Hey surfers whats the difference betwen swollow tail, V tail and regular?

[tautologies]

Interesting topic. I think there is a pretty wide variety out there. I do not think you'll have to try everything to get an idea.

The surf description of tails only holds to the extent that you get an idea. Tail respond different in kiting because we normally ride faster. I think there are more than two tail types because they have categorically different advantages, but I understand where that idea is coming from. I definitely think LC is onto something when being critical to shapers...but I do not think the tail shape is where they should be more critiziced...but thats another story.

This gives an indication:
https://barefootsurftravel.com/livemore ... ail-shapes

I tend to like pin tails on guns, and squash / bat tails on my powered board, and wide tails like a fish-ish or wide square on my trick / lightwind / smaller wave board.
One think you'll notice is that wide square tails will loose control at speed. They flatten out and becomes much harder to control, therefore a fish tail is an advantage if you go relatively hard at a wave with a light wind board. A fish tail is more complex to construct and gets damaged easier.

Pin tails keep in control, but will usually come on gunny shapes that do not turn as fast.
The squash / bat tails keeps boards a little wider towards the back, but still some taper to keep in control at speed. I tend to like to ride powered and hit the wave, therefore this is my overall favorite.

[tkaraszewski]

The shaper I asked said there are really only 2 tail shapes, pin and square. Others are just minor changes that make no difference other than looks. Pin holds long fast turns better, square shortens the edge line and makes a more pivotal turn so quicker but not as good at speed. And he said fin shape, size & placement will far override the tail shape every time.
Not sure about this but it makes sense to me.

I have built several surfboards with different tail shapes and I agree, the main difference between tail shapes is "wide" (square) versus "narrow" (pin). A squash tail is just a square tail that's harder to smash the corners on. A rounded pin is a blend between a pin and square tail. A swallow tail is basically a square tail with cool-looking tail fins like a 1950's car.

In both paddle and kite surfing, there are really no objective performance metrics for any of these design decisions, and it's understated how much of the selling point of boards is on looks (either plain "that board looks cool!" looks, or "that board looks like what pro rider XYZ is riding, and he's cool").

[plummet]

Cheers men,

There's some good information in here.

[andylc]

Do you plan to put volume into the board or build it like a twin tip?

[mikelet]

I almost exclusively ride swallows in quads , i love them for side onshore...basically they let you widen a little the tail and enlarge your raíl length backwards , pivoting your board more towards the raíl and backwards instead of the center ( think of a TT where your rear foot is further apart from the tip end ) , it's grippy and the swallow tips acts like a stopper for skipping of over inclination , they give me confidence to throw the tail hard.....
Never liked V tails or Diamonds , it's the opposite to a swallow where you're shortening the raíl length ....while it will probably turn faster ,transition from flat to raíl it doesn't feel good imho ...kind of pivoting from the center of the board and then finding a void ......they seem to work for longboards...
Round tails don't have a defined point of turning and are more progessive than a Diamond....they have a good loose/grip ratio and imho work very well for side shores.....
Being big and more of a front footed surfer, never liked pin tails or skinny squash tails where you ride like doing a wheelie on a bike ,basically draggin your tail around ,like driving with handbrake on....for sure ,great for limiting speed and stalling the tail for strapless freestyle....
All this being my opinion and depending of many other factors of the board like bottom contour,rocker,rails, fins....etc

[longwhitecloud]

the surf industry (and kiting industry) is always trying to do something new (often old) - new ideas get hype going and sales . .but the designs that dont stand the test of time soon disappear... what was hot 3-4 years ago (eg vanguard hype) is dead in the water now.

it is amazing the power of how something looks or is marketed - even if it is a pile of s$it.

> > too much volume and you cannot sink the tail in the wave . -when you have a kite trying to pull you off a wave - even more useful

[plummet]

the surf industry (and kiting industry) is always trying to do something new (often old) - new ideas get hype going and sales . .but the designs that dont stand the test of time soon disappear... what was hot 3-4 years ago (eg vanguard hype) is dead in the water now.

it is amazing the power of how something looks or is marketed - even if it is a pile of s$it.

> > too much volume and you cannot sink the tail in the wave . -when you have a kite trying to pull you off a wave - even more useful

Every industry does that. Its called business. There's no point getting annoyed about it. Pick the good from the bad and move on!

[foilholio]

Sharp edges and angular shapes at the tail give more release and make a board faster. Large V's like on a fish f*** up the turning and give no place to put your foot on the tail which is needed for certain tricks and turns.

[longwhitecloud]

the surf industry (and kiting industry) is always trying to do something new (often old) - new ideas get hype going and sales . .but the designs that dont stand the test of time soon disappear... what was hot 3-4 years ago (eg vanguard hype) is dead in the water now.

it is amazing the power of how something looks or is marketed - even if it is a pile of s$it.

> > too much volume and you cannot sink the tail in the wave . -when you have a kite trying to pull you off a wave - even more useful

Every industry does that. Its called business. There's no point getting annoyed about it. Pick the good from the bad and move on!

Many people blindly believe what they are told, some ask questions.

[handy]

Many people blindly believe what they are told, some ask questions.

and some obviously don't understand the answers .