has anyone tried those fcs fins that curve inward, there sold as a thruster setup i believe. what do you think ? do they work or gimick
Hey Jacksun,
~ Hold at speed, very pivotal ~
There are other better ways to
put curvature in a fin foil IMHO.
Good Surfin’, Rich
Rich… Such as??? mahalo, taylor
The creator of those curved fins told me that he like them with MORE rake and some flex…
I think they’ll work on a second version because this one isn’t what they expected.
Hey Talor O,
There are infininite ways of working curvature into a fin and board foil. I have spent many years figuring out what makes the curves work the way they do and I still have a hell of a lot to learn. Sorry I can’t do you question justice in a few short paragraphs.
Everything about surfboards and fins involves using arcs effeciently. Both fins and boards are a series of compound arced surfaces that blend together to produce a body of performance or the edge of it. Each board and surfer requires will want something a little different.
The best rail fins I’ve been able to come up with to date have torsion (twist) in the whole fin. So you see the whole thing is a little complex to put express in text. It pretty hard to get in a photo as well but if you scope in on the attacment may see what I’m talking about.
Suffice it to say – everything in nature that moves through the ocean with fins does so with rounded surfaces. For that matter so do the mollusks and invertabrates. As lines become straighter action becomes less forgiving.
Flatsided fins just don’t make it for me.
I hope this sheds some light on things.
Good Surfin’, Rich
I’m kinda curious if fins with a lot of tip to base curvature could be used at substantially greater cants without the same loss of drive that occurs in heavily canted planar fins.
Hey Rich - Thanks for the great shot. Very clear, and well done - the fins that is, and the photo too! I think the fins in question, the FCS with curved tips, go way beyond what you have there. From the front or back they would look to have an inward - in relation to the board - curve about 3-4" up that curves in for an inch or two, almost 90 degrees, radius of a racket ball? anyway. I am with you. As I make more fins I’ll have to hook up with you re. what I’m doing, and what I “find.”
Peace, Taylor
Blakestah, I was curious about the exact same thing, so we started making turbos with around 10 or 12 degrees. We have gotten nothing but good feedback so far, and we’re doing them on keels, as well as thruster side fins,and canard quads. I had the chance to speak with Gregg Weber last year about his CRV curved fins. I asked him if he was still using the extreme curved fins(tips really come inwards) in larger surf. He commented that they had gotten away from the radically curved ones stating they became too erratic at high speeds, and had gone back to a mild curvature. They still ride the “CRV’s” in smallish type angourie waves, to get that added “squirt”. He also mentioned he wasn’t completely stoked that they decided to do his fin in the “carbon” version, as alot of the original theory was based around some kind of flex.
Here’s a shot of our turbo keel -
hi Jim !
…how much have / has the angle[s] ( and , toe ??) changed from the original '70s Rainbow " Turbo" fins ?
cheers mate !
ben
Maybe about 4 to 5 degrees chip.
thanks Jim !
I still intend to have a go at making something similar …either for the bonzer, or my fish.
nice… are they curved also ?
That’s exactly what Webber told me: he like more flex and more rake… maybe they’ll go with a new version soon.
Hope to have my Lokbox fins and boxes before they do it, so i wont have the tentation to try them… ;D.
Good work Lokbox and Halcyon, as always…
dont forget the vector forces …
the more curve a stiff fin has , the more it fights itself …
having forces working against each other , creating drag , with no lift offset , bad package …
no amount of feeling can make up for bad mathmatics …
regards
BERT
I’ve used both the FCS G-CRV and its long-ago predecessor, the glassed-on turbo fins of the 70’s-80’s. Both are worthy of riding in my humble opinion. Both tend to loosen up a board (feels more like a twin fin) and neither worked well in very steep faces (tend to cut out). The center fin of the G-CRV set is a dog, I never use it. But the curved side fins are worth a try. I’ve loaned mine out and some guys really like them and some really hate them, that alone should tell you something… they are different.