ply boards

[MikE mAy]

i'm thinking of making a ply board for those light wind days. i think i've got the size down that i want to make it, but can anyone help me out on both rail style as well as outline? two questions and your thought's would be appreciated:

rails- do i make it fully rounded like surfboard, or do i round one edge and leave the other at 90 degrees? my north dragon seems to have 90 degree edges on the whole board except the rails through the middle of the boad. these seem to have a taper on the bottom, flowing up to the 90 degrees on the top. i've also seen in the newest kite world magazine that it can be done opposite- hard 90 degrees on the bottom wrapping up to a taper on the top. is this even going to make a difference on a 1/4" ply board? i plan on leaving both the tip and the tail 90 degrees, but i'm unsure about the middle of the board.

outline- do i make something with very little convex outline like a slingshot glide for example, or do i follow billy's lead by making a very shallow sidecut like a snowboard? i've heard of both being done here as well.... i'm wondering what the trade-offs for both designs are. also, how important is tail/tip width? i've seen a lot of designs that taper at the end, but also those like the glide that seem to want to keep the width there to help plane. seems like if you go with the traditional convex outline you don't need the tail/tip width and i can play with the tips/tails a little....

why i'm asking this is we kited lincoln last night in some gusty conditions turning to very light wind conditions and i wish i had something bigger under foot. it was steady 7-8 knots when i first went out gusting to 14 knots. on a 17M kite and a 137x36 board, i couldn't hold things down in the gusts. by the time i tried to react with kite tuning, the gust was over and i was back to lowish power again. i know, probably not ideal conditions, and a bow kite would have been my answer, but would a bigger board have helped my stability on the water in the gusts? i'm thinking being able to hold a longer/bigger edge would have kept me grounded. i wasn't being lofted out of control or anything, just on the edge of control. i'm sure some of you more experienced riders would have been just fine.

laters,

Mike

[lesvierra]

I cant offer any answers to your questions but look foward to some comments. Look on kiteform.com and search plywood boards. there is tons of opinions and comments. I pulled these plans off there and cut my own with this template. I took the liberty to cut the width 2" wider so that I (235lbs) have nothing to bitch about knowing some sub 200lber designed this. I also have another blank I'd like to carve out. Maybe in the footprint of a glide. Just need to hook up with someone with a glide. Hopefully we can compare boards at rush next spring. Good luck.