Surfing Waves

My center fin kept sliding around the fin box and tightening the bolt wasn't working. (I ended up stripping the bolts even with careful tightening.) Totally frustrating. Fortunately I had to buy some grub screws and the clerk at the surf shop showed me this "no tool" bolt.

https://www.amazon.com/SBS-Stainless-St ... Q1778X5F1Z

Forget the "no tool, tighten by hand" part, I used some pliers to tighten the bolt down and the problem was solved. If you're struggling with a sliding fin because of a cheap bolt, then I highly recommend it.

Back when I was longboarding my center fin bolt went missing. I didn't even notice it was gone until I saw the fin was rocked back one day after a surf. I had just made a "breakthrough" in performance and was jamming all kinds of turns popping the fins out tail sliding turns and carving all kinds of turns. I suddenly thought "Oh no. Here I thought I was improving and it was because the fin was loose." So I left it like that for a while more. Then I started noticing a loud banging noise coming from the bottom of my board when I turned sometimes so I bought a new bolt and secured it only to find it didn't really stop me from doing all the turns I was doing.

Don’t need to bring pliers if you have a FCS key in your car. The little opening to attach to a key ring, fits perfectly over the bolt.

waikikikichan wrote:Don’t need to bring pliers if you have a FCS key in your car. The little opening to attach to a key ring, fits perfectly over the bolt.

The center fin I bought just came with a bolt that required a flathead screwdriver. My wing fins have grub screws I use my FCS key to tighten. I keep my FCS key with the car key I take out with me in my wetsuit key pocket.

oldmansurfer wrote:Back when I was longboarding my center fin bolt went missing. I didn't even notice it was gone until I saw the fin was rocked back one day after a surf. I had just made a "breakthrough" in performance and was jamming all kinds of turns popping the fins out tail sliding turns and carving all kinds of turns. I suddenly thought "Oh no. Here I thought I was improving and it was because the fin was loose." So I left it like that for a while more. Then I started noticing a loud banging noise coming from the bottom of my board when I turned sometimes so I bought a new bolt and secured it only to find it didn't really stop me from doing all the turns I was doing.

Sounds like you had some serendipity there. I'm hoping to get some of that myself. My surfing has been in a rut. I had a friend who used to say to me, "You need a Katastrophe (he was Dutch)," and that's about where I'm at these days.