Joe Blair 12-6 – Interview

[singlepic=5418,125,188]In follow up to my previous post, I was able to hook up with Joe Blair for an interview on his all new 12rsquo;6" race board. He shared his philosophies on why the board works, why it's so different than others and all in the normal Blair style. Check out the interview and hear more of his thoughts.#160;#160; Transcript:Evan Leong: Wersquo;re here with Joe Blair, wersquo;re going to talk about the new 12rsquo;6rdquo; race board that he just shaped up, something that wersquo;ve been talking about for probably 4 months and finally we got it.(0:00:13.8) Why donrsquo;t you explain a little bit of what yoursquo;re thinking when you made this board, because it looks way different than any of the other boards that Irsquo;ve ridden. The nose is different, the bottom looks different, and the whole thing is different.Joe Blair: (0:00:28.0)Well one of the things I put into it is, looking at the surfboards all the kids are riding today and they all have full concave bottoms. And then I used to make race boards and slalom race boards and the windsurfing for _______(0:00:40.2) And the concave worked very well, what I wanted to do was make it wider too, because all the boards have such a narrow nose and tail that sinks. You want glide, Irsquo;ve wanted to get the width? (0:00:54.6) and the concave in there to make the board glide faster as you paddle it.(0:00:59.3) And then the entry, that is really a tricky thing as your entry. You want to have a fast entry into your long black spot with the nose kick. And to me thatrsquo;s a very important thing to have on the board right there.Evan Leong: (0:01:12.0) You know on this board it almost feels like itrsquo;s more of a surfing kind of a board. I get more of a feel like Irsquo;m surfing a wave as opposed to kinda riding a longer, (I hate to say the word) lsquo;kayakrsquo; but thatrsquo;s kind of me what I feel on really long boards because itrsquo;s kind of these narrow and long things. This one almost feels like yoursquo;re surfing it for a lot of it. Then I would think, maybe that kinda detracts from the speed but it doesnrsquo;t seem to. Whatrsquo;s the scoop on that? (0:01:43.9)Joe Blair: Well I ran that concave way up to the nose plus made the nose wider. And I put really soft rails on that board all the way through to free it from many of the wave action which it might get, because the ocean has quite a different wave action, wind and chop and all kinds of different action. I wanted to free it up it could keep it going and not stick. I think in reference to the concave and the nose is super important. Otherwise you have a boat hull(0:02:17.7) principle and it plows.Evan Leong: (0:02:22.1) Why didnrsquo;t you go with a displacement hull type thinking, like some of the other ones wersquo;re seeing now?Joe Blair: (002:28.8) Well when I built the slalom boards I was wondering what the guys who have the concave running up front same with the same wave boards and the speed boards are really interesting that were made back then too. It was speed racing and windsurfing and it had the full concave all the way through going into the a double barrel(0:02:46.7) but I felt the single throughout the whole board is faster than having a double barrel most of them have double barrel. And thatrsquo;s more of a boat hole thing and that seems to push water in railroad.(0:02:57.3) And you were talking about the surfy feeling. I was trying to free it up instead of stick. Irsquo;ve got softer rails, the concave running all the way through and also having that clean fast entry going through. Itrsquo;s keep gonna your speed up and not stick. (0:03:12.6) I think the whole keyword will be sticking like a boat hole and plowing. Because water is not always flat. And Irsquo;m talking about a race board that might be longer for lakes and where you donrsquo;t have much wind, well I think the width in(0:0:30.5)nose and running that concave is go...