Tail Design

Now from what I see there are 3 basic tail designs, sorry but I do not know the technical names of the styles but I am sure you will get the idea--pointed, squashed, and swallow(forked). What are the ride characteristics of each style? IS one better than the other for responsiveness? My old landlock has a squashed tail about 6" wide, my Walzer is pointed and I have never tried out a swallow tail. What are the benefits or downfalls of each style?

I've heard it described as two kinds of tail design: 1) Pin tail 2) Everything else.

Yeah - William Riedel aka Stretch down in Santa Cruz, he shapes DJ James signature model, in an interview tells it very well. There are only two kinds of tails, the rounded pin (which shortens the rail line) and everything else. The idea is that if the tail is the same width, curve, etc they all ride the same.

Go to page 5 of the interview here

Now...the other school of thought is that each shape provides unique characteristics. I think that Harbour surfboards does the best job of detailing this "other" school, here

Cool stuff!

i think they all ride different as well

That looks so cool. What is that board JL?

I found those shots on the surfer board design BB I'll try to find out more about it,

Thanks surfdad--that was the info I was looking for