surfboard...arch pad vs flat pad

[larms]

What is the purpose of an arched traction pad vs flat?

[all2matt]

TO CRAMP YOUR FEET :-) just kidding I dont know about anyone elese but Id assume its about feel, with the arch u know exactly where your feet are at all times. for me I didnt like it, My brother in law has a P5 danielo with the arch and the board was awesome but the arch felt weird.

[wakemitch]

Arch gives you more control. YOu can grab the board with your feet to get better control, especially in the air.

The down side is that if you dont fall often your feet will cramp. If you fall every couple of minutes from try stuff then you will be fine.

I ride front and rear arch and can go back to riding flat traction. I like the control and knowing where my feet should be at all time without looking down.

[Palle Man]

We started going "old school" and using wax. No pads. We really like it! I strongly suggest giving it a try. The only part that sucks is that if you're not careful you'll end up with melted wax on your seats,bimini, or anywhere else you leave your board in the sun.

[Chaos]

Arches are for those people, maybe 50% of the population, with moderate to high arches. If you are flat footed you are likely not to like an arch bar in the kick tail or the forward pad.
As Mitch indicated, the raised arch does provide a little more area to push against and kick, this is why they are especially popular on skims boards and are traditional in ocean skimming, where riders usually just run a forward arch bar with wax around it.

Most manufactures produce both options, although there are far fewer ocean surf-style stomppads without raised arches. Usually only the cheapest, simplest designs are found without arch bars (single piece/one color pads, or couple piece one color pads).

I run a slightly thicker center piece for my stomp pad which gives you the continuos feel of an arch without just a small bump placed in the middle, and sell two types of upper traction, one designed to fit a center arch bar the other designed to work without an arch bar.

Nick

[IDBoating]

The purpose of an arched pad is to make your rear foot uncomfortable.