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This question came to my mind recently when I was asked to make a copy of a board for someone. They brought their board to the shop and I went about my normal templating process. If it’s a one time use template like this one, I usually just do it on cardboard to make it quick and easy. Plus, It’s a great re-use for those Amazon packages. I make a lot of templates so usually I get it right the first time, but this time, after I cut out my template and compared it to the board, it was wildly different. I was perplexed for a minute, but then decided to compare my template to the other rail and it was a perfect match. This board was not supposed to be an asymmetrical board and when looking at it from a distance you could not tell the template was different on each side, but it was far from symmetrical.
When my friend brought this board in he mentioned it was one of his favorite boards so I guess it must surf well, right? Maybe boards don’t have to be exactly even on both sides to work well.
Let’s go to another example…
A friend of mine loves talking surfboards. He is very particular about his boards and buys most of his boards from a particular big name shaper. He mentioned that his shaper is so good he can shape perfectly to a 32nd of an inch in every aspect of the board. Fast forward a few months and I’m doing a repair for this friend on one of his “perfect” boards and I get to analyze the board a little more with my tools. I have a spreadsheet where I write down details of every board that comes into my shop for repair. One of the things I note is fin placement. On this particular name brand board, as I am noting the fin placement, I notice that one of the fin boxes is towed in 1/16″ while the other is towed in 1/4″. This is a difference of 3/16, which is huge! Now, I know most people are going to tell me that someone else probably put in the fin box, which may be true, but my friend loves this board and loves this shaper because he said everything is always so exact! I won’t comment on my observations on the rest of this board and if it was indeed as exact as he thought, but I’ll let you use your imagination.
I have examples like this for days and it really makes me think… does it really matter if a board is symmetrical? Personally, I try to make my boards as perfect as possible, but I have no doubt, I’ve had off days where I’m also making asymmetrical boards (but not on purpose). I can’t tell you if it matters or not, but I can tell you that most boards I template are not perfectly symmetrical and most fin boxes I look at are off by at least 1/16, and some are off by much more.
I guess maybe there is some sort of placebo effect going on here. If you have a board from a brand you love, or you are stoked about the color, or your friend made the board, or [insert any positive thought about your board], then I bet the board is going to surf well.
Maybe it is true that we create our own reality!
With all this being said, I do feel like it is important to make boards symmetrical, unless of course you are making an asym on purpose. Either way, I’ll keep trying to perfect my craft and make the most perfect boards known to mankind. In the meantime, I bet someone is out there templating one of my boards and noticing it is not perfect. Oops.
Cheers from Raptorcorn