Reverse Sidecut Boards

Sidecut.
In snowboarding, it might be something so common
that you don't really think about it.

But I believe
that this curve is exactly the shape
that makes a snowboard a snowboard.

I once
rode a board with areverse sidecut.
Instead of being narrower in the middle,
it was shaped to bulge out slightly.

It was a rather unusual model
developed for powder.

"I wonder what's different."
I rode it out of that curiosity.
The result was beyond my imagination.

The board runs away

With a normal board,
the more you tilt the edge,
the more the board enters the inside of the turn.
That's why you can carve.

But the reverse sidecut was different.
The more you tilt the edge,
the board moves away from you.
That was the feeling.

"I'm going to turn."
When I thought that and engaged the edge,
it actually ran outward.
It was a movement I had never experienced before.

It was like riding a completely different vehicle.

Sidecut is the shape for turning

That was when I first
understood the meaning of sidecut with my body.

Modern snowboards are designed
so that when you tilt the edge,
a turn begins naturally.
In other words,
the board itself
has a shape that wants to turn
.

This also connects to the idea I wrote about before,
"Turns aren't forced; they just happen."

It's not that a person forces it to turn,
but that the sidecut creates the turn naturally.

Turning is a technique for using the sidecut

I believe that turning is
a technique for naturally using the sidecut
.

Of course,
moving your body is also important.
Tilting the edge is also necessary.
But what is the purpose of that?

It is to create an environment where the sidecut can do its job.
Right?

You create the edge angle.
You receive external force from the snow surface.
Then,
the sidecut cuts into the snow,
and the turn begins naturally.

Instead of a person trying hard to turn,
you turn by utilizing the shape of the board.

Therefore,
when you properly understand the sidecut,
the way you see turns also changes.

Tools create technique.

Snowboarding consists of
nature, tools, and the body.
It is made up of these three things.

The sidecut is
the representative of the "tools" among them.

If the current sidecut didn't exist,
modern carving might not have been born either.

A curve of just a few millimeters.
But that curve is what creates turns all over the world.

That is why I believe that
when practicing turns,
it is important not just to focus on the body, but also on
how to use the sidecut.
is important.

This was Rei Aoki, the demon of verbalization.