Dynamics of a "fast" wakeboard?

My definition of how fast a board rides is how quickly it accelerates when on edge and how much speed you can build up before you hit the wake.

Does a longer board ride "faster" than a shorter board?

Does the faster ride come from more bouyancy making the board ride higher out of the water?

I know that boards with a lot of rocker ride slower because the rocker increases drag. I am having trouble thinking of a good way to explain how rocker creates drag.

Please help come up with a good explanation.

Let them ride a Roam - type board, then switch back; it will become clear hot it works, lol.

Parks board is the fastest I've ever ridden. Lock those fins in, and hang on tight baby.

I rate board speed by the amount of drag, whether on edge or not.

"Does the faster ride come from more bouyancy making the board ride higher out of the water?

imo...yes

"I am having trouble thinking of a good way to explain how rocker creates drag."

back to your bouyancy thing. A board with more rocker has less board in the water. The portion that is in the water is sunk deeper as a result.

That's my theory anyway.

Some boards seem to break the rules however. Like the Parks board for example. Can't explain how it's not slow.

The Gator Harris board rides pretty fast...

a boarder with more rocker oushes more water. basically the fastest ride you could get is if the board was perfectly parallel to the surface of the water and riding on top of it. the more rocker, the steeper the angle of the front of the board, the more water it pushes, the more drag, the slower.

Get an O'brien Cartel, its super FAST

dont forget the 3ds....fast as hell....

I ride a Liquid Force Subjekt and it's really fast, because the bottom of the board has very little channels or anything to drag it down, it's just 2 fins on either side.

Its all about the rocker. In wakeboarding, fast isnt always a good thing.

I agree with the parks... scary fast. Switched to an absolute platinum, never looked back

Think of it like this: More rocker = more frontal area, more frontal area more drag. Some examples: a symmetrical wing (aerobatic) vs a non symmetrical wing (glider)on an airplane or a truck vs a car or better yet a runabout boat vs. john boat (all of approximate equal surface area). All have to push more matter (air or water) out of the way.

With wakeboards, to create the same amount of lift (to keep you out of the water), the board with more rocker has to push more water thus creating more drag due to the curvature of the bottom (front to back).

Now I don't consider the parks or absolute a fast board (I ride the absolute). I think they hold an edge better than other 3 stage boards, and are faster than other 3 stages but not a fast board. I consider the old HL lavelles fast boards.

Thanks for all the feedback. I think I am closer to being able to explain to people not just how a board rides, but the specific characteristics that make it ride that way.