Kalama takes a hacksaw to his fins

Stand up paddlers can spend thousands of dollars in fins searching for the best drive, most grip and cleanest foil shape. But when it comes to board testing, Dave Kalama is content with a hacksaw, some concrete and a ‘she’ll be right mate’ attitude.

When Dave Kalama asks you for a hacksaw and a couple of blades, then glances towards a 9ft SUP sitting in the corner, you don’t ask questions. But you definitely prick up your ears and pay attention to what’s going on!

He’s over in Mauritius right now testing the new Imagine stand up paddle boards that he’s become the face of, and still testing some of the shapes. In this case, he wasn’t trying to turn the 9’0” into a 8’4”, but he wasn’t happy with the size of the rear fin.

So all he did, was grab one of the little thrusters on the side, trace around it on the rear fin with a pen, then took a hacksaw to not only the tip, but the trailing edge as well to cut it down to size. When asked how he was going to clean it up, he replied with:

“Well, there’s a sidewalk over there, I’ll just scrape it along that”.

Which of course he then proceeded to do, proclaiming that ‘in theory’ it would make the board better. Lets hope so seeing it was the only fin available for the worlds Imagine and JP dealers to test the board with!

The moral to the story here, is that sometime you don’t need the best of the best fin in the back of your board. It might help a little, but hey, if it’s good enough for Dave Kalama, it might work for you!

But seriously… changing the fins on your SUP can really change the performance & feel of the board - don't be afraid to experiemnt.      Talk to your local shop to see what they recommend before taking a hacksaw to yours!