fin placement - grom board

General Discussion
1

OK I checked the archive and after a lot of filtering of different opinions I think I have come up with sound numbers. The standard I’m baselining from are: Al Meric sees to be running center fin 3.5" from tail, side fins 10.5" from tail and set 1.25" in from rail; Greg Lohre runs 3.5" and 11". On a 4.5" base it seems standard to toe in between 1/8" and 1/4" with cant of 5-7deg.

So with that as a baseline, would you make any changes for a grom board?

The board is a rockered out true kids min-mal at just shy of 5’10" x 15.5" (n) x 18.5" (c) x 14.25" (t). It is a 2" thick. The board is a softrailer with belly. Going thruster option for shallower fin depth (kids surfing right up to the sand). It is for my 3.5 and 6 yr old. The 6yr old (turning in April) is about 50 lbs.

profile shot:

rocker rocker:

I’m using safeco safety fins in the grom size: 4" x 3.75" base. Using red-x on this one so there will be some room for adjustments.

The layout I have planned is: 3.75, 10.75, 1.25 and natural cant of the red-x fin. With the adjustment I’ll be able to get 3.5-4" on the center and 10.5-11" on the sides.

Does this sound like a good plan for this board and these riders?

thanks

2

Hi,

I have a son who is now 15. He practicaly grew up on a surfboard as he started catching waves at the age of 2,5. At first, I used an old 6’4’’ thruster. It was very light because it belonged to a guy who I sponsored at that time. With my help, my son used to easily rode straight lefts and rights from the peak to the shore. But at this age they are featherweight, so they have difficult in making turns. So, I started a serie of mini shortboards to him from 4’6’‘, passing through 4’7’‘, 4’11’‘, 5’0’‘, 5’2’‘, 5’4’‘, 5’6’‘, and now a 5’7’'. In addition, I had my customers, some of them ordering boards with me since they were very child. From my trial and error experiments, I’ve learned some lessons. Here goes a small list:

1 - Don’t be afraid of making thin boards because they are very light;

2 - Avoid wider boards because it difficults turning;

3 - pay attention to their feet’s size and try to make something proportional to them;

4 - Glass on fins are great at this age. You can make special sizes with soft edges which will work better than any commercial one available around.

5 - Try to make the board as close to their size as possible. They feel more comfortable handling a small board than a bigger one.

6 - Fin setup is a matter of observation. You have to check the place where the kids are resting their back foot and try to triangle the fins’ positioning (for example, the 4’6’’ setup was 2.5’’ bf / 10’’ ff / 1’‘fr, the 5’7’’ is 3.5’’ bf / 11’’ ff / 1.25’'fr).

As I was always a shortboard user, my son never asked me a different model, but I think there’s no problem in test some singles, twins, quads, or fishes. Recently, I saw the Florences’ brothers in Surfer Magazine. they were in a trip to the mentawais. The younger was surfing a quad model and was stoked with the board. Maybe you could do the same as the character “Chandler” did in the movie North Shore, giving the kids a chance to experiment with all those historical models (even that without fins).

I loved this talk because it brought me some memories of my son at the beggining of his surfing career. I thinking on collecting some pictures of him with some of the boards I’ve made to him and present them in sequence at Swaylocks. Thanks for the opportunity and good luck with your kids.

3

at 5’10 maybe 3 1/8 rear 10 1/8 front your mileage will vary but if you get an adjustable fin system you can work it out real quick. Also use smaller fins for a grom.