I have always been a big on having good fins, and I pretty much always change my fins to suit conditions etc.. And SUP is no different. Changing the fins on your SUP can make your board ride totally different. Sam from Wind Surf 'n' Snow has tried many different fin set ups, and found he can loosen up boards considerably by just changing the thrusters. So I went one step further, and changed the back fin and thrusters on my 10'6" Naish to the below set up using the FCS us box adapter for FCS fins.
Fin set up is, Thrusters = TC Redline, Tail fin = 3D Red Tip.
What I found with this set up was,
Positives.
- The board is more responsive and lively off the rail.
- Board speed was increased.
- Rail to rail transfer was faster.
- Nose riding was just as easy surprisingly, and obviously easier to go into spins and heli's.
- Tail slides are much easier, but drive off the rail is possibly even better (i.e. the boards turns become much reliant on the rail. Driving from your rail the board powers through the turn, flattening the rail a bit the tails slides more.)
Negitives.
- Board is less settled in the white water.
- tail was a little slidey at very low speeds.
- paddling you do turn more than with the big fin.
Conclusion,
I won't be riding my 10'6" with the old fin set up any more. And I am going to try some other thruster combinations.
Interested to know what combo's others are trying.
Great feedabck JB ,
Im sooo stoked with my Naish 10'6" , im going to try this fin set up .
Currently im running Kelly Slater FCS carbon G3's in the sides and a 7.25 back dolphin fin that is flexi. This has been the best combo that worked for me .
When the waves are up i move 7.25 fin further back in fin box , and smaller waves move fwd .
We had a session last week without any fins at all !! , that really makes you think and use the rail down the face of the wave till it spun out into heli's / CRASH.
Great balance practice , but difficult to paddle in surf .......we had a heap's of FUN .
Rich
Nice JB...Thanks for the info and pics.
The other day I went the other way with my 10'6"...I went for smaller side fins to keep that single fin feeling.
Cos I like to cruise...
...and I like to turn more off the rail and not so much off the fins..and I don't like that tail sliding feeling.
BTW...I've got one of those winged-keel type fins in 'hot pink' color....from the old Multi-fin days...I'm showing my age aren't I..
DJ
