Big wave riding and fin size

[FlexBags]

I weigh 150 pounds and I've been riding medium sized fcs fins forever. This winter I'll be riding bigger waves. Big as in 20-25 ft.+ faces. Should I be riding bigger fins in heavy water? Or should I just stick to my mediums?

[Big H]

How do the mediums feel in 15-20ft faces?

Point is that IMO you should work your way up....if you have to ask a question like that then to me it means that you have not ridden anything close to waves that big / that size which in turn means that you should try progressively bigger waves as compared to what you're familiar with....do that and you'll know what works in terms of equipment and technique....

I saw a video of JOB surfing Nias in OH conditions on a single fin with no fin.....he wasn't at his hi performance best but he was making it work.....another episode he rode pipe on a softie in tandem with another guy....rode it alone as well and switched from a longboard softie to a shortboard softie mid wave and got barrelled on backdoor.....probably not his ideal ride but he was able to surf it, and surfed it better than most of the lineup probably could on the boards that they carefully chose and set up.....


....anyway you should have at least a set of each size so you can try out med vs lg fins on whatever you're surfing now, and keep switching as you go bigger.....the answer you're looking for in terms of YOU will be clear....20-25ft+ faces are life threatening conditions for anyone; if you're asking what fin you need I'd really think twice before getting in literally over my head.....

[waikikikichan]

You should use the fins that came equipped on the big wave gun or the ones the shaper that made that rhino chaser recommends for that board. What size board you plan on ordering ?

[dtc]

Most guns actually have small fins (and often small fin clusters). The wave and rails provide enough speed and hold; add bigger fins to that and you have a board that will track better than a Shinkansen.

[oldmansurfer]

Be safe. I use the same fins on all sized waves but on really big waves it's all rail turns and you don't need much fins for that and there is no need to generate drive from turning above what the speed you have from taking the drop will do. If you have no idea what fins to use then the waves are too big for you. Don't go out.

[Big H]

If you have no idea what fins to use then the waves are too big for you. Don't go out.

What I was trying to say only much more to the point.

[dtc]

I don't disagree but that's because we are all old. OP is probably 20 and sees it as a challenge not a risk. When you are 20, the only risk is being seen as not trying.

[Big H]

Yeah I get it......I was 20 once too.....but 25ft+ faces is quadruple overhead.....let that sink in....I saw a documentary with Peter Mel surfing at Mavericks....he's one of the world's best big wave surfers, cut his teeth at Mavericks and was part of the local crew there.....he was NERVOUS...kept checking his equipment, couldn't choose between three massive guns that were something like 10-12ft, had brand new leashes, was stressed about access to his PFD and about hold downs and if this could be his last time out.....I don't know if the poster has been training, is prepared for double or triple hold downs, has a board suitable but ASSUME that he doesn't and hasn't because he's asking a real elementary question....if I'm wrong please excuse me....if I'm right don't do it unless you know what you're doing.....you can die, plain and simple.....guy around here over at playgrounds or shipwrecks on a triple overhead wave....got caught inside.....DEAD....it happens often enough around here that it keeps that possibility real and top of mind....I expect a 20 year old would push the limits further than I would at my age, job and family situation, but all the same.....................real 25+ft surf is big and dangerous....he should know what he's getting into......

[Big H]

Saw this today....geezer around here selling his 8'10" campbell bros. gun. That's what this guy needs and wouldn't have to worry about fins....they're glass ons like a lot of the guns I've seen in the racks around here...

[jaffa1949]

Nice what a pity it isn't one of their Bonzers!

Actually he looks like Dr. Phil

[oldmansurfer]

I surfed waves with 30 to 40 foot faces and used my 7'2" board with a single glassed in fin. I bet the removable fins create turbulence at the speeds you go. I have tried to fix a cracked fin once and didn't get it right. The board surfed fine till you got to 20 foot faces then it started humming and as you went faster it was like a skateboard with shot bearings really vibrating and shaking. I gradually increased the size of waves that I rode no sudden increases, however when I started surfing I had allready bodysurfed and paipo boarded waves with 20 foot faces so it was rather quickly that I went up in wave size so dealing with taking waves on the head wasn't much of a concern for me till it go bigger than that.

