Surfing Waves

How is any thruster setup fins any different then the other? i mean we speak about same sizes. on the nps they seem to be ok. but is a fcs fin better. or is it just brand? i read in some forums this n this is better. but they are the same size . how is something that looks the same better?
please inform me on this.

What's the difference between a 7-ply Canadian Maple deck and a China pressed particle-board Skateboard deck ? They're both the same size.
But in fins there are very minut differences put the FCS M-5 ( the standard size ) up against the smaller M-3 or the bigger M-7, not a huge difference.
There's a difference in plastic too. FRP fiber re-enforced plastic is built stiffer than "plain" plastic. Carbon has many variation. Some make it stiffer some make it flexy.
I happen to like the regular Glass-Flex FCS versus all the other honey-comb / carbon wiz bang stuff.

DreamSurf wrote:How is any thruster setup fins any different then the other?

Good question, there is so much hype on fins, but what is true and what is just marketing bs?

Fins can differ in many ways, just look up some websites (FCS, Futures, etc..) to read about all these differences. It's confusing to say the least.

So what fin to choose? It depends.. First you must be able to catch waves and surf them.. After that it's all about experience and sensibility to notice the difference. More surfing experience makes you more sensible of the differences in setups.

An experienced surfer explained it to me like this:
"In general I would say that you'll start to feel the difference between different fin setups once you're linking multiple turns together on a wave. Bigger changes such as quads vs. thrusters will be more noticeable than smaller differences such as more or less rake.

At the far end of the spectrum, elite surfers who are pushing their boards to the limit, will be able to feel the difference between very similar fins, but the results are very subjective, and what 1 person likes another may not.

I would normally suggest that people start and experiment with a big and small set of fins, as that will be the most pronounced difference in 1 hit. But for the most part I would say most folks will be fine as long as the board has something a little better than the super flexible, plastic fins that are cheap on eBay."

I kind of agree with tudeo, mostly irrelevant until you can start linking turns together unless your fins are grossly the wrong size or really flexy.

I started playing around relatively early on and really felt the different between plastic and fibreglass fins in terms of flex and also the difference between fins made for small and long arc turns.

Some of my favourites were just the plastic fcs k3 fins which gave heaps of
Hold, speed and long turns which helped when I was learning to keep speed through the turn etc.
just before my accident I was getting to the stage where I would use certain sets of fins for different wave sizes and heights and straight away I would notice the difference each time I swapped them.

benjl wrote:Some of my favourites were just the plastic fcs k3 fins

If you happen to have original K2.1 (White circle on blue sides and Blue center), I'll buy them from you. The later Glass Flex K2.1s didn't have the same feel anymore.

There are different ways to look at surfing. One is to look for a board that will do everything you want. It's not likely you will ever find that board but still you can find boards that do better for you than others in certain conditions. If you are a very good surfer then this will be something you have to figure out, try this try that and see what you can do with it. Or you can surf the board you have till you can use it fairly well and try to figure out how to do what you want to do with that board. I think beginners always want to blame their board or fins or other equipment (or the waves) for their inability to surf. Maybe your equipment hinders your learning but it doesn't stop you from learning only YOU can do that. At some point if you stick to it you will need to experiment with fins but not yet. On the other hand they are cheap however then instead of learning how to use a board with a fixed set of fins, you will have to learn how to use a board with various fin configurations which will take longer. I know I am a minority here but that is my opinion. I think if you are going to be putting in hours of surfing a week then maybe this becomes more reasonable but still switching out your fins while you are learning is going to slow down the process. For what it's worth it's just my opinion.

Sorry mate, I only ever had the k3 fins but I know the exact ones you mean!
I was gonna buy them once but they sold before I got the chance.

I've actually never tried the k2.1's. How do they go compared with say the am1 equivalents or other models with a smaller trailer fin?

I always thought the dimensions of the k2.1's seemed quite small and a lot smaller than the am1 equivalents on the side fins so wasn't sure if they would provide enough drive etc

oldmansurfer wrote: At some point if you stick to it you will need to experiment with fins but not yet. On the other hand they are cheap however then instead of learning how to use a board with a fixed set of fins, you will have to learn how to use a board with various fin configurations which will take longer. I know I am a minority here but that is my opinion. I think if you are going to be putting in hours of surfing a week then maybe this becomes more reasonable but still switching out your fins while you are learning is going to slow down the process. For what it's worth it's just my opinion.

