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Help i have been surfing a retro surfboard for years but i feel i am pushing it to its limits in ability and size, for example my tail is doing alot of sliding out and because it has no side fins in the bigger stuff it struggles to hold in on angled take offs and steep bottom turns, can anyone help me with the reasons behind different surfboard tails, e.g. square or rounded pin and the different that 18.5' to 18.75' would make

thankyou for your help

Tails,dimensions and length

I think the difference in tails is to do with streamlining and stability. Its hydrodynamics (aerodynamics in the water) A more rounded tail will be more streamlined and more stable at speed as the water flows round the rails to a point. With a squared tail the water passes under the tail in a greater area and can be forced more easily to the fins increasing the boards turning ability and making it unstable. On a Gun/semi-gun you want the board to be stable and move through the water easily this sacrifices manouverability. With a shortboard a certain ammount of instability is needed to make the board manouverable and to enable fast turns/snaps etc. With your retro board it depends on size/dimensions. The old school surfed big waves on single fins but the boards were mammoth. Nowadays boards are smaller and lighter and your board is probably not long enough to keep the fin in the water on steeper waves causing the slip. If you are looking for a retro shape You should maybe check out a pin-tail style board and increase the length slightly, increased length will make the board plane better but you will lose turning ability. The best option is to have two boards, one for smaller and one for bigger waves. Play around with fins and see what happens.
The difference between .25 is not apparent to most surfers, it is fine tuning. If you change your boards width by .25 or even .50 you probably wouldnt notice but a pro surfer with a quiver of boards and a strong shaper behind them can fine tune a shape to be ideal for that surfer in a certain condition/wave type.
A bit long winded but I hope it helps.

thankyoui

Hi cheers for your help i have just ordered my new board with a squash tail, so a mixture of both, flow and movment, 6'1 and 18 3/4.