Have any of you seriously tried an in-line set-up?
It positions the larger front fin forward for manouvrability, while the smaller rear fin provides stability for the extra tail area.
By finding the right balance of fin design, size and positioning, this set-up can be adapted to various board designs, surfer weight, style and ability, and of course wave conditions.
I’ve been playing with them for over ten years and was wondering if anyone else has given them any serious thought, or test.
There was an article in Surfer (I think) a few years ago about this, including pictures. Sorry, my memory doesn’t contain any further details.
yes i have given it thought but never made one ,it seems logical it would work …i also reckon an agressive surfer should be able to generate speed on that setup …the picture i get is a more vertical leading fin with a rakier trailer the size of a normal thruster…
maybe the only down side is hard rail turns no fin in the water to hold you in …so i suppose it points to suiting narrower tails in juice for ideal working range for such a setup …
regards
BERT
They are OK.
Draws the snap turns out, and doesn’t give the thrust/pivot of a 3 fin, quad, or twin.
Seems as fast as single, but really isn’t. But trim speed is faster than above.
They’re OK, been used in windsurfing since '85 about 2%.
i ride this configuration for several years in a 6 3 (with a thruster shape) now i ride a 6, but without this type fins, i think it s a smaller board for this config. you know for real experimentation you should prove at least 40 boards (differents types of shapes-size volume outline rocker rails bottoms–, surfers- biotype experience skills–, waves- hollow others powerfulls lessers)
this is the better alternative to ride hollow medium or small waves (i don t try it yet in big surf)
the only problem that i see is for a larger drop and bigger round bottom turns…
The fins I used were also designed, in part, around this concept, so my opinion is only based on my, and my friends, feedback. Started out as a single, moving fin forward until the rear one was needed. Actually I took it much further forward, just to see what happened, but soon realised what was too far.
I agree in part that the single felt faster, or more slippery, but once the extra fin was there it went even faster, and allowed me to drive faster. I sacrificed a lot of good waves just seeing how hard I could push off top and bottom turns, many times surprising myself with the projection.
General fin trailing edge positions were about 300mm to 350mm forward, and 75mm to 125mm rear. The forward fin which felt the best for me was smaller than an average single, the rear one ending up about half the surface area of an average thruster fin. So it wasn’t stiffened up by too much fin area. This also freed up the rail a lot more and allowed harder turns.
It doesn’t have the rail fin to turn on, which is why many people would not like this set-up. But after adjusting the vee, bottom shape and outline, it does everything I want it to, and the bottom line is, that’s all I was trying to do.
I must say I have never ridden anything that performs better in the tube.
I’m now curious - gotta picture?
I’m actually travelling at the moment and all my surf stuff is back home. I’ll be there in a couple of months. I’ve also got a few other things that might be of interest to you Blakestah, and the other fin fundis’, some tech stuff and some reasonable video.