Patenting of birds wings…hmmm. Bet the birds are gonna be pissed!
Ya well you can’t use a FCS fin in a futures box without hacking the fin because the tabs are to deep. Also the news that Futures will be making FCS vectors isn’t anything new. It will be done just like how Surf Co won the battle with the pro tect fins. They will make a bunch go to court then stop win and then make more. It might not even go to court who knows. Anyway unless the FCS plugs get changed which they have been saying they were changing for 5 years now the fins won’t hold. It causes so much stress on your tail of you board and pluggs it will rip right off. You can ride the small wave vectors in a normal board and you won’t have any real problems. The second you use the Mid size fins you have to have a suspension system in the tail of your board to helps reduce the stress. I rode the vectors in a normal board just to see what would happen. I rode the Mid sized fins and it cause so much stress it loosened up my center fin to where it almost came out of the box. Anyway future is doing a composite version you can buy which works and you don’t have to worry about the problems with your board. My advice is if you are interestead in these fins go to a shop and check em out and wait for the FCS ones as well. I can preach and you can preach. The truth is people have a different preference. So check em out and try it.
Gap or not, crap gets trapped in the front of those damn fins. The tab should be at or past the front of the fin to eradicate the problem permanently. I hope that when FCS does a change to their system, they adddress this flaw. I surf at spots that have lots of kelp and weed (not the kind you smoke), and this has always been a peeve of mine with FCS. Sometimes you have to go back to the boat and remove the fin to get the crap out (today I ran over someone’s fishing line and it got stuck in there pretty good).
Another thing too. A tab at the front of the fin has the advantage that it can be made rounded so as to blend in with the leading edge of the fin at the base. So, if the fin pulls out at the front edge, it won’t stab you as badly as an arrow head. Thanks.
Sounds like a good fin to try regardless of who makes it! But they are all still stationary fin systems. Having the ability to fine tune or adjust the fins on your surfboard makes a huge difference on the performance of the board . Race car drivers fine tune there shocks to the track! Surfers,Shapers fine tunning there surfboards to the conditions of the surf ?? I spoke with a surfer that went back to his shaper for a new board, the shaper said he doesn’t use fcs anymore, only futures! and if he wanted a new board thats what he gets ?? sounds like pop-outs to me!! Offer a selection, take care of your customer !!! " Fins do make a big difference" Mahalo, Happy Hollowdays ! www.edgefins.kauaistyle.com
Howzit Aaron, You might try a little silicon to close the gap, just a thought.Aloha, Kokua