A surfboard’s rocker is the arch of board’s outline from nose to tail. The more curved or crescent-shaped the surfboard appears, the more rocker the surfboard has.
The right rocker on the right board on the right wave can support a surfer, but the opposite is true, too. Either when buying a surfboard or to better understand how equipment performs, it’s necessary to understand types of rocker and how it affects the surfboard.
Rocker Sections
To some, the term rocker is thought to apply to the entire board. However, rocker affects each area of the surfboard differently, so it’s best to separate rocker into five (5) sections. Lay your surfboard flat on the floor and observe the curvature of the following areas:
Bottom Rocker
Bottom rocker is the arch or bend of the surfboard on the bottom of the board from nose to tail. Flipping a board over, you’ll see that it will have modest (or perhaps, much) lift throughout that ends at both the nose and tail. Bottom rocker is one of the most important aspects of a surfboard and lays the groundwork for how the board will perform.
Deck Rocker
The bottom rocker influences the deck rocker, but the deck rocker is not identical to the bottom rocker. Deck rocker follows a line on the top of the surfboard, and the amount of deck rocker will determine the thickness or foil of the surfboard.
Rail Rocker
Rail rocker is the curve around the perimeter of the board. More rail rocker can usually be seen at the nose and tail where the edges begin to pull in, giving the nose either a pointed tip or a rounded shape and the tail wide hips or a pulled in, tight pintail.
Nose Rocker
A surfboard’s nose rocker, or entry rocker, can determine extra lift for a noseride on a longboard, less dig in the nose during a sweeping cutback on a shortboard, or even the extra edge against the wind when paddling into a wave. Nose rocker is observed from the surfboard’s midpoint all the way to the nose of the board, with more attention paid to the 24″ and 12″ sections from the nose toward the midpoint.
Tail Rocker
Tail rocker is the amount of upward bend from the bottom of the surfboard at the tail, observed from the midpoint to the end of the tail. The more banana-shaped or “bend” to the tail, the looser the board. But even though it will feel more maneuverable, there will be more sluggishness added with more tail rocker.
Types of Rocker
When building a surfboard, shapers normally follow one of three (3) different rocker designs:
Speed Box or “Staged” Rocker
Speed box rockers have a relatively flat rocker through the midpoint of the surfboard with more aggressive rocker notched up at the tail and nose, allowing for more speed through turns. The transition from flatter rocker to the board’s endpoints should be smooth and helps the rider accelerate. Speed box rocker is usually seen on shortboards and semi-guns.
Continuous Rocker
Continuous rocker is rocker with essentially no flat points and a continuous half-circle arch through the entire bottom of the surfboard, with slightly more projection typically seen in the nose of the surfboard. More continuous rocker means more ability for sharply-defined turns while dialing down the ability for speed out of the turns. Less continuous rocker means wider turns but more speed.
Relaxed Rocker
A relaxed rocker is rocker with less tail or nose rocker. Combined with speed box or continuous rocker, boards with relaxed rocker are usually ridded on smaller days when more speed is needed.
Can You Measure Rocker?
A tool called a rocker stick is used by surfboard shapers use to measure the rocker of a surfboard. When a shaper spies an outline that they like or a customer brings in a board with a rocker that they want to match, a shaper can use a rocker stick to copy the outline and fashion a near-exact match rocker on a new surfboard. Rocker sticks are typically hard to find and are usually only available through distributors like the Surf Source.