How much does a long board have an impact on the feel of a mast? Someone said something (GF podcast? Somewhere here?) to the effect of the larger boards making masts feel less stiff.
Is there any physics justification to this? Does the longer board mean more board inertia meaning the mast loads more before getting the board moving and you experience it as delayed feedback and therefore wobble?
I ride the NL masts prone and find it great, on the 7’6 SUP it is pretty good, I find it pretty tricky on an 8’11 DW board
Going to guess big board, means wider board. Older style wide piggy boards allow rider to use wider stance (wider in foot stagger). Wider stance is going to create more leverage over the mast, exposing mast flex.
In addition to what FSM wrote, which I believe is a big factor, a longer dw type board will put a lot more yaw leverage on the mast and I can see it flexing the mast to induce twist, there’s a lot more leverage in that long lever going side to side than a short 4’ wing board.
My personal feeling is that it is related to the thickness of the board, and the construction. A lot of the longer skinny DW boards use thickness to get the volume, and are constructed of 1.25-1.5lb foam with minimal laminations. Exactly how the foilbox installation and deck ties are constructed could have a huge effect on the ride feel.
It is my opinion that so much focus on the overall weight of a long board is a misunderstanding. It should be all about the “swing-weight” and we should go ahead and all a bunch of mass to be used in the area from the foil-box to the front foot. Lots of high density foam going from the boxes up to the deck and stringers of either high density foam, carbon, or wood reaching the front foot area. Yeah it’ll add a few pounds, but I think it would be an overall improvement to some of the boards I’ve seen