Monday, February 18, 2008

Fins

I am playing with fins for fun and my own education. This is the Scimitar fin. It reminds me of a windsurfing race sail with beautifully twisted tip and open leach. It was interesting surfing with this fin. I fell on my face a few times making bottom turns. It is designed for rail to rail surfing. I'd say it felt that way to me!

Next is my conversion to a thruster setup. I bought a FCS adapter for my box. I have not surfed this setup yet. I heard second hand, some of Blane's customers ride their PSH boards with the thruster setup. I'm curious to try it.

This is Blane's 7" fin. I was told Blane uses this one set at the front of the box. Austin uses it slighty back. I have used this fin a lot. Works great.

11 comments:

srfnff said...

Before I got into stand up surfing my last board purchased was a 6' Freeline quad. I had the Scimitar 451's installed in the back with a smaller set in front. The board worked unreal! It just squirted off the bottom and was loose, loose, loose. It'll be interesting to hear how they work on your SUP.

I've got the Angulo 10'4" that I've surfed as a thruster sort of (2+1 with a very small but not a thruster small center fin), a 2+1 and as a single fin. It works better overall I think as a single fin because it is more of a long, flat longboard, than a performance longboard.

I tried a number of three fin configurations and ended up liking best a 9" flexible Priesendorfer center fin with the two smallest FCS GL side fins I could buy. It had more snap off the bottom and moved around relatively well.

But as a single fin you can nose ride it and it still turns pretty well with the Greenough 9" Cutaway which is a pretty strange looking, but very functional fin.

Looking forward to hearing your updates when you rib heals enough to let you back in.

srfnff said...

Whoops...made a mistake...the quad had the bigger fins (451's) in the front, with the smaller fins in the back.

NC Paddle Surfer said...

Interesting.

I own 2 shortboards with Quads. Both Stretches. Insane loose compared to my tri fin surfboard. I sold off 2 of my tri fins. I'm a quad fan for shortboards.

I'll try the Scimitar in the quad someday.

NC Paddle Surfer said...

The PSH boards are more shortboardish, than longboardish in surfing style. That's why I want to see if they will work with a shortboard fin setup.

Maybe this Spring someone out your way will have PSH demos and you can try the 9'6 or 9'3. I think distribution is setup now for the west coast and a container is on the way there.

srfnff said...

That would be sweet! I've emailed Austin and he just said the 9'3"s are coming in March but who knows if they'll make it up here to NorCal. Don't know if they got a distributor up here or not. Your vids of you on the 9'3" were total stokers and I'm thinking that size would work perfect for me. I'd like to try one first though before shelling out that kind of dough.

NC Paddle Surfer said...

I heard through our local shop, PSH wanted to get out of retail and only sell through dealers. So the best way to get a PSH is to convince your favorite shop to bring the boards in. Then demo with the shop.

srfnff said...

So getting a custom from Blane is a pretty remote possibility then?

NC Paddle Surfer said...

A true custom, is something they discourage and may or may not take orders for anymore. PSH orders hand glassed boards in a variety of sizes and shapes from China, and the California glassing factory. In addition, they order sandwich epoxy pop outs, available in limited sizes, but much larger quantities.

At Surf Expo they expressed a desire to concentrate on design, and allow dealers to sell their boards.

Anonymous said...

I too have recently been getting hooked on fins. On my 9'4" PSH for the center fin I've tried a cutaway, traditional flex fin, and more recently a small more stiff center fin with what I would consider normal rake. The short stiff fin feels most natural this far. I'm not sure if you've ever seen photos of PSH rider Stewart, there's a photo of him on the PSH homepage, but he rides a 9'2" I believe it is and last time I checked it was a thruster setup. He was ripping even on the big days. That got me thinking about moving to smaller fins as well.

The board designs are so vast now, everyone's on the search for the magic fins for their board. If you even look at the pros, they all have different fin setups. I'm sure you're having a blast trying everything out. Let us know how the thruster feels. Much Aloha.

srfnff said...

Many thanks for the info re PSH. Essentially, they don't do old school customs or retail except out of the shop in Wahiawa I guess.

Anonymous said...

I've been using a wavegrinder fin on my psh 10'6" and like it a lot. I'm not sure if I'm good enough to tell all the minute differences btw fins however the wavegrinder lets me turn easier and holds the line good when needed.

I've also been riding a 9'11" Blair SUP with a quad fin setup. I can make much tighter turns on that board than other 10'ers I've tried. The fins are pretty small on it...I think 4.5" in the front and 4" or 3.5" on the back.