G'day All, just wondering if anyone has some good fins to recommend? I have a starboard 8'5" pro (2012) and just find the factory fins not quite right. I'd like to power it up a bit as when it gets over 4ft the tail starts to get a bit skittish. The same fins are fine on the 2012 9'1" pro.
Has anyone tried those FCS 3D fins?
Cheers
tang

I tried many (all my surf fins) and the fcs h3 nexus are my favorites, up to head high I use quads, nexus fronts and fcs stretch backs (double foiled) with the little nubster, I thought this thing was a joke but actually it feels a lot better with it (IMO). And any bigger I go thruster h3 nexus. My board is a quatro 8'6" and so far very happy with the setup

shapers S7. i use them in my shortboards and sups... both in quad and thruster.

A couple of things.......
1) does anyone in Torquay/jan juc have a set of c-drives that I could test out (for a longneck, of course), as there's nowhere to demo them;
2) has anyone tried those FCS 3D fins with the offset keel-thing on them?

Cheers
Tang

I've used the cdrives and found they worked really well in the board I put them in at the time, but didn't seem to do it in a couple of boards I've had since, so I reckon it had a bit to do with the board how well they perform.
i also have a set of the fcs 3ds, work well as rear fins in a quad, good drive off the bottom, but didn't like them as side bites.

I have just got some Jackson Close fins from Shapers and rate them the best SUP fins i have used. I used to have Lopez quads in my last board and thought they were good. These JC fins are unreal. They give the board heaps of drive and speed but you can still bust the tail out.

Note: used on a Carbrina 99.5L 8'8" x 28' wide with a pulled in pin tail

Tang said..

G'day All, just wondering if anyone has some good fins to recommend? I have a starboard 8'5" pro (2012) and just find the factory fins not quite right. I'd like to power it up a bit as when it gets over 4ft the tail starts to get a bit skittish. The same fins are fine on the 2012 9'1" pro.
Has anyone tried those FCS 3D fins?
Cheers
tang

On the 7'11" starboard I had a really good session in 2 feet waves punchy beach break waves with PC7 as side fins and a 8"cutaway single fin; This fins combo works very fine, loose and drive.
On bigger waves, over 4 ft, put a strong fiberglass wide base 8" single fin and pc5 as side bite to give stiffnes to this 8'5" round pin faithfullboard http://www.star-board-sup.com/2012/product/?q=pro-8-5-29

Thanks colas, I don't think there is such a thing as too much grip.....anyway, these fins certainly didn't make me go in straight lines, they gave me turbo-charged bottom turns leading to smooth and fast top turns and delightful big roundhouses. It was as though the 4.6" rail beneath me was transformed back to 2.5", just like the good old days. In 5 days I surfed 5ft solid Torquay point, 3-4ft winki and 3-4ft rincon - all very different waves and the fins went beautifully in them all. No turning back now.
Cheers

ghost4man said..
Just want to pick your brain on something. What do you think of dimple technology when it comes to fins.

I don't know, I haven't tested them yet.

However, since I already sanded my fins at a 400-grit to make them rough, and induce the kind of effect the dimples are supposed to do and definitely felt the (slight) added speed and drive on fast boards (windsurfing), I am ready to believe they work, at least for high speed (I didn't feel a lot of difference at my SUP speeds)

So, I will buy a set to test as soon as I can in France, and test them on my "big waves" (for me) board.

PS: if you don't know what we are talking about, it is the new "moonraker" fins by 3D Fins: http://www.3dfins.com/why-dimples/

ghost4man said..Yeah I knew what you were talking about

Oops, the "you" was for other readers that may not have been aware of the new dimple fins.

Anyways, based on my experiments with sanding fins & hulls, I would say that I expect only a marginal improvement from dimpled fins. However, a dimpled hull (not the angulo 10 cm wide dimples, but the same size as the golf ball dimples) would be really interesting to try. Sanding your fins gives you a marginal improvement, not worth ruining the looks of beautiful fins in my opinion, but you will feel the improvement in sanding your hull & rails to a point where water hosed on it makes sheet of water, not beads. Sanding opaque fins like the C-Drives is a no-brainer however.

After sanding the hull, the board will seem to "squirt forward" more easily in turns for instance. However, I only did it on opaque boards that are not already rough enough "as is". I do not think it is worth ruining a nice glossy finish, especially over decorated blanks, or apparent carbon fiber or wood.

Sanding the paddle blades should make sense too (to waste less energy thrusting the blade in and out water), and is easier to make than dimpling a blade as quickblade did. I tried it, but I must admit I didn't feel a lot of difference, but I do not race so I haven't really measured the gain.