Surfing Waves

This board came with an 8.5" plastic fin and GL sidebites(but I prefer riding it as a single fin). I want to buy a nice glass single fin from TrueAmes.com to put in it. What fin and size would you choose for it and why?

Details: Bear Fat Wombat 6'4 x 21 x 2 11/16, Volume 39L, Tuflite, Flat rocker, flat bottom under nose to a slight V just past the midpoint. I've been using the 8.5" fin three-quarters of the way to the front of the box. I'm 6', 165lbs(74kg).

Since you are in America you have both the FCS and Futures option, but I would seriously consider looking at the True Ames catalogue for the parrish cutaway at 8" or a cutaway in Futures, the sort of basic rule for centre fins for normal non side slide is 1"per foot of board.
The fins I am suggesting are glass or composite and are pretty stable in their flex patterns.
In the mean time play a little with positioning in the centre box there may be more tweak there if you want to get adventurous.
If you are getting to the stage where your plastic is failing then, yes a glass fin is the way to go

Since you are going with True Ames, You got to get the Greenough 4-A. That is one of my favorite fins for that type of board. Wide base with a thin tip. Very good flex that slings you out of the turns.

"I've been using the 8.5" fin three-quarters of the way to the front of the box." - so if you move it back you're not liking it because the board gets to stiff. Thus the fin is too big. Good to find a fin that works great in the middle. Then you can move front or back depending. I would go with the 7.5" Greenough 4-A ( or 8" if you were heavier )

Also be careful of fin sizing. Some are measured from the base. Some are measured from the part that sticks out the box. That's a good 1/2 inch difference.

The fling out of a bottom turn with a Greenough is great fun.

I have a 9" Greenough 4-a in my longboard. Would that be too big for this 6'4 (what drawbacks would it have?)
Thanks guys!

bajoman wrote:I have a 9" Greenough 4-a in my longboard. Would that be too big for this 6'4 (what drawbacks would it have?)
Thanks guys!

Try it and see, in all sorts of positions in the box.
Use the I wonder method................ I wonder if this would work? Try it and see.
Experience gained by experiencing is more powerful than collected opinions IMHO.
As you gain personal information on what suits your surfing you can become more capable of selection of fins boards etc.

I hear you Jaffa, but I tend to worry about unknown (to me) drawbacks of a bad experimentation choice messing with my session (and my confidence because I don't know what to expect) especially on a board that I have not surfed much yet (about 6 or 7 sessions)!

However, I did try the 9" Greenough 4-a in sloppy waist high mush today. Seemed to have a lot of hold as I was dancing to the front of the board a lot, and may have hung me up a bit, but that could just as easily been the chop/mush/lack of steepness in the waves. I didn't notice much difference in turns- maybe a bit more drive(?), hard to tell in the conditions. And did it slow me down a little? would I really feel the drag from a slightly longer fin or was it just the conditions again?

Clean, shoulder high swell predicted for Thursday and I have a 7" Fins Unlimted PerformanceD that I can try next (from a 2+1 longboard set-up I never used), but I am nervous about it popping out and spinning out on cleaner, steeper faces...

Should be fine, don't stress about failing by spinning out or other stuff it is jus a lesson on do it different next time.
If you try to get each session as a great session it ain't gunna work there are some days some conditions it just doesn't gel. Stop striving forperfection each surf it is doing your head in just go enjoy!

Ha!Ha! Jaffa- sessions are far from perfection! Just want to be prepared ahead of time (mentally and equipment-wise) so I spend my time enjoying the surfing and not out of the water tweaking/ changing fins... especially when it's going to be close to freezing out like Thursday! Thanks and I'll let you know how it goes!

My reply may be irrelevant, but I can't help it. I'm going to snake this thread.

"Fin" is American slang for a five dollar bill.

The title made me do it!

so you're saying if I drop in on one of the locals and he tells me " next time I'm going put a FIN up your _ _ _ ", I should thank him for wanting to give me some money ?

Okay, enough of that, I'm taking back the thread!
So to be scientific about this- I'll be testing out this theory (let me know if I'm off on anything):
1. Smaller Fin-7"
Faster (less drag)
Looser
Tighter turns
Less Drive
Might release on hard turns/ steeper faces

2.Bigger Fin-9"
Slower (more drag)
Stiffer
Longer arcing turns
More Drive
More hold might have me weighting/moving towards the front of the board more

I'm not going to call them PROs/CONS or advantages/drawbacks because I'm assuming they're all personal preference.
Let me know what you think...

