PROS and CONS of 2+1 vs. Single Fin

[bajoman]

I can never seem to leave a 2+1 setup in place long enough to adapt my style and discover its benefits. It has me wondering what are the trade-offs and what am I missing out on?

[pico_train]

2+1 - more drive in bottom turns, more hold in steeper waves, more rigid to surf, more stability.

Single - more classic feel, easier to turn but not as sharply, less drive, easier to drop-knee turn, classic flow and style.

I use a 2+1 in winter and switch to single fin for summer.

[waikikikichan]

I ride my longboard mainly as a Twin-stabi ( large sides - tiny center ). Sometimes I ride single with a "Greenoug"hish 4-A type fins. I never ride 2 + 1. It's feel like a compromise between the single and a thruster, I rather go to one or the other. Your not missing out on anything if it doesn't not suit your personal style.

[jaffa1949]

Your not missing out on anything if it doesn't not suit your personal style.

I cut to the chase with Waikikikichan's quote the last sentence sums it up for choice of fins.

I ride as a single 9" centre an on odd occasions add two very small Bonzer fins. Suits me, I am also riding a Roy Stuart BLEF fin as a single pivot fin and happy with that too.

Recommendation get your skills up and start to note more of what the wave is telling you, and be responsive.

[bajoman]

As you might guess from my other posts, I go through experimental phases and try out what other people like to see how it challenges or meshes with my style. In this case, I recently picked up a 6'4 Bear Wombat and it comes with an 8.5" single and GL sidebites. I originally set it up as 2+1 and liked it, but then took out the sidebites and LOVED it (might be a case of familiarity because I always longboard with a 9" single fin). But like I said before, I don't know how to approach a tri-fin setup or what to expect from it (I don't have any thrusters in my quiver), so I feel like the advantages could have been lost on me in the short time I left those sidebites in!

[jaffa1949]

You might review what was happening so you took the side bites out, obviously your feel for the single fin is what you like! Stick with that , or if you must go very small side bites, thrusters basically run with all three fins close to the same size.

[Jester]

I had sugar in my tea till I was 12, then I decided for no reason to have it without for a week, at end of the week I was dying for a cup of normal tea, one sip and I hated it, no longer liked the taste!!

Maybe you'll always single fin, maybe you like it but who knows what you'll gain by trying something new for a bit and sticking with it for say a week or so. What have you got to lose? If there's no gain to be had then maybe its just all about taste and what's your own personal cup of tea

[jaffa1949]

You are right about it being about how it fits your surfing!
I ride single upto about 6ft and then add a small pair of FCS Bonzer fins to the mix as side bites, I like the combination with the single to double concave in the tail.
If the surf gets hollow this is my go to set up! I believe I. Can sit deeper into the curl with this set up.

If you have look at my fin primer there are pictures there.
I like the Bonzers I had Roy Stewart make me both a BLEF fin and a Bonzer set with a Futures base.

The BLEF is odd looking and hardens back to D and pivot fins but runs modern lines and is great in performance.

But once again performance in the eye of the rider! If you can surf at the level you aspire to the all is right

[BaNZ]

Apologies for bringing this old post up. Im surfing at San Onofre this week. Nearly all the longboards here are single fin. When I surfed with my 2+1 yesterday, I felt that I couldn't turn. The wave was not steep and it had a lot of volume. I think I'm kinda afraid of the volume of water and I'm not used to this break.

Today I decided to remove the side fins and only use a single fin. I was able to trim the wave much better but my inner rails and nose digs into the wave too much and I keep falling off at the end of the ride. But I definitely like the feel of single fin more.

Is it just my mind or that there are some waves that suit single fin better?

[jaffa1949]

BaNZ, fin choice is very much a personal choice, what works for you. You need to really work on you back foot fin pressure and forget rail leaning, , until you really get it think smooth and strong long arc curves. My opinion is. 3 fins enabled ordinary surfers push turn more than they could have on a single. A good surfer can drive a single in just about any wave, just draws different lines on the face.

[IB_Surfer]

After 20 years surfing I can tell the difference on a single fin and 2+1, so I will make a general comparison and see if it helps you, or not, but based on my surfing and having owned one.

single fin: less drag (1 fin vs 3), so I catch more waves and paddle easier, but sacrifice hold since I don't have side fins. I loved this set up for mushy surf, even big mushy surf.

2+1: a little more drag but still paddles good. Catch almost as many waves but can tell the difference in ease of catching and release. I would break out my shortboard if it was a good day, but would use 2+1 when I wanted more hold and maneuverability but wanted more ease of paddle than my shortboard.

So, that's me, but maybe you can relate. Try them both, you;ll see. I used my mostly as a single fin.

P.s. - ended up getting a quad fin retro fish, use it as twin fin on small or mushy day, quad on bigger days, seemed to be more versatile than the 2+1, but again, it's me.

[oldmansurfer]

I think there is an optimal fin setup for a particular board and once you figure that out there is no point in changing the fins. Whatever fin setup you use you can learn to use it. No need to change fins. If you like single fin go with it. I used to only use single fins long ago. When thrusters came out I resisted changing because they didn't seem to offer anything. I could do everything the surfers using thrusters were doing. The 2+1 fin setup makes some of the things I did with a single fin impossible but it presents it's own set of positives also. It hangs higher on a steep wave although eventually it seems to drop back down if it is a longboard due to weight of the nose. But if you change out fins a lot then you will be challenged to get used to the new way the board works every time you switch out. Minority opinion on this forum. I think many of the pros are going with glassed in fins once they figure out what they like with a particular shape.

[BaNZ]

After being out the water for close to 6 months. I struggled to catch any waves. I had to take much steeper drops due to the lack of any paddle strength. I was slow at popping up so I fell off a lot of times.

I put on the two side fins after the first day and I was able to catch a little more waves. No idea how that worked but I'm assuming it gave me the stability that I needed. Or perhaps I was just getting used to surfing again.

[billie_morini]

Wait! This posted thread confuses me: bajoman, BoMan, BaNZ! Thank goodness it's EZ to sort out Jaffa, Waiki, and Ol' Man.