hope everybody had a great feast and some good waves. A buddy picked this 8" fin in the Outer Banks for 10 bucks. Flow through style we believe it’s called and pretty thick foil but no maker so we figure maybe backyard shaper back in the 70’s… Anybody familiar with this style . And as always- Thanks for the info ahead of time, ain’t been led astray yet…
If I’m not mistaken, back in the late 80’s Chuck Ames (Tru Ames fins) made a slotteed wave fin for windsurf boards. The thought was that the slot broke up cavitation if you drove it hard. I use to have one, but honestly, I couldn’t tell much of a difference, especially with the power generated through the sail.
The slot was much narrower & shorter. My guess, is that this is some homemade version(copy).
Yes, most likely Chuck Ames.
If a backyard fin, a decent enough job of it. Sorry I can’t help on the I.D. of that particular fin.
There have been several of that basic design manufactured over the years - including some that were slotted (for windsurfing), a couple of which I keep around for use on my longboards.
Owl Surfboards in Santa Barbara did some ‘D’ Fins with the flow through cutaway.
A very interesting (to me) variation was done by Alfred Maldonado which allowed the trailing portion to twist on a pivot fin - somewhat like a rudder…
It’s definately created by a skilled fin builder, it’s nicely foiled for sure!
The fin below hurts my eyes. It’s like taking a blank of the shelf and glassing it straight away, shaping is overrated isn’t it?
But this one is impressive, the guy who built this fin deserves a medal for fin building skills!
…hello John, can you elaborate a bit more?
Hi Reverb - Not sure what you mean(?) I just snagged the Maldonado fin and Owl fin pics from the internet. If you would like to see the slot fins, I can take some pics. Like Mike (Rooster) I can’t really tell the difference nor notice any dramatic difference. The slotted fins might even be a bit slower - just hard to say one way or the other. I also have a little vertically oriented ‘finlet’ that is placed in front of the main fin in a single box… it was commerically made at some point - likely for windsurfers.
…John, I m referring to that Yellow fin; that I cannot see the difference in that picture.
Regarding that single-in-line fins; I rode for 3-4 years in mid 90s with one (glassed ons) in a thruster shape and worked pretty good. However I made and put the “finlet” behind the main fin.
I made other versions that worked right in Indonesia in 6 6 boards
Yes ths shadow fin (Yellow) I made in 1978 for a guy in Santa Barbara. I now make a downwind fin for Sup with a simalar concept has the shadow and Owl fin. The blue fin you have I made with Alfred in 78 also who is a good friend of mine. Interesting how things come back around. Mahalo,Larry
Here are some more fins Alfred Maldonado and I did, that are hanging in my office today from that time frame. You will also see shots of these fins done by Fin Project from my factory on their canvas. Mahalo
Larry - can you tell me where I could see / order the fins for the Infinity Phoenix boards?
