thought this was interesting…base/rake comparison chart of a bunch of popular LB fins…worth a gander
Thank you, great reference!
It’d be interesting to see the Harbor fin in there…
I really like my Farberow Flex fin. Just enough hold to noseride, but you still get that flex fin feel.
Nice chart. Notice how most of the fins look like they were cut off the back of a fish or marine mammal. Fin design is a joke…stalled in the 1960’s. no significant progress in 50 years outside of boxes.
Why do all fins basically look like fish fins??? I laugh at the ignorance. One of these days someone will step up and do something original that will change surfing forever. Until then…same old same old.
I think nature’s designs through evolution will always be superior to something mathematically created by human scientists
I love the chart by the way.
I wish there was an animal that surfed on waves.
Altough it is true that dolphins move at comparable speeds as surfboards, which implies that their fins will work good on surfboards, they do not use their fins in the same way as surfboards do.
Why isn’t there a fish that has a thruster setup? Or the other way round: why do people swear by a thruster setup?
Nature definately figured out what good fins are for these Reynolds numbers, but nature didn’t optimize them for surfing. So they are a very good starting point, but I do not agree that they will always be superior.
@lcc: Thanks for posting this!
Edit: One thing some people tend to forget here is that the outline is not the only thing to a fin. Nature definately figured out what foil profiles work good, so allow me to add the follwing:
The nature analogy is nice and all that but it’s still not helping with fin design. We have been makin “fishy” fins for 50 years maybe it’s time for a change (ya think???).
And by the way my 9’6 log rides waves really well but looks like no marine mammal or anything living or dead that i know of.
Now don’t get all riled up and pissy about my smart ass comments. I have been doing this fin rant for many years. It all started back around 73’ when I lost the fin on my board and epoxied a 16ounce Budweiser can in it’s place as a joke. IT WORKED and it worked pretty forkin good!. Now you get my point???
Humor is a good thing. RB
and just think how much better it would have worked if you had used a Coors can 
Camel lost his single fin on the reef at G-Land, found a piece of plywood, whittled out a crude replacement fin with hand tools and glassed it onto his beater board off center closer to the inside rail…claimed it turned a decent board into the best tube rider he ever had been on. Fin outline looked more like a shark fin then a dolphin fin.
So many variables, and none more essential then the ability of the rider…
When I started building this chart 3 yrs ago, I already had the Farberow Flex and the Miss Lucy, and was looking for a different fin. Over time I’ve tried just about every fin on the chart, plus multiple 2+1 single fins. I’ve settled on the 9.5" Velzy Noserider for my classic shapes and the little known 7.25" Yater Pivot Fin for the center fin in my 2+1 sets. I always go back to this chart (which actually has grown in length since I created the PDF) when considering a new fin.
great chart, and props to ya for taking the time to develop and make available …exactly the kind of objective information we need more of…
BTW, who makes the Yater fin you referenced?
Actually, no one. True Ames Fins is the manufacturer. Chuck Ames told me the fin is no longer in production…just not enough demand. I found one on the rack at Fiberglass Hawaii in Ventura. Chuck found two somewhere in the factory and I bought both.