So like a lot of you (I’m guessing), I went through a rut of just not being inspired by sups lately. The buzz of a dawn surf, the lack of new posts on this forum, second hand market drying up, it just lost its shine. I’m sure that many feel the same judging by the few responses and posts on the sup pages in the last year.

That was.. until… I put some hipster twin fins in my smik spitfire!
It’s given me a whole new lease on life with supping and ‘fin exploration’.
I’ve played a round with fins a lot over the years but the last two weeks have really opened my eyes again- and would strongly suggest doing the same. The same board, but with subtle changes to fins can have crazy differences.

Firstly- swapping the hipster twin fins on my spitfire was absolutely nuts. A level of looseness and pivot I have never experienced on a sup. I’ve never surfed tighter turns (once dialed in). Running a 3.5” trailer fin was the key in this combo.
Shift that little fin back in the box and it stiffened it up nicely- shift it forward about 5-6cm and it’s crazy looser. Never thought the spitfire would be a small-wave ripper, but with the hipster twins and trailer moved right forward, it rips!!

Compared to Keels (which was my first trial), it is night and day. The keels hold down the line, but don’t pivot the same at all. Same middle trailer fin.

So I went to Bali and rented an 8’0 x 28 98l twin fin sup. Heavy double concave, still a bit of volume in the tail.
Day 1 at KFC / Keramas in 1.5-2xOH. It came with stiff twin fins, no centre fin.
I added my 3.5” trailer back in the box. The board stuck some solid waves but was very stiff and hard to drive or turn. Nothing like my 8’2 smik.
Day 1.5. I drove up the coast to Kolok. Moved the centre fin up a lot as the waves were 2-3ft. It definitely helped, but still top turns a little sluggish, but started to get drive and release.

Day 2: I switched out the twin fins with the fins from the hipster. In comparison they were lighter, more flexible and more upright than the twins that came with the board. Hexcore, rather than hand foiled glass.
I surfed kolok again- the board was more lively for sure and a good blend.
Day 2.5- I went back to keramas where the waves were really wedging up on the reef and creating punchy as OH waves. A few talented locals getting the odd barrel. I moved the centre fin right back.
I paddled into the first one and the board just shot down the line, I could pump and make it around the barrel section, and continue down into the river mouth channel.
At that size, this fin combo felt on the limit for control and good for down the line, but on the edge for a turn. The board is also not a step-up or shortboard shape too remember.

Day 3- I scooter to airport rights in Jimbaran. I take off my smik fins / centre fin and put in just the straight twins it came
With. No trailer fin. The waves were punchy slightly overhead.
HOLY SMOKES, this was different again! It was soo loose, I found it hard to control on the first few waves.
Same fins that I found too stiff with the trailer fin right forward in the box, just crazy loose without it.
I had to really nurse it round for some cutbacks but then it was just soo much fun. Fast and loose. It felt like a totally different board again.

It was such a good experiment. Same board, different fins. Different (and same) waves. And totally different outcomes with small changes.

I’ve never been a fan of US fin boxes, but this trip really opened my eyes to the adjustments that can be made. A couple of times in the surf I even rolled the board over and moved the fin placement.

Great report!

And this is why on my last board I had a US Box instead of a FCSII box for the center fin, and I use a finjak to move the fin on the water between waves without tools.

For sure. I just couldn’t believe the difference in how the board felt with adding a small trailer to removing the trailer entirely.
one was too stiff, the other was too loose!


One of the days I was literally moving the trailer in the box in between waves 😆

sadly I didn’t get any photographs of my session at Keramas when the waves were bigger than any of my other pics, but a semi-pro boogie boarder from Aus was pretty impressed at me doing the waves on a sup and gave me a bunch of compliments when I got out which was nice!

Thanks Hoppo- those would’ve been awesome on that 8’0 twin I rented!
sadly we’re heading back home tomorrow so I’ve returned the board. One of those little knub fins in futures might go well with the ghost up as a twin fin, if I buy that though

I’m super interested in this post!
im debating buying a 8’1 ghost up when i get back to NZ after seeing Creek mention how fun the twins go. But also agree with no centre box variation I don’t really have a centre fin small enough yet.
what twins are you running?


