More rocker curve in the nose provides more lift, this means that the board will lift up and plane at a lower speed, basically it has much better acceleration on takeoff than a board with a flatter nose rocker. As the board lifts onto the plane the nose is lifted out of the water, so that the lower lift lower drag tail can take over. Keep in mind that the amount of planing lift produced by a board increases as the board goes faster, so progressively less wetted surface is needed as the board accelerates.
The idea that 'rocker pushes water' is based on the fact that more rocker equals more lift AND more drag. .. . but this just means that rocker should be used appropriately, knowing what it does. Keep in mind also that rocker is not an absolute it is always relative to the curvature in the wave . . . if the curve in the wave equals the rocker, then the board at that moment effectively has zero rocker. By having a huge amount of nose area with a lot of rocker, what I'm doing is making a board which has a lot of acceleration on takeoff, due to the huge amount of lift produced. Of course such a board has to be actively driven down the face on takeoff in order to utilise the nose area.If one looks carefully at the following video it can be seen that the board has tremendous acceleration on takeoff. .. .. . in fact none of the flatter nosed malibus out in the water that day could accelerate fast enough on takeoff to make the first section. Once the board accelerates to a higher speed the nose visibly lifts out of the water:This knowledge has been used for shortboards and 'gun' boards since the 1960's, and in boat design:
