, this is the design I was thinking of.
Looks good!
Mr Dick Van Straalen's take on concave decks instantly came to my mind when I saw this. Seems like it is the exact opposite direction (not that that is a problem- one could have both in quiver). Its amazing all the different designs and takes on what works. One of the most fascinating things about surfing, for me, is the shaping process. I remember the interview https://www.swellnet.com/news/talking-heads/2019/01/29/audience-dick-van...
Meh.
A guy called Mick Grace did this exact thing on the Sunshine Coast years ago. Probably early nineties.
He worked for "Beachbeat" at Maroochydore.
Yep, the ol step deck....
Remember them....
Yep watched woodsy surfin a step deck at sharkies MDore 15 odd years ao. Whats old is new again!
He's still ripping!
I lived in Alex & left in 2003. They had been doing them since about 2001.
Remember Woodsy picking up lots of waves on a step deck while everyone else struggled.
Yep Gracey was doing them for beach beat back in the day. They were very popular too.
Mick Grace also did one, I think he called a Step Bottom. From memory, a flat rocker with lots of volume in front two thirds of the board, with some channels through the mid section, then stepped down to a thinner tail with single to double concave swallow tail. Had some flyers, too, with a thruster set up, Lots going on there, but mine went unreal. Woodsy convinced me to get one after seeing him rip on one, but that sucker could make a dunny door look good. Probably about 97/98. I think it might have had some influence from Tommy Petersen.
May be a silly question but isn’t this the same as a step deck?
A step deck in longboards means a thicker middle with thinner nose when looking along the board, not across it. Like an S deck profile but more pronounced.
Yes Sretch has a similar but not so agressive rail in the SK8 deck.
At what thickness are rails starting to become considered as boggy or thick railed and how thin are the rails on standard tow boards?
Meh. I did this retrospectively when I outgrew a board I loved. Getting older meant the board’s volume wasn’t adequate, so I ripped a 20mm thick sheet of foam off an old board and resined it on the deck from nose to tail , keeping a couple of inches off the rails all round. Then I glassed over the whole thing. Worked like a charm till it snapped.
Tom Curren did a similar thing in the movie “Free Scrubber” except he just looked to glue boogie board foam on his deck and didn’t bother glassing over.
The Seven S fish is the same.
Good idea but it’s not new.
What a great solution, fantastic Blowin.
Bit of labour involved. Great result though. Certainly beats throwing an old favourite on the scrap heap. Especially if you love it more for its personality than its looks! Was probably more like 12-15 mm instead of 20mm.
Haha. Yes, I to thought of Curren's whacky tacked-on form in "Free Scrubber" when I saw DWS design.
Good stuff, Blowin
Anyone ever try glueing a sheet of EVA foam onto a board that's just a little too low in volume? 5mm EVA would add 3 to 4L.
hey IB, mate i tried it and it didnt work . it didnt seem to help with volume or floatation. the board was a bit too thin and even with a big piece of rubber foam glued on i could not feel any more floatation or benefit
Definitely been done before though it was many years ago in hand shaping days. That meant getting a new idea over the line while having to charge more for labour - how good's your marketing department?
I've ridden a few boards that have similar principles. My thoughts:
-Less forgiving so generally for better surfers.
-Better in weaker waves, think Qld not Vic/WA
-Volume redistribution is key. Try to retain nose to tail foil.
Christian Fletcher boards have had these rails for the last 7 years lots of crew copied his design. Nothing new here. They do go insane and I have about 4 of his boards with these rails.
Off topic but have can you register IP in board design? Surely you could tweak something minutely and it's a different design etc. In saying that, got no idea how Intellectual Property works.
I’m thinking of registering a patent for the Twuster. It’s not a twin fin and it’s not a thruster….but a little bit of both!
It’s got 2 large forward side fins and a smaller rear fin.
Nothing like a 2+ 1 though…..completely different name for a start.
The Twuster…..in shops soon!
Thinking of getting Elmer Fudd to do the promos. The word would roll off his tongue.