I found some hand shaped fibreglass shapers twins (they’re heavy and quite stiff), with a relatively neutral base to height (maybe 135mm base, 140mm height), so should be a bit more suited to twins without a trailer than my hipster fins which are like 125mm base and 140 height, with more flex.

thegreatsup said..
im debating buying a 8’1 ghost up when i get back to NZ after seeing Creek mention how fun the twins go. But also agree with no centre box variation I don’t really have a centre fin small enough yet.

I would look into fins that are "moved" to the back to emulate the position of twin fin boxes that are a bit farther aft than fronts of thrusters or quads.



See these videos, right on the subject:

Ooo that’s a good idea creek, ill
check my other quad sets and see what the back fins are like. I haven’t had any boards with futures for a while so haven’t checked those fins in a while

Riding my Hipster twin with the small trailer fin made me think about the almost similar set up on the Spitfire witch is is not shaped to be a twin, this set up works great however, can't explain why, so do change your fins, just try. The magic is there somwhere.

Before someone busts me on using the word pivot to describe turning, I view turning in two categories; carving and pivoting. Carving is mostly about the rails and pivoting is mostly about the fins. With a longboard design, the long rails are fairly straight and do not facilitate carving short arcs, so for tight turns, the surfer usually steps back over the fin(s) to make tight pivot turns off the tail. Shortboard designs, which can include some SUPs up to 9' or more, have very curvy rail outlines that do facilitate carving short turns..
When carving, I think of driving forward to engage the whole rail at the start of bottom turns, but if I want to hook the end of the turn vertically back up to the lip, that end of the turn is much more pivotal and that is where I really feel the positive or negative affects of the fins. The same is true of cutbacks. If I want to fully carve a nice roundhouse, I think more of using the rails. If I want to make a real snappy cutback, that is more about the fins and how they are helping or hurting that tight pivot.
While there is often some blend of carving and pivoting in our turns, I think its useful to note the difference between the role of the fins and the role of the rails.

Hi thegreatsup.
In answer to your question about my current setup, it uses two reshaped 3.5" quad rears that are foiled on one side to create lift into the wave face, unlike centre fins that are foiled equally on both sides to aid in tracking. One of my main goals is to minimize the distance between the front pivot fins and any fins behind them, often referred to as shortening the fin cluster. Lengthening a fin cluster has the same effect on stiffening a board as putting in larger rear fins. You can feel this effect by moving a centre fin back and forth if you have a center US box like on your Spitfire. Moving the centre fin forward shortens the fin cluster and loosens the board, and moving the centre fin back increases the length of the fin cluster and aids in drive and tracking. My Futures centre fin-box, which doesn't allow any fin movement, is further back than my quad rear boxes so a centre fin would increase the length of the fin-cluster triangle and stiffen the board. Also, centre boxes always run straight forward which aids in tracking and resists turning. My quad rear boxes are just barely behind the front boxes, so close that the front of the rear box lines up with the back of the front box. This keeps the fin cluster very tight which aids turning and reduces tracking. Also, my quad rear boxes are toed in at the same angle as the front fins so they reinforce the turning power of toe-in and direct water flow between the fins.
In looking at the rear quad boxes on the Spitfire, they are completely different than the arrangement on Sunovas. The Spitfire rears are much further back which lengthens the fin cluster by a lot. There is a name for that quad setup but I can't think of it right now. In my view of the world, this long fin cluster would stiffen the board and create a lot of drive, compared to front and rear quads that are close together and work together to direct water flow.
I think your analysis was right. With the long fin cluster in the Spitfire quads, you would have to move your rear foot well behind the front fins for your foot to be over the center of the fin cluster. If your foot was back there, I think that quad setup would turn fine and have a ton of drive due to the long fin cluster. Of course, with the rears that far back, the size of the rears would have even more effect.
Hope that makes sense.