Surfing Maneuvers: Throwing the Fins vs Tail Slides

[Mountainasher]

Hi all, a quick question about some maneuvers. I think I more or less understand what a tail slide is, however, more recently I've heard terms thrown around like: Tail blow, Throwing the fins, and Throwing the tail. Can someone explain to me how these differ from tail slides, and if they are all the same trick? Thanks so much.

[oldmansurfer]

What I think a tail slide is when you push the fins past holding on a turn so the tail slides from the pressure. I rarely do this now I have switched to the biggest fins I can get. Throwing the fins? I do some turns at the top of steep waves where the fins are out of the water over the top of the lip so the board is pointing down the wave but the fins are in the air at the top of the wave which is probably what throwing the fins is. This I can do with big fins. The other ones not too sure.

[waikikikichan]

When I hear "Blow Tail" , the way John John snaps and blows the back end of the board thru the wave comes to mind.

When I hear "Throw the fins out", it's more when the surfer is near the end of his cutback on the face and pushes it just a bit more to get the fins disengage.

[oldmansurfer]

Yeah come to think of it what I do with the fins out of the water I just call it an off the lip turn.

[Naeco78]

I think it's kinda interesting that its a trick now.. back in the 90's we just called it a mistake But they do make the mistakes look a lot cooler nowadays

[oldmansurfer]

I’m not sure what you’re referring to but I guess it seems many maneuvers are just a mistake that’s repeatable. Once you’re doing it intentionally it’s no longer a mistake

[Naeco78]

Maybe it was more of a local thing where i was.. but from what I remember the big thing in the 90s was to throw spray and do big gouging turns. Having the fins release was kinda like a failed attempt.. but that was back in the Occy and Laird era.. when the surfing style seemed a lot different. But hey I like the new style too.. just kinda interesting how the technique is almost opposite.

[waikikikichan]

what I remember the big thing in the 90s was to throw spray and do big gouging turns.

Three letters........... J B G .

Can't seem to find a good video of him going backside OTL.

[oldmansurfer]

I guess this is a tailslide

[Naeco78]

what I remember the big thing in the 90s was to throw spray and do big gouging turns.

Three letters........... J B G

Yeah that dude could pull off a backside snap at Pipeline like nobody else

[oldmansurfer]

I guess this is a tailslide

I used to do something like this but the board only turned 90 degrees so it was sliding sideways. I don’t anymore perhaps because I use bigger fins on my quads now but come to think of it maybe because my feet were more forward on the board then. I have changed my popup to place my back foot over the fins which makes it less likely to lose traction

[IB_Surfer]

Tail slide: sliding on the lip sideways (like the picture above). Throwing the fins: Making an exaggerated snap that makes the board spin past 180lbs then throwing them fins back in place instead of falling.

[oldmansurfer]

When I was a young guy I saw a picture of Barry Kanaiaupuni in a surf mag doing a fin free top turn (single fin days). I really liked Barry and his style of surfing so I wanted to do that turn. I did mental imaging imagining myself doing that maneuver over and over and kept my eyes open for the opportunity to do it. Finally it came and I pulled it off but I guess unlike Barry or anyone else doing it I held the fin out above the top of the wave for a while and found that the wave pushed to board along the wave sideways with the fin out till either I leaned forward and made it go down or the wave became less steep and the fin contacted the water forcing the board forward.. The end result is like a skateboarding rail slide on the lip. I could travel maybe 10 yards sideways on the right wave (usually 6 to10 feet). Because it was a photo and not a movie clip I had no idea it was different until much later when I saw movies of people doing that maneuver and no one else was sliding along the lip. Interesting to me was that I had a high success rate with this maneuver from the very first time I did it. I think that was due to the mental imaging I did.