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So you want the perfect board huh?

You’ll need to get your bottom contours sorted (and I don’t mean your ass bro!).

Contours on the base of your board channel water to affect speed, stability and manoeuvrability.

The three main types are flat, concave and convex. All three contours can be blended together for different effects.

Flat.

It’s, well, flat. Boards that are flat from tip to tail are sweet in small, soft, crap waves but will struggle in anything decent and at higher speeds.

Flat. Photo: Surfing Waves

Convex.

Convex is when a section of the base sticks down below the rails. The most common convex shape is called a vee.

Vee. Photo: Surfing Waves

These boards are very forgiving. They push water out to the side to give stability, control, and easy edge-to-edge transitions.

A convex contour creates drag and will slow you down. It’ll also amplify the effects of your rocker, making the board more manoeuvrable and easier to turn.

Shaper’s Journal say vees are crucial for big boards (they make the size of a gun or a longboard manageable).

Vees are also primo learner boards.

Many shortboards (for all levels of riders) will also have one or two small sections of vee, usually near the tip and/or tail to free it up so you can get slash-tastic.

Concave.

Parts of the base are scooped out to channel water underneath the board and towards the back. Concave increases speed, lift and responsiveness.

It’ll also give you extra boost through turns when more weight on the back foot forces water tightly through the fins and off the tail.

Surfline says concave makes a board accelerate quickly from almost any point on the wave, but it also makes turns ‘sticky’ and hard to adjust.

You can have single or double concave, or both.

Single Concave. Photo: Surfing Waves

According to Surfing Waves, single concave “is designed for speed and works well in fast, large clean surf. This shape is does not perform well in messy, lumpy surf and as such is not a good choice for a surfboard you want to use in all round conditions”.

Double. Photo: Surfing Waves

You can get a looser ride by having single concave that blends to a double concave.

Tip from Shaper’s Journal: “To create looser boards, single concave carries further towards fins before double concave develops. To create drivier boards, double concave carries further into the board from the fin cluster.”

Channels. Photo: Surfing Waves

Channels are multiple grooves along the base. They create heaps of speed.

Surfline say, “In the hands of a skilled rider, channels produce extraordinary length through rail turns and provide wave “feedback” unlike any other board. But they’re difficult to manufacture, unpredictable in choppy surf and perhaps best suited to expert riders and/or flawless surf conditions.”

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Now go check out the base of your board. Is it right for you?