[oldmansurfer]

One of the big days I went out I almost drowned. I have written about it previously, here it is.... I was surfing at Hanalei and in real good shape at the age of 20. I could hold my breath for 2 minutes easily and swim 4 laps (100 yards) in the Kapaa pool underwater with one breath. The waves were fairly large and I had my largest surfboard which was a 7 foot 2 inch Progressive Expressions single fin diamond tail board which really was too small for big waves but that I loved that board. Paddling out I couldn't tell how big it was but the current going out was strong so while the paddle was twice as far as the usual long paddle it was similar in effort required because the huge waves pushed water over the reef and it had to go back out , so it did so in a rip current right beside the waves coming in. You could just get into the current and wait and it would take out fairly quickly. I was fairly sure I had never surfed Hanalei at this size before and as I got to the outside it was huge with faces about 25 to 30 feet. It looked like the waves should be make able and there weren't a lot of people out so I was stoked. Only about 6 people out with fantastic looking waves however they were so huge it was scary and exciting. I probably wouldn't have paddled out if I knew it was this big but looking at the waves I just had to surf them.

I caught a few waves and did ok but the takeoffs were hairy. On most of the waves I would paddle and stand up and drop down about 10 or 15 feet only to start coming back up the wave as the bottom dropped of the wave and it pitched up higher and higher and steeper and steeper till I finally either came back over the back of the wave thereby missing it or the water would release it's grip on my board and I would fall with the board barely touching the water down to the bottom. I felt horrible on those waves where I was pulled up and over the back
missing the wave. I got mentally and physically all geared up for the massive drop only to have the wave pass me by, leaving me futilely standing on my board on the back side of the wave. It was such a drastic disappointment. All that fear and excitement for nothing. Taking the drop was incredibly scary. On those waves I could drop down it was almost out of my control. As I dropped I could feel my board flutter back and forth under my feet which meant it wasn't firmly in the water. Everything went into slow motion and the drop seemed to take minutes when in reality it was just a couple seconds. I could see the individual drops of water coming off the tip of my board and floating away in slow motion. When I reached the bottom the board gradually started pushing up into my feet firmly and as I started my turn at the bottom I would look up and see this massive wall of water. Now I had surfed other places this size but at Hanalei it was different. The other places I had surfed the size of the wave tapers off fairly rapidly but at Hanalei it stayed the same size for a long ways. I poured on the speed trying to get well into the wave which resulted in me going well in front of the break. I did these huge almost air drop roller coasters on each wave and it was exhilarating. I think on my first wave by the time I looked back I was 50 yards in front of the breaking portion of the wave. After a while I realized I didn't need so much speed so I tried on the next wave to slow down a bit.


That was the one that caught me off guard and broke in a section in front of me. I had to straighten out and try to ride it out. The powerful whitewater from the breaking wave came up behind me and blasted me off my board and then after a little bouncing around under water I began to be towed by my surf leash under water. The wave caught my board and pulled it dragging me by the cord under water. The board was doing what surfers call tomb stoning. It was upright and being pushed by the whitewater and thereby towing me. If you were on the shore you would see the board upright going along in front of the wave and know a surfer was on the other end. I had had this happen several times before but this time it went on for a long time. It reminded me of when I used to hang on to the handle on the towline of a ski boat in Wailua river and have it tow me behind under the water. It actually was exciting with all the water rushing past you. There was nothing I could do but wait since the force of the water did not allow me to reach down and release the ankle wrap. It must have been about 30 seconds that I was towed until the Velcro gave up it's hold on my ankle. Then I got bounced around a bit more for maybe another 30 seconds.



