Aloha Vibes Snowboard

Directional boards are designed to travel forward. The Shape differs from front to rear, whilst the flex, sidecut and stance are setback from the centre. Directional boards have a longer nose and shorter tail; this increases lift and float. The setback stance and flex enhance carving performance.

Taper is where the nose of the board is wider than the tail. Taper has two main benefits. Firstly and most importantly, it allows the tail to sink in deep snow, making powder riding easy. Secondly it makes turn exit smooth as the sidecut fades out at the narrow tail.

Volume shift boards swap length for width to give the same overall surface area but in a shorter, more manoeuvrable shape. Delivering a floaty ride, they tend to be more suited to boards designed to give a surfier feel. Volume shift boards generally use tight sidecuts to offset the slow edge-to-edge.

Swallow Tail splits the board's tail into two sections with a gap between them. This gap helps sink the tail of the board in deep snow by releasing the pressure of the snow so it has little float, allowing the nose to rise. It can also whip out the back of the turn, as the forks deflect more than a traditional tail shape.