Select to expand quoteFunnsurfn said..
Recently took master shaper Bert's advice and tried two larger side fins and smaller centre on my ten foot Sunova. Stock Sunova 105 sides and 4.5 Futures centre. After using two plus one in a few different ways. Has really increased the performance and feels faster, looser and more responsive. Just left me a little confused how a ten footer can be set agile. Doesn't want to be surfed slow and cruise. Nose riding now super sensitive, knife edge critical.
whats the height of that side fin Funnsurfn?
Select to expand quoteFunnsurfn said..
. Just left me a little confused how a ten footer can be set agile.
Just experiment, it will open your mind. For instance, try:
- twin fins only
- twin fins + 2 nubsters as quad rears
- asymmetric setups: one twin on the hell side, and half a quad setup on the toe side
...
Select to expand quotecolas said..Funnsurfn said..
. Just left me a little confused how a ten footer can be set agile.
Just experiment, it will open your mind. For instance, try:
- twin fins only
- twin fins + 2 nubsters as quad rears
- asymmetric setups: one twin on the hell side, and half a quad setup on the toe side
...
Cheers always fun to play. Usually I like the bigger centre fin on longer boards. Find I get dishy with smaller fins and really like to engage rail if I can. Select to expand quoteJEG said..Funnsurfn said..
Recently took master shaper Bert's advice and tried two larger side fins and smaller centre on my ten foot Sunova. Stock Sunova 105 sides and 4.5 Futures centre. After using two plus one in a few different ways. Has really increased the performance and feels faster, looser and more responsive. Just left me a little confused how a ten footer can be set agile. Doesn't want to be surfed slow and cruise. Nose riding now super sensitive, knife edge critical.
whats the height of that side fin Funnsurfn?
105 Sunnova stock fin about 5 1/8 inch or 130mm high. 5 inch or 127mm base. Plenty of area. The Sunova Seven Inch cutaway worked great until recent experimentation.
Select to expand quoteFunnsurfn said..
Cheers always fun to play. Usually I like the bigger centre fin on longer boards. Find I get dishy with smaller fins and really like to engage rail if I can.
Then, you may like having only big twins in the rear quad boxes: It will lock the rail in the water for carving, with no drag due to the center fin... try it.
just when i thought i had it wired .
...7 sides medium rears on my 8'10 flow ,in lumpy onshore waves ...fins basically where too small ,as standing waiting for waves was a nightmare ....
i will be stashing more fins in my car to change for different conditions ,i'm finding a twin (large) set up with a small rear seems to be the best for
most days ......but it does lack the speed you get from a quad set up needed for a racy reef break and driving turns ..
getting the right size is also another ,choice to be made on the day .
I will be changing fins more offer it seems ...
but when you get it right it like riding on a cloud ...
but ripping at the same time ...
Select to expand quoteFunnsurfn said..
Recently took master shaper Bert's advice and tried two larger side fins and smaller centre on my ten foot Sunova. Stock Sunova 105 sides and 4.5 Futures centre. After using two plus one in a few different ways. Has really increased the performance and feels faster, looser and more responsive. Just left me a little confused how a ten footer can be set agile. Doesn't want to be surfed slow and cruise. Nose riding now super sensitive, knife edge critical.
Nice bit of tail ,,,
I've been playing with this set up lately. I do like the Bert's advice too. These new flux fins are interesting. You've just gotta remember to take a fin-key with you in the surf if you want to change the flexibility out in the surf....
Tardy 7 sides and medium rears is a lot of fin on the Flow . You really shouldn't be relying on fins for stability they are there for performance. Big fins to stabilise your board will just kill it for surfing. The better you get on the Flow surfing with your back foot on the kick and engaging rails you will find you actually drop down in fin size carving tighter arcs and accelerating more out of turns.
Really hard to get a good read on fins in crap conditions , save your fin swap days for clean conditions . Good to see you are changing fins everyone needs to do this , so many people never try it , it's like changing props on a Boat the difference can be amazing.
Select to expand quotePiros said..
Tardy 7 sides and medium rears is a lot of fin on the Flow . You really shouldn't be relying on fins for stability they are there for performance. Big fins to stabilise your board will just kill it for surfing. The better you get on the Flow surfing with your back foot on the kick and engaging rails you will find you actually drop down in fin size carving tighter arcs and accelerating more out of turns.
Really hard to get a good read on fins in crap conditions , save your fin swap days for clean conditions . Good to see you are changing fins everyone needs to do this , so many people never try it , it's like changing props on a Boat the difference can be amazing.