Finally I was able to swim the surface only to find the surface was covered with about 2 to 3 feet of foam (like a head of foam on a beer). Now I had been catching waves in the ocean for along time and never seen this situation before. My first thought was this foam would dissipate and then I would be able to breath so I waited and got hit by a couple more waves and bounced around and held under for another 20 or 30 seconds each wave. Then I realized it wasn't going away and I needed to do something. I tried to swish the foam away and could make a cone shaped temporary opening in the foam but I got hit by another wave so while I was under the water once the wave had quit bouncing me around and I could come up to the surface I let out all the air in my lungs came up to the surface swished the foam away and breathed in only to suck in foam which made me want to cough. Now I had coughed in the water before and you automatically suck in water after the cough and this is how you can drown. So I mentally fought the urge to cough and got hit by another wave.



I was concentrating so hard on not coughing that I lost track of anything else. I have no idea how long it was but I was brought back to reality when I felt something rubbing on my back. I opened my eyes and realized I was laying on my back on the bottom of the ocean in about 15 feet of water. Because my lungs were empty I had no buoyancy and had sunk to the bottom and it was the reef rubbing my back. Everything looked brown and I was surprisingly calm. I thought to myself "So this is what it's like to drown. It's not so bad." I always thought drowning would be some horrible thing with your lungs burning as you breathed in water. But this was peaceful and quiet and calm and relaxed. I just lay there looking up at the surface almost like I was drifting off to sleep. Suddenly I realized there was a dark spot on the surface of the water which represented an absence of foam. I pulled myself together and swam for that spot. My consciousness was fading fast. The ocean disappeared and all I could see was a black tunnel full of water with the dark spot of water at the end. I used every bit of remaining energy that my faltering brain could force out of my faltering tired weak body. I wanted to just stop and go to sleep. But I made it to the dark spot and got a breath of air only to be hit by another wave. But as I bounced around under the water the darkness that had overcome me lifted and I knew I wasn't going to die that day. I smiled as I was bashed around. After the wave let up I took another breath. I remember thinking "should I try to take another breath" and was hit by another wave. I resisted the urge to laugh. I was so elated and felt like a million bucks. I was visited by my old friend death once again and he had decided to let me live. I have had a number of similar nearly dying experiences in the past.

[Big H]

Ahhhhh.....kids will be kids right? great story, glad you're still here to share it....good times!

[oldmansurfer]

Back when I was a kid dying was an acceptable outcome of surfing. I took risks and put myself in dangerous spots but obviously I chose right since I am still here no worse for wear. You know no one saw me wipeout. You couldn't see the waves from the shoreline. It was blocked out by the whitewater and inside waves. When I came in I worried that my board got swept out in the rip but fortunately it was about 50 yards from the beach when I caught up with it. I walked out of the water and a bunch of guys rushed up to me and said "Oh my gosh! We thought you drowned." I said "Did you see what happened?" They said "No. We saw your board come in without you." I smiled and said "Yeah, it was a close one" I walked away thinking " Hmmmm if my board went out in the rip and I drowned, no one would know for a while till I didn't show up for work or my room mate didn't see me for a while. I used to go stay with my girlfriend for months sometimes so my roommate might not miss me till I didn't pay the rent. LOL I was very fortunate but in really good shape and if not for that I would be dead.,

[Big H]

Back when I was a kid dying was an acceptable outcome of surfing.

OMS....you're a real piece of work!

[oldmansurfer]

Yeah I guess you look at the surf and think "I may die" but then you still go out. LOL I think all the big wave surfers realize they may die and still go out. If not then they are crazy

[oldmansurfer]

In my old age if I think I may die I am NOT going out.

[oldmansurfer]

Anyway over all I would say use the same fins it won't much matter as you won't be doing any tail/fin sliding turns and you don't need any extra drive form the fins. At high speed you don't need much fins. Lots of the big wave guys use quads that would work well on a shortboard. You want the board to hold a steep wall and go fast. Make sure you check out the conditions and currents before going out and go with multiple other people so if you get into trouble someone will likely see you. I think lots of surfers keep pushing the edge going bigger and bigger. I only wish you would approach it safely.