Fin Recommendations?

[srfnff]

Thanks guys, again...great info! I just bought the fin box from my local shop over the phone. Here's another question for you all re fin construction material. What are your thoughts re glass vs. plastic vs. composites specifically related to SUP surfing boards?

I'm thinking that we're looking at a thruster set-up for a BIG longboard. It would seem logical that flex and stiffness in thruster fins might not have the same effects for a SUP as for a shortboard...but, maybe not. I don't know, can only speculate. Also, I'm thinking that overall larger fins would be better than smaller for the 10'4" Angulo which is I think a "beefier" (more volume) and heavier board than DW's or Admin's. The Angulo tail shape is rounded pin with wings, but there's still a lot of foam in the tail. Any thoughts on this?

[Dwight (DW)]

I can't help much with fin material selection on surfboards. I have more experience with windsurfing fins, where materials make a huge difference.

I just avoid plastic fins. They look cheap and the foils are usually wrong due to mold shrinkage.

[srfnff]

Last week I bought and installed a Futures 9" cutaway. I placed it 2" back in the box and it worked fantastic. I've had the board out twice and from my perspective it has more drive and is looser and more pivoty than any fin configuration I've used so far. I surfed it in reef and beach break so I got a feel for each. The board will take off in fast sections and it carves well too for a big board. I'm able to pivot hard on kick out and bring the nose up and around for a cleaner exit. (Well, not always, I'm still pretty good at bogging a rail.) And, I got my first bonafide floater yesterday after severely lacerating (for me ) a long, 60 yard building section before riding the falling lip down into the trough and flats. The cutaway seems to hold well in steep sections, but I was in small waves, nothing over chest high and not real demanding surf anyway.

I'm heading down to the surf shop this afternoon to pick up a set of FCS Occy's. They're the biggest thruster fins that I can find which I'm speculating will work well in the Angulo. I got the fin box adapter and will be wary of the cautions, but so far the tabs fit snugly in the adapter, and the adapter seems to fit well in the fin box. Since the center fin placement should probably be more like a standard thruster configuration I'm going to try and match that. Since I ride a lot of really kelp choked spots at low tide, I'm hoping the shallower draft thruster fin config will work really well.

I'd say the cutaway fin 2+1 set-up is a winner. Thanks for the helpful comments everyone.
g

[PonoBill]

There's an article--or at least the start of one--on fins and board shapes in the back issue section of Ke Nalu: http://www.kenalu.com/2008/02/fins-and-board-shapes/  I mention this not because it will answer your question but because this is an article i'd like to evolve.  Some of you may recall the SUP Surfing 101 article in Ponohouse (www.ponohouse.com/ponoblog  ) that article eveolved greatly over time with many, many contributions. there's so much mystery about fins and board shapes that i think the topic could also be illuminated by a joint effort. Please give it a read and see if there's some information you could add.

[stoneaxe]

I'm just about ready to start experimenting with fins. I haven't touched it since I got the board. It's got a 10" farberow flexifin about midway in the box. I'm going to play with box location and try adding some thrusters to see what how it feels tomorrow. You gotta love playing with this stuff.

[srfnff]

I haven't been able to fully read the fins article on Ke Nalu but I scanned it and it looks interesting. I hope to get to it soon. I did want to give a quick update on fin configuration for the Angulo.

I installed the FCS Occy fin set and surfed the board yesterday in low tide, very kelpy, small wave reef break. The shallow draft of the smaller fins worked perfectly, the board skimmed over the kelpiest parts with only a tiny bit of kelp drag. I had to use a very nice Bluecoil 5.5" center fin because the FCS fin box adapter would not tighten up in the Angulo fin box. No matter what I did I couldn't snug it up and I didn't take the time to mess with it since I had the Bluecoil handy and wanted to try it anyway.

Even though the waves lacked size (chest high on the biggest sets) there were plenty of long steep walls to challenge the fins ability to hold into the wave. No problem there and I deliberately rode into some closeout sections as far back as I could get, to see if the tail would pop out. It never did.

The board overall performance was solid. Where the turns and cutbacks with the 2+1 Future 9" cutaway felt loose and pivoty, the turns and cutbacks with the Occy set-up felt smooth, loose and "buttery". Both set-ups work well, each with a little different feel but the thruster set-up will be the go-to call for those low tide kelpy days for sure. I'll take the thruster set-up out on bigger days to see how it does, but I'm thinking the cutaway for bigger surf.

I tend to get bored with the same fin config day-in, day-out. Switching the set-ups gives you a new feel and keep things lively, almost like having a different board to play with. That being said most folks don't ever change their fin configuration and therefore have no idea how changing fins can affect the performance of your board. IM(not so)HO they're missing out.

Again thanks for the comments and ideas here, it opened up some fun and exciting changes for me and the Angulo.

MAHALO!