The Tapered Rail, designed for timber sandboards, is an original concept by Ocean Culture® and was devised in the mid to late 90’s, not long after the release of the first performance models – the Freecarve 110 and 115, the Freestyle 120 and also the surf style Combat Terrain model.
With the introduction of new board shapes came an idea for a rail edge design that could help to improve the boards turning ability and enable smoother tracking through the sand, particularly hard packed terrain where catching an edge was common.
Tapered Rails are more refined than continuous straight edge rails with square, rounded or soft profiles. The aim to increase board performance by developing a profile edge that improved rail responsiveness resulted in better turning, carving and control for the rider.
The modification is simple. Unlike common rail edges that have the same profile the whole length of the side-cut, tapered rails start with a fully rounded profile near the nose (front of board) then tapering past the front foot area toward the mid section, and finishing at the back of the board with a hard edge rail that sharpens to the tail kick. This variation in rail shape, although subtle, provides what could be best described as a channeling effect; the softer entry point for the front rail to ‘break’ the sand (especially if it’s hard packed) reduces the laminate edge ‘biting’ and catching out the front rail. Instead, it allows the rider to initiate a smoother entry into the turn, holding a better line of direction with the sharp edge on the back foot and riding with more precision and control.
Flowing rail to rail carving and dialing in your turns on a timber board (which are less flexible than composite decks) can be made easier with tapered rails, helping you to improve your overall performance, up your shred level and fun factor!
Ocean Culture’s Tapered Rail Design is a standard design feature for the current board models below;