Sorry, already taken (I've got a set and they're unreal).
https://shapers.com.au/copy-of-twuster-2-1-set/
Fuck…..I was sitting here thinking I was sooooo clever to come up with that name.
Maurice Cole also named a board the twuster
How 'bout a "Squad"? It's a single fin with four extra fins added, then the single fin taken off. Has all the advantages of a quad with none of the disadvantages of a single fin.
Excellent.
This reminds me of those handy hints in Viz magazine. They were hilarious.
Not exactly new, but makes sense.
A board model i love has this concept in the tail.
Dave did say..................
"I'm not trying to poach anyone's ideas," says Dave. "There's always someone saying, 'I've seen that, I've done that'. But actually, in all my time I haven't seen this exact design before."
Delta designs copy
Put 2 fins on it … it will sell
not that there's anything wrong with a twinnie
I had an MR board about 20 years ago that had the same idea..
It was Mark Rabbidge, not that other MR bloke ;)
Paddled awfully well and was a fun midlength’er .. one of a couple boards I regret parting with.
Max at Eye Symmetry in Brookevale has been doing rails like that for quite some time. I’ve got a couple of his boards. Really nice, quality build and seem to last ( as well as the cool rails/foam).
https://m.facebook.com/eyesymmetry/
Change the U for an I Blowin? its yours
Ye olde domed deck works pretty good to keep some volume whilst keeping the rails thinnish.
Is what my go to shaper has recommended for a couple of decades.
Yep Ant-Man model years ago from Marty went great, and very much like the "chumbo" model Dylan is doing now. Feel great to paddle also.
90s Campbell Bros Bonzer I checked out at a mate's had exactly those rails.
Like the idea but perhaps better called The Love-Handler, what do reckon GaryG?
Firewire Spitfire. Works a treat.
Great to see a modern interpretation and refinement of past designs. As an older bloke requiring more volume these days it raises a few exciting possibilities.
I think the good idea here is that he paid $250 to register the idea with IP australia. Good to know coz I'm an ideas man. I might register some of them.
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/newcastle/surfing/delta-designs-surfboar...
That delta 7"0 cant be 8.5 thick
it'd be 3 1/2 - i have one almost identical that's 3 1/4
I'm sure I've seen boards with this rail profile before - all sizes and all types. Think I even saw a goat-boat with it once. I think it's a very long bow to patent it, and speaks volumes about the integrity of the patent process.
I'm assuming Dave's love of high performance boards has seen him sending off 33 annual appreciation cheques to one Mr Simon Anderson?
Wheres the mention of Patent?
Sorry, my mistake, Udo - I conflated design rights with patents and they're separate (though related) intellectual property issues.
My point remains, though - he appears to be seeking to establish a right over the design, or in the case of a design right it needs to be at least part of the design.
I'm still struggling to comprehend how establishing such a right would be valid when there has been so much cross-pollination and collaboration for the past 60 years (at least) on surfboard design and, as others have pointed out, the stepped rail has been done by many people beforehand.
And if Simon got a dollar for every thruster made, well, that would be fair enough in my book.
Dave having Fun
Wow, so many comments and such controversy over, who is claiming what and who did what first.
As one wise man once said, "there's nothing new under the sun", I am fairly positive Dave would be the first to agree that the idea is not new or his total invention. But nor was the Thruster that Simon made 40 years ago the first "tri-fin" surfboard.
We all have ideas on what design change might do to a surfboards' performance, but many or most of us, can't or don't do anything with those ideas. Dave has taken the step and as a recent test pilot, I have to say he has hit the nail right on the head.
He asked me what length, width etc, and my answer was, "Dave this is your thing and you are the shaper, you make me what you know works, as this is out of my league to be telling you what to do on something so different".
Result: Fastest, easiest to paddle, yet still easy to turn with great control surfboard I have ever ridden. This is just what this 60-year-old surfer with a bunch of old guy aliments needed to revitalise his surfing as a birthday present from the boys!
Thanks lads! Thanks Dave - the Railution is the future, and many are going to see this years from now as the turning point for something perhaps as special as Simon's Thruster - but just don't know it yet.