FUNCTION OF A WING/FLYER
Designs are endless, especially when it comes to surfboards. Some of the current trends lately have been having a wider board front from center, allowing intermediate surfers to have increased paddle power and stability and the other one is adding flyers/wings to the bottom 1/3 of the board towards the tail.
The main reason for shapers to cut these flyers/wings on surfboards is to decrease the surface area on the tail, enabling surfers to turn tighter in the pocket. When you look at the board models that have flyers/wings are surfboards which are made for smaller waves.
As we all know, groveller surfboards are generally flat, stubby, wide, and thick to be able to glide on those gutless days. By adding on these flyers/wings to the board, the reduced surface area near the tail would compensate the flatness of the rocker and the width of the board, allowing surfers to do maneuvers more aggressively.
Above, team rider Sodox shows how versatile the SX6 model is. He finds the Wing tail helps with performing more aggressive manoeuvres.
Another reason for it, is to have a surfboard that can be made short enough yet still maintain a good amount of volume. Without cutting those flyers/wings into the board, you would end up having a longer board as a result. If you continue running an outline from the nose down towards the tail and ignoring the flyer/wing that was made, then you would end up having a tail that’s about a couple of inches longer.
Everyone loves a shorter, wider board, especially when it comes to small wave. It turns easier, a lot snappier, lighter and easy to carry around. Hence, having an everyday board model that can tick all the boxes i.e., short, easy to manoeuvre, light, and convenient to carry and for storage, it's definitely a winner.
As of our Native models, the SX6 and SX8 which have these flyers/wings have proven to be our top 5 best sellers out of all the models.