Hey Colas,
I think it depends what board they're in. I have them in a Gerry Lopez board and they're great in all conditions. However I recently tried them in my Naish 7'6 and didn't like them at all. The board felt like it was on rails, really stiff and hard to turn.
Agreed! On a board like the 9'10" they work perfect! Rider weight & strength plays a role too. Wouldn't work too well for a bloke built like Napoleon , but for guys over 6 foot & 100 plus kg who are able to push hard on the rails, I think they have a nice balance of drive, hold & release off the top.
Well, I tried the GL fins on my GL "little darling" board...
Anyways, I was perhaps a bit too hard on the GL fins. They do not have the "squirt", speed and acceleration I seek in fins, but I guess they can be good for people looking for tight turns, where too much speed can be detrimental.
But be careful, these are huge fins, actually similar to twin fins like the MR ones.
On the Naish Hokua as quads, Naish uses McKee setup, so too big rear fins can kill the board, try to decrease rear sizes.
Just looking for reasonably priced fins that aren't going to snap off when you decide to turn your board
I kept fracturing my fin boxes on my 8'10" Hokua a couple of years ago and couldn't figure out why, as I wasn't hitting anything hard. Until my missus pointed out a bruise on my backside. Worked out that I was impacting the fins sideways on wipeouts (leaving no immediate cut but a subcutaneous bruise that showed up a few days later). Never realised that I was doing this until I consciously focused on my wipeouts after that.
Cant actually offer any such opinion as yet. Got the GL quads and went out in appalling slop that towball & friemds simply glared at from the carpark
Good on ya Gizzie. You know Gerry always used to say "when in doubt, paddle out." So when you've got a set of his fins in, you kinda have ta go out.
Some better waves at makorori sunday morning. Must confess the fins give the board a new frisky feel and on some suckier waves at centres they felt really good on the steeper faces.
Don't look in anyway oversized for the board & the purple colour looks very sexy against the naish yellow.
Even towball managed enough enthusiasm to hit the water lol
My quad a three fin now
Went to tolaga today. Riv ermouth a mess so paddled over to Cooks Cove.
Before attaching legrope however as I was solo checked it out.....nearly snapped through at end of reinforced extremity of ankle leash.
Could have been a bad look me swimming in the middle of nowhere with board dancing on rocks
Double overhead at cooks cove with tricky takeoffs (had to be almost in the impact zone)
Caught two waves then feeling lonely retreated to rivermouth.
Caught a few there....then did the heavy roll around in shallow water hoping for no fin cuts.....one fin gone.
Will try using the two rear GL fins with really cheap plastic front fins
I guess fins can be replaced...put my board on the roof today after a little beach sesh and noticed water dripping from the tail about 30 mins later when I walked past the ute. Turns out I've somehow pushed a side fin box in! Not happy about that - out comes the glassing kit.