I think you are right Piros ....i have pulled off better moves with smaller fins ...
last week i was having a ball on clean surf on small fins ...
it was just this one day where the water was moving so fast on a high tide ,on shore day .
and a solid 5 foot... .it was a down the line day ...no fancy stuff ......I'm really trying to pin point what fins work in what surf ...
one fin change today ...had the original smaller 94 's on with a very small rear ,i was just sliding down the face ..no drive
changed the rear fin, to 2 small quad ,fixed it ...
starting to get it ....and realise the flow really is better for me as a quad ...
Me and my mate where out today ,him a surfer ...a big one come in ,we just made it over only to see a massive solid 6-7 footer just about to break
WE dove ,but he smiled as i got dragged ..I come up about 9 metres further in shore than him .i had 90 litre more foam .in my board .
.OH WELL .i still caught more waves ..on the day .
thanks for the input .
If you are used to your quads shooting down the line you are probably surfing mid-board with back your foot forward. Next time you surf glance down and see where your back foot is . I guarantee it is well forward of the kick pad. Get it back and jam the turn and engage the rail and wait to see what happens.
The Flow has a beautiful outline and you won't get full performance out of it until you roll it onto the rail. Ride it flat and you wish dishpan blowing the fins, rail it with your back foot on the kick and you will turn like Kelly
ooohhh... yeah ...up the tail is the sweet spot for sure ...i love doing floaters ...
the 8.10 requires a little moving around ...but the 8'7 ...tail every time .
Talking fins again ....
just thought I'd ask the question about flexy fins ..
I've been playing around with flexy and very hard fin s ...I much prefer the hard fins .
the flex ones I feel don't store the energy and tent to flick your power off pretty quick ...where the hard fins
you can get that extra bash or energy thrust through the turns .snapping off the top .
the flex ones can be quicker coming to the top of the wave .but I felt I had no drive left when I got there .
so in general I found the stiffer fins faster ...and store more energy.
The flex fins do slide easier if you like that feeling ....the flexy fin s where easier to regain after sliding in a turn ..
where the stiff ones ,once they let go are harder to straighten up ..but still a great feeling .
because I'm riding quads most of the time ...I'm experimenting with a mixture ...hard front ,flexy rears
anyone else been experimenting ...
i never really noticed this till I started to play around with fins ...
Be interested for a few fin suggestions for my 9 11 x 31 cruiser longboard....it's quite an agile board when you get over the fins but since it is heavy it isn't too much of a chuckabout. I'm usually in slack waves up to head high.
Currently using standard FCS GX side fins and a Rainbow 7 inch rake. This set up seems to be a good allround so far. The board has a very wide tail so not sure a big single is best...although it seems to work fine.
Not sure big sides and a smaller rear would work......or a true thruster? Thoughts.....
Select to expand quoteTardy said..
7 side 5,5 rear ...that will liven it up .worked with my nalu,
Are you meaning FCS M7 sides? I'm 95 kg with wettie
yeah that will do ..i just left the original naish ones on ,which are the same size as a 7 in a FCS. and brought a 5,5 rear what a difference ...it was great ..it made the board feel smaller ...and easier on turns ..i never put the big one back on again .
Select to expand quoteSlab said..
Thanks, I have a 5.5 centre fin and 5s I can try.....
Piros, Colas......any views?
Personally, on my longSUPs I used bigger side fins with a smaller center, first the Harley Ingleby set, and now the Al Merrick twin fin set + trailer.
Why the extra big fins on the sides Coals? What advantage do they give....do they not slow things down?
Well we've had few days of nice waves over here in the U.K. most have been blown out with strong x-on or x-off and odd states of tides or no waves at all.. a very odd few months TBH. Those few days I've been able to go out I've taken the Flow 8'7, it's too small for our high water boiling rumble but sometimes needs must, it's set with a thruster PCC7's all equal in size.
Today was high, horrid shore dump, yet head high out back so I jumped in and the 400mtr paddle to get across the channel to the sand bar was bad enough, cross rips, lumps, the remainder of wave lumps curling and I got chucked off so many times.. but I progressed, caught 4 decent waves at head high and spent the other 40mins being chucked off and dumped on.. of those 4 waves the bite was nice to have from the Board, dug in nicely and turned sharp with drive..
But that was it, a frustratingly long wait for waves then a whole heap of being chucked off by strong rips and random lumps.
Fin size and placement wasn't really on top on my agenda, more survival
Enjoy surfing lads, love reading this thread.
I'm finding this setup works well. The 9" centre fin is deep but narrow. I slide it right to the front of the box which makes the board very loose and the depth keeps the tail from popping out.
Select to expand quoteSlab said..
Why the extra big fins on the sides Coals? What advantage do they give....do they not slow things down?
Actually, side fins are more efficient in turns, especially when you use the rail, where the central fin both loses its traction with banking, and adds drag.
