BOARD SERVICE

youtube workshop clip

Like treads on a tire, board bases need structure to reduce drag (see below).
Your snowboard needs to ride on a film of water produced from the friction of your base and edges cutting through the snow.
In cold, dry snow the structure should be fine and shaped to hold water a little longer under your board since so little is available under these conditions.
On cold crystalline snow, the Boards base should be as smooth as possible so the points of friction are minimized.
On amorphous, wet snow, a coarser structured snowboard base is better to minimize the points of friction. Pockets of air between the Boards base and the snow means that water is repelled from the board base reducing the braking effect (like a beer glass sliding on a bar -if your below 21, watch a cowboy movie- a flat-bottomed glass won't slide as well as one with an air pocket).
In warm, wet snow the idea is to move the water away from the base and reduce suction.

When to grind race Boards...

At the beginning of the season your board should be prepared for the race conditions expected.
New Boards tend to have a medium to coarse structure that is ideal for wetter snow, but not dry snow.factory structures tend to be limited !!! Manufacturers put their R&D into construction not how to make them fast in every condition . At Cherri Cherri Pow Pows race service, learn what structure will work best for your situation .

How to prepare a board after applying a stone-ground structure:

Don't belt grind race boards. Belt grinding is not the same as stone grinding. A belt grind will not produce a flat base.
Make sure the grind going on your race board is proven .
Stonegound snowboards will run slower after this process.
So the idea is to have your bases professionally structured by stone grinding and maintain them as long as possible; your board will get faster as your wax cycles increase.
At Pow the base will be prepared ready for you to race.
The arrow/chevron structure is more important for Nordic than Alpine; it has a smaller range. If you only have 1 or 2 race boards a structure that will perform in the widest range of conditions is critical !!
Different structures can be laid over each other to break up the repetitiveness of the structure.
You must be careful with overlay patterns as there is a fine line between performance and overdoing it to the point of decreased performance. ( may look good !! but does it perform)
Find an expert in your area.
At Pow we have been Making boards fast for 27Years In Australia and overseas
.
More info here-

Find Out More About Swix Wax Wizard