I agree to some extent- if you have the wrong fins - too big - then you will notice because you won't be able to turn. But so long as you don't have that problem you probably only notice a 10% difference by swapping and there is a LOT more improvement in the 90% that isn't fins.

(I know that if you have fins that are too small then there is a risk of sliding out but most learners don't push their board that hard. And yes the drive from the fins is a factor but, again, usually not a 90% issue)

Whatever size of fin within reason, I bet I can learn to turn it. The way people make it sound, no one can but then if you blame the fins then you will never know. Now it may be one fin might work better but then a beginner won't be able to tell.

oldmansurfer wrote:Maybe your equipment hinders your learning but it doesn't stop you from learning only YOU can do that.

That's true I guess. But a change of equipment can make things so much more easy, or.. less difficult..

When I tried to bring my surfing to the next level I chose steeper and bigger waves to surf. I found out the hard way what happens when a board's rocker doesn't fit the curve of the wave.. Sure I could have sticked with the high volumed low rocker (Addvance 6'6") but instead I started experimenting with different boardshapes. I lost some great waves because I couldn't control the Addvance's high (48l) volume, by falling off after perfect takeoffs on powerful waves. Nobody was happy with that...

I found out a shorter board with less volume and more rocker makes all the difference for me. Now I use a Firewire Hashtag 6'2" and make takeoffs on waves I couldn't make before, it just gives so much more confidence in steep drops.

It made a big difference in my situation, not saying this is the general rule off course..

For fins I like to go as small as possible to make the board loose and lively, I never had a problem with sliding out. But I want to try the # with big fins, just out of curiousity, maybe I'll notice (and like) the drive that should bring. Also this board is very loose and lively by itself, so maybe the bigger fins will not take that away but deliver extra drive. I wouldn't mind that, I think..

I think learning how to surf what you have is more important than searching for something to make it all easier. You will waste a lot of time looking for easier. For me time is limited so I don't want to waste it. I think for many of you there is more free time so you can waste more of it. I guess that is what it all boils down to.

oldmansurfer wrote:Whatever size of fin within reason, I bet I can learn to turn it. The way people make it sound, no one can but then if you blame the fins then you will never know. Now it may be one fin might work better but then a beginner won't be able to tell.

Well, sure you can turn it if you have too big fins; but its like having a bike where the handlebars are really really stiff. Doesnt stop you being able to turn the bike but it throws everything out of whack as you make the extra effort and throw your weight around to get the turn and things happen more slowly.

Only talking about thrusters (and I guess quads) here - single fin it probably doesnt matter too much

Trust me - I've put new fins in and gone down the face of a wave and realised I couldnt even do a bottom turn, just headed to the beach. Sure I could learn to turn it by changing my technique, perhaps really weighting the tail and forcing the nose around, but its not worth it.

But I dont disagree with your basic premise - its a bell curve issue. Within the middle 90% of the curve, a beginner should just suck it up; but if for some reason they are at the end 5%, then there is justification to move. Plus, if you think you have tweaked your set up and it makes you feel better, then you will have more confidence and you will surf better, and nothing wrong with that. I bet most surfers end up with at least 3 times as many sets of fins as they have boards.

Every board and every set of fins has pluses and minuses. There is no ideal board or set of fins. You can either learn to master it or give up and look for something easier. For a beginner they have no preconceived notions of how a board should work so they can adjust to whatever they are learning on or blame it and quit trying and look for something easier

Learning what setup (board and or fins) works best in any given situation of surfing conditions is part of the fun for me. I only wish I could surf more frequent so it's easier to feel and understand the differences.

Especially in crowded lineups it's great to have an edge, by choosing the right board, over the competition. But if you choose wrong you'll suffer the consequences, it works two ways..

Yeah I think you hit the nail on the head there. You need to spend time in the water to learn which fins do what. To me the board I am most comfortable with is the one that will give me the best results in most conditions because I know what it will do and how to deal with whatever conditions with that particular board. There is no obvious downside to that as far as I can tell.

My fin setup at the contest last Sunday on my longboard. Worked good enough.