A big fin isn'tnecessarily slower especially in small waves.

I'd be trying one of these, but it is neither conservative nor trueames... the foiling is far superior however.
25% off on Black Friday

http://roystuart.myshopify.com/collecti ... -wing-blef

Thanks for the comment Roy, I'll see how that plays out with my hypothesis.
So what size of your Gull Wing BLEF fin would you put in this board?

Technically all your pros/cons are correct and accepted. But everyone is different, boards are different and (especially) waves are different. The fin that lets you control your board and in turn be in the right spot on the wave is the fastest fin. And when I say fastest doesn't necessarily mean out right speed. A V8 Camaro SS is fast. But a In-line 4 Honda Civic type R is also fast. One has torque. One has revs.

Try this set up if your local surf shop has a FCS test drive and let's you borrow fins for free. MR-TX sides with a 2.5" center fin ( they might not have the center box adapter for the MR-TX center fin. )

Good point Waikiki about a "faster" fin.
Also, I have thought about running this board as a twin (I have Von Sol twins that are a lot like MR's) but I already have two mini-simmons and a fishy-hybrid shortboard I surf as twins. I really got this one as a travel longboard and have loved the feeling of that single fin, especially on the drop. It has also gotten me to focus on the pocket more. I want to nail down the single fin I like in it first and then (knowing me) I might experiment with twins and trailer later...

waikikikichan wrote:

Technically all your pros/cons are correct and accepted.

Yes except in the case of larger fins causing more drag.

If a smaller fin is required to produce more lift than it can during turns it can operate in the pre stall regime and cause more drag than a bigger fin. This is very common with single fins. Moving slowly ( e.g. on smaller waves) makes this worse as fins produce less lift at lower speeds.

So Roy, what size fin would you put in this board- conventional and your Gull Wing BLEF?

I'd go 8" to 9", and start with 9"

I got to try all three fins on this storm swell, here's the report:
1.Point Judith, head to overhead (5-7ft), hi-tide so waves were very fat. I used the 8.5" plastic fin the board came with (a standard template- kind of like a Greenough 4c) in the middle of the box. Good hold in the wave, nice arcing turns. First drop had a little bit of skip and wobble to it but that could have been me getting a feel for the largest waves this board has seen. I used this fin the whole session because I didn't want to get out, climb back up/down the cliff again, and have another heavy paddle out. We were all fighting the current pulling us to the south side of the point so it was already an exhausting session (but some memorable rides for sure!)...

2. Narrangansett beachbreak, same day, chest high with some plus sets (4-5ft). I switched to the 9" Greenough 4-a, pushed all the way to the front of the box. Not a huge difference but the extra drive (and flex?) really lit up turns. I could really crank some hard bottom turns and shoot back up the wave. The fin would also hold high in the wave and I could really feel it "slot-in" when I dropped and angled along the face (I love that feeling- don't know if there's a proper name for it). Again, I used this fin the whole session because I was having too much fun and didn't want to walk back to the car in the freezing air temps to switch out.

3. Misquamicut beachbreak swell leftovers, next day, knee to waist high (2-3ft). I finally got an A-B-C comparison, unfortunately waves were weak and without a lot of face to work with. Started with the 7" a little back from center of the box. Immediately missed the drive of the Greenough 9". Couldn't really "feel" the fin as much as I like, but the board was very lively with it in.
Changed to the Greenough all the way to the front of the box and encountered a problem- it was holding me up on the peaks and forcing drops to be a little later, resulting in me missing waves or not being able to make it to the weak shoulder quick enough to get much of a ride.
Switched to the stock 8.5" in the middle of the box and encountered a bit of the same problem but a little less extreme.

Conclusions: To optimize, I want the drive and feel of the Greenough but not the "hold-up" it has on smaller/slower waves. The hold while riding (like a longboard feel) I really like. I didn't try the 7" all the way back but I have a feeling it's just too small to give me what I want. I know the simple answer is "this fin for these waves and this fin for those" but I want a one-size-fits-all so I don't have to think about having and switching out fins every time I go out. Result- not sure which direction to go now!