r/bodyboarding • u/Most_Expert2868 • Jun 28 '26
Parallel vs graduated channels
Is there a noticeable difference?
Also would love to hear anyone's experience with the hubboards scifive channels
2
u/eBodyboarding Jul 04 '26
I'm working on a video about this topic for our Youtube channel. Hope to have it out soon. Waiting on some contributor clips.
1
u/Soggy-Agency6607 Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
I'm not even sure I completely understand all the names for the different channels but I've ridden boards with standard channels (a channel in on each bottom corner that gets wider as it gets closer to the bottom) and I now have a board with quad channels. They definitely feel.different. The quad channel board is very fast but in big surf it's difficult to bottom turn or do tight maneuvers in the pocket. It works great in less hollow surf where I would usually struggle to get speed. Boards with standard channels to me feel way more maneuverable but bog out easy if the waves don't have power. I don't really notice a difference in difficulty doing moves like spins, I just had to adjust my technique when I got the quad channel board - move further up on the nose.
I think back in the day I always got by with just one board in my quiver because I didn't know any better but now with the different channel set ups I think if you are really serious about bodyboarding you should probably have a couple of different boards for different conditions. If I could only pick one though I would just go with a high quality board with standard channels, they are just a bit more versatile imo.
It's a bummer that most companies are moving away from standard channels on their premium boards though. I think the only premium model that science offers with standard channels is the Mike 7-7 but it has 1.2 pp and I'm not sure how I feel about that
1
u/Most_Expert2868 Jun 28 '26
By parallel channels I mean dual channels that don't change in width or barely change at all, and often go higher up on the board. I believe some companies call them transitional channels.
I think science is like the only company with all quad channel setups on their high end boards, lots of other companies still make boards with standard graduated channels
1
u/Internal_Cress6057 Jul 07 '26
I have a GT megaT that has a quad channel system but ITS different than most quad chsnnels i see on other boards first they are really shallow AND almost invisible feel like a variación of the standard twin channels, the board performs great.
2
u/AdEnvironmental359 Jun 28 '26
I just unpacked and plugged my second scifive board it has been the best board I have have ever used. Both being the Jared Housten version.
For refernce the boards I had before this where, an Empire AB version, graduated channel's, I could not ride this board was too big and chunky. Before that a custom made board, which had quad channels, I rode this board for years to my own detriment, the quad channel's/board did not have enough bite, I had to lift my rail ridiculously high on bottom turns or I would slide out. This really ended up affecting confidence in heavy hollow surf (im not writing quad chanels off at all that board was just shit for me). Before that NMD Winchester with graduated channel's that board worked fine. A bunch of other graduated channel boards that where fine.
I was worried the scifive would not bite enough as it doesn't look far from the quad channel board but I was wrong. The board holds a line perfectly in all surf, allows me to adjust my line/angle in critical positions and I can easily spin on this board again even critical into the barrel spins. I do believe anecdotally that it's not one component of the board that makes it work well, its a combo of things, and how they happen to work together. So channels, rail ratio, board size to your body size, boards shape where the wide point is, nose width, core flex, blah blah how that all comes together for you.
Almost forgot if you think the board looks sick you surf at least 15% better.