So, basically, single fins are more efficient in a straight line, and side fins in turns. So it depends on your style of surfing.
On the size, big fins add drag, but provide more leverage to push on. So, if you push on your legs in turns, the net result is positive, but if you cruise along it is the opposite. You should experiment to see what works best for you.
I think the more colour you have counts too..Or stripes.
I like these naish one cause they are stuff and give drive where the stripes are flexy
i've tried heaps of fins ...i still like the yellow ...put them along side a FCS ...Not much difference .
Select to expand quotecolas said..Slab said..
Why the extra big fins on the sides Coals? What advantage do they give....do they not slow things down?
Actually, side fins are more efficient in turns, especially when you use the rail, where the central fin both loses its traction with banking, and adds drag.
So, basically, single fins are more efficient in a straight line, and side fins in turns. So it depends on your style of surfing.
On the size, big fins add drag, but provide more leverage to push on. So, if you push on your legs in turns, the net result is positive, but if you cruise along it is the opposite. You should experiment to see what works best for you.
Are you using these in bigger more powerful surf? I can really see them working in those conditions but not too convinced in average weaker swell.....but I could be wrong. I use a fish shaped quad too with big fins and find it fast so maybe a twin fin with smaller centre might be worth a try.
how did you find the HI set up? Was it the original black and ref FCS1 set up?
Select to expand quoteSlab said..
Are you using these in bigger more powerful surf? I can really see them working in those conditions but not too convinced in average weaker swell.....but I could be wrong. I use a fish shaped quad too with big fins and find it fast so maybe a twin fin with smaller centre might be worth a try.
how did you find the HI set up? Was it the original black and ref FCS1 set up?
No, I switch back to smaller (normal) fins when it is bigger. In big surf, I find the response of big fins too powerful for me, the board tries to enter the turn before I have had the time to put it properly on the rail.
Most of the time, I use the Al Merrick twin fins in less than shoulder high waves, and the regular Al Merrick set on bigger waves
On the HI setup, I only began to use it with FCSII. On FCS1 boards, I was using only C-Drive fins.
Select to expand quotecolas said..Slab said..
Are you using these in bigger more powerful surf? I can really see them working in those conditions but not too convinced in average weaker swell.....but I could be wrong. I use a fish shaped quad too with big fins and find it fast so maybe a twin fin with smaller centre might be worth a try.
how did you find the HI set up? Was it the original black and ref FCS1 set up?
No, I switch back to smaller (normal) fins when it is bigger. In big surf, I find the response of big fins too powerful for me, the board tries to enter the turn before I have had the time to put it properly on the rail.
Most of the time, I use the Al Merrick twin fins in less than shoulder high waves, and the regular Al Merrick set on bigger waves
On the HI setup, I only began to use it with FCSII. On FCS1 boards, I was using only C-Drive fins.
Thanks Colas....going to do a bit of experimenting with set ups today.
Cool thread.
When I bought my last Nalu, Luke chucked a throw away line at me on the way out the door, "Try it as a twin".
"No way", I thought. But I did. He must have shares in fin companies, because I've been madly trying different combos ever since.
I was never really satisfied to settle for the stock fins provided with any board I've bought anyway.
8' Minion - Quad. Always. Mostly C-Drives all round, sometimes smaller standard rears.
8'10" Flow - Quad for bigger days. Sometimes C-Drives, sometimes shapers. Mostly thruster for the fun stuff, with a smaller centre, or none at all if I wanna get real loose.
Deep JC 9'2" - Thruster with the Deep shapers. Nice fins.
Smik 9' Semi gun - Thruster. Sometimes with a larger centre. Business board.
Laguna 10' Slog - 10" FCS II Single
The first long board SUP I surfed as a quad was my Laird 10'. Now that was a revelation. If only it was made to last.
Pretty personal things, fins.
Surfing style, where you surf the board from, type and shape of board, wave, what you feel like doing on the day - so many variables.
Easier to share it here though, than to try and explain to the missus what the ever increasing pile of pretty coloured dolphin shaped "board bits" is all about.
"It's just like your shoe collection darl, only better....."
I tried my board ( further up this page) today with three same size XL thruster set up. It was awful....so slow to paddle and slow on a wave and sooo much harder to catch the waves. Very noticeable...actually came in early as I found it so frustrating. Back to 2+1 (7 inch plus 3.5 or 4 inch sides) or a 10 single.
Select to expand quoteSlab said..
I tried my board ( further up this page) today with three same size XL thruster set up. It was awful....so slow to paddle and slow on a wave and sooo much harder to catch the waves. Very noticeable...actually came in early as I found it so frustrating. Back to 2+1 (7 inch plus 3.5 or 4 inch sides) or a 10 single.
Really? how high is the XL fins?
