Tiny side bites - what are they called?

[HaoleKook]

I've seen some really tiny side bites and want to try them. What are they called? I saw some 'wake surf' fins that look right, but IDK if they're asymmetric like side bites.

I'm surfing a 9ft board with 8" center and 3.3" side bites. Sometimes, seemingly when I have more speed, the rail locks in and is hard to release without overdoing it and locking in the opposite side. I'm sure technique can make a difference, and I can just ditch the side bites, but I thought it would be fun to try the little ones.

These are the wake surf ones:

https://www.wakehouse.com/products/liquid-force-stub-wake-surf-fin-dual-tab-bottom-mount-pair.html

Thank you.

[Geezer]

I have the futures version. A little like training wheels; retains single fin feel but muted and more stable. Not good or bad, just different.


https://www.trueames.com/collections/all-fins?page=2

[oldmansurfer]

For me the biggest difference I noticed between a single fin and sidebites is with the sidebites it hangs higher on a wall. I never noticed anything with stability or turning. I am going to guess that you need to move your rear foot more back or maybe both feet more back on the board when it's going fast

[HaoleKook]

Thank you. It happens maybe one wave every other session, or every 2 sessions, so it's been hard to diagnose. I'll try to pay more attention to where my feet land when it happens.

I'm new to surfing, and am enjoying weekly improvements and getting familiar with the board so I don't want to completely lose the side bites yet.

So it's OK to use a single tab fin in an FCS2 box? I guess I don't see why not...

[waikikikichan]

So if you don’t have technique, then throw more money at a problem?
Why don’t you just ride it as a single ( for free ) and learn to push of it and how to feel/engage the rail. Your Walden Magic already has lots of concaves and chined rails.
Before you didn’t want to spend too much money on a board and we’re searching for used ones. Now you want to plunk down $65 on basically useless think they might be cool to try mini fins that will fall out when another kook at Waikiki shoots their board under yours.

[Geezer]

Yeah, thise little fins are basically useless. They only made a difference I could feel in a pintailed 8’ fungun when ridden in good overhead waves. Stopped using them because I decided if I wanted to ride single i rode single and if I wanted grip and stability (and different lines) Id go 2+1 with big bites and a cutaway or thruster. I gree in your case to not mess with them right now; you wouldnt feel them until you were on bigger waves doing turns anyway. If you have to tinker, move the fin around in your finbox forward and back and experiment with how that feels.

[Geezer]

BTW, Im not sure what you’re describing with the locked in feeling but magic happens when you move back and surf of the tail. Fins can provide a different feel and experience but are not a solution to surfing better.

FWIW thats alot of fin area in the water. For a 9’ board 9” single fin is he usual starting point, 1” per foot. For different feels you could try the board without the sidebites and just the 8” fin…could loosen things up a little. Later you can get a bigger fin to try.
Again, playing around with fins is no substitute for technique and practice.

[HaoleKook]

Thanks, I won't bother with the little fins. I surf 4+ days and take a lesson every week, I absolutely love my board and am thrilled with my progress ever week. I know the board has a lot of fin area and just wondered if this might be related and worth trying.

It basically feels like I'm on skis or a snowboard and can go back and forth between the edges and carve turns, but can't stop on the flat part to ride straight. It always feels and sounds like I'm ripping when it happens, maybe it's just a bad takeoff angle or something. It really doesn't happen often.

[Geezer]

Gotta sort out your terminology. “Ripping” is usually a good thing in surfing.

[oldmansurfer]

Unlike skiing you don’t stand in the exact same spot when you are surfing. In fact all of the better surfers move forward and back on the board depending on what they want to do. It’s part of surfing

[jaffa1949]

A thought gets us stuck, forget failure, move your foot position i you think you want to turn do it and do it hard, note your failures don’t do that again , note your successes do them again, try joining turns (small ones ( use them to build speed.
Beginning kooks do not look cool trying to look cool your whole performance and place in the food chain is noted with your first foot in the water.

Simple pick a time and place to experiment and get your. basics up, turns, cutback forehand back hand linking things you do! Do them where you won’t cause problems in the line up!
You are a beginner be kind in your self appraisal, and keep your boards basic any improvement will be you, not another fin !

[ConcreteVitamin]

I like those 2.6" TA side runners on my hulls less than 7ft, used with a 9" center flex fin. Those work well for hulls, and help with backside.

[Naeco78]

I use a fin like that as stabilizer fin for my quads when the waves get bigger. Like others have said its not always that noticeable but more of a fine tuning. The vid in the link below says that some people use them as smaller quad trailers.. sounds like a similar concept to using them as side bites.

https://smile.amazon.com/Ho-Stevie-Nubs ... =8-1-fkmr2

[Naeco78]

Forgot your original question was about what theyre called.. usually Nubster fins or 5th Finner or sometimes aka Guitar Pick.

[HaoleKook]

I just ordered them. I tried my board again with a 6’ center and side bites; I like the "roll stability" of the 8" center yet wouldn’t mind a little less grip, and I like the feel of thruster over single fin so I think it makes sense to try.

I think the weird edge holding thing was nothing to do with fins, more likely just me learning the board. It hasn’t happened in awhile.