Kitesurfing Boards – What is Flex and What Effect Does it Have on Your Riding?
People often talk about whether kitesurfing boards have too much flex or too little. But what is too much or too little flex, how do you know and what effect will it have on your riding? Flex in kitesurfing boards gives you a smoother ride as the flexing of the board absorbs energy as the board cuts through the water. So the board acts like suspension and takes some of the jarring as the board carves over all those waves, this saves your knees from taking the hammering! To much flex is not always desirable however as it create a soggy feeling and give very limited ‘pop.’ Flex in a board also has an effect on the rocker line as the more the board flexes, during hard edging for example, the more pronounced the rocker becomes. In practice this can be a very good thing, the board retains a fairly flat profile at low speeds which aids early planing and as the speed and thus the downward pressure on the board increases so the rocker line become more pronounced which gives additional grip in
