Aerodynamics in surfing."Happiness Is a Warm Gun"

The Bullet nose is an idea which has been integral in the Amazing matrix quiver designed back in 1994.  The concept is about aerodynamics and foil theory. The leading edge of a foiled object should be conical and rounded. In my opinion the surf industry has had pointy noses as an excuse for bad understanding, or bad craftmanship. Forgive them, for they know not what they do.

A point catches the wind. The nose of your board spends most of the time in the wind. The wind speeds experienced by this tip is between 10 km/h on a still day to upwards of  60 km/h in a stiff offshore. We felt that it was time to re-evaluate the nose design of surfboards and started the concept of the Bullet nose: a soft fist like leading edge to the surfboard.

So we then received this message:

"Hi Roy. In issue (21.6) of The 'Surfers Journal' there is an article by George Greenough about board building/dynamics. He comes to the same conclusion as yourself regarding air flow forces on the nose of the surfboard and draws the analogy of putting your hand out of a car window at speed. Hold your hand flat with fingers forward (like a "pointy nose") and move it up and down, and feel the resistance it has to the wind. Then make a fist (like a rounded off nose) and do the same thing. The latter will be less influenced by the wind, and is therefore more efficient aerodynamically.In the article he states that the front end is "blunt and thick for aerodynamic reasons". He was talking about a windsurfer, and how it handled in the air."

Garrett McNamara surfing the 13 footer at small Pipeline

I've been advocating and using the idea of rounded noses with thicker softer rails for better aerodynamic qualities since 1994... it's nice to see that Greenough and the Surfer's Journal are finally starting to catch up. (Yeah and SJ, if you are reading this,we have had our eye on your shenanigans since 1998, you are not forgiven.)

Any way the nose experiences large changes in angle of air flow attack and should be designed accordingly.. a pointed nose and even more importantly a thin, sharp railed nose is the wrong way to go as such noses stall at low angles of attack. 


In hard off-shores you will see guys either pearling or getting whisked off the back of the wave as the wind catches their noses either up or down. The stalling on takeoff is what leads to the syndrome where long boards 'parachute' down the face into oblivion on strong offshore days. Keep in mind also that even on a calm day the speed of the board can create significant air flow. In addition, nose rocker is relevant to the presentation angle of nose area as a wing.

One of the main issues with boards with large amounts of nose area in offshore winds on takeoff is the lack of thickness in the nose. Thin noses stall easily, so in my gun designs, I make them round and thick like the leading edge of a foil and all is well... that's one of the many reasons why I use a parallel profile and constant rail section, and it's given me a huge advantage over the past 17 years.

Shockingly rude Bullet nose is almost prehensile in sensitivity and flight.

Another issue is rocker and plan-shape... these are what control the aerodynamic presentation angle of the nose... and the standard long board shapes are abysmal in that regard, offering poor control and a poor ability to change the angle of nose attack on takeoff.

Often I've found in strong offshore winds that my board is the only one able to make the drop and get down the line, as the long-boards stall the nose and parachute down while the shortboards can't get in to the wave early enough to make it.

Here's a good look at the Dragon board, showing a thick, rounded narrow nose

The narrow nose on the Dragon acts like a bomb or torpedo, it never stalls and is low in drag when experiencing frontal flow... when going down the line in offshores the flow moves to the side... then the rail starts to become the leading edge and lift is produced.

Queen of the Gliders: The Dragon unveiled