I designed the fin around 1985/6. I have used em in everything from bigger wave pintail guns to round bottom noseriders, they worked really good on the tip, It always seemed to work. There is a lot of design “philosophy” that went into it. I wanted a flex in the tip that followed the board. The base had to be stiff to work with the “head” of the fin. They were quirky about placement. Too far up they tracked on wave face and did not have much “bite”. too far back and they felt like you were dragging a bucket. In the right spot they just worked. This is one of the best ridding fins I have used. I still see some of our old boards with the fin still in use. BUT the seaweed kelp thing just got to be to much. Nothing like taking off on a good wave and have the board feel like it was running on flat tires. Others were playing around with similar ideas in different parts of the world I am not claiming I was the first. Dimensions? i will have to unpack the luggage and measure it. it has been a long time.
The tip does not flex in the normal sense, side to side. More like left to right.
The short fin was called a “pud” fin.
The seaweed gathers at the base and stays there. I would have to constantly remember to clean it off. The forward lean was a integrable part of what made it work.
On to the next fin to be eliminated…
The blue fin in the picture. a 9" Dobson. I use this fin in some of my other 8’ boards and I liked it. But in this board it just felt like too much fin. The other boards had a little more roll in the bottom and a softer rail. This board has a different bottom and rail. I want to drive off the rail not the fin. Some people may like to surf the fin, I want to surf the board. In this board it just was not what I wanted.
NEXT…
Ok here are the final 3. Each one of these proved to be a “contender” and fit the board.
For size comparison the grey fin is a 8" fin. This one is a Kevin Connelly Fins Unlimited version of what I would call a “Classic” shape fin. Very similar to the blue fin in the following picture.
I always liked this style fin and have had the blue one for a long time, A proven design. Was it the winner?
What do you think?
Ok lets get to it. The final 3 all had things that I liked. The grey “classic” style fin worked really good in smaller waves. It had a nice “pop” in the turns and pivoted good allowing some nice tight tail turns. It also allowed for some rail to rail pumping to gain speed. It was my favorite fin in smaller waves. BUT in bigger hollower waves I had to over adjust a little to keep it “tight”. All and all not bad and a lot of people would be happy with the “ride” i was getting.
The black “keel” fin is a fin I designed for paddle boards. real paddle bards not SUP’s, about 25 yrs ago. I never used one in a “conventional” surfboard. Last summer I kept putting it up on one of my single fin boards. I thought it kind of “fit” but. One day I finally had to try it. It did not do anything weird and had a nice flowing feel. This fin sparked the idea for this board. I wanted to see what the potential was. I used it a lot. I would try other fins and always went back to this one. I had to move it back in the board to find the spot where I could drive off of it and have it feel right in bigger hollower stuff. Yes it worked in barrels. It always worked. It had a very “in the wave” feel. Lots of natural down the line speed with really smooth turns. It kind of reminded me of the old style Bonzers with the really small fins. Anywhere you wanted to go on he wave it just fit. I had other people use the board with this fin and they just took off and rode it no problems.The only problem I have now is I only have one and I was told I need to order a dozen of em. Not to sure what I would do with a dozen of em since I have not sold one in 25 yrs…
The only thing that would be a “negative” would be for surfers who felt the need to unnecessarily pump a surfboard. This fin had built in speed and just did not need any extra effort to make it go. I really liked the ride. I think that this fin on a shorter stubbie type board could be a very interesting concept.
And the “winner” is the blue white black fin. I did not put this in the board until the last couple weeks. It had better holding power than the grey fin. I could pump it and have a bit more tail pivot that the black fin. At first I was not too stoked on the fin UNTIL i moved it back further on the board. I wanted a “rail to rail” type ride and when the fin was too far up it did not have the feel I wanted. Big small hollow mushy waves it felt right.
While I call it a “winner” I still liked and am going to work on the black keel fin concept.
Each of the fins had a different style to em. The key was the board. I was able to make it work with all the different fins. This just validates to me what I have been saying for a long time. “fins are like personality” to a surfboard.
I still ride my multi fined boards as well I just wanted to spend time on a surfboard with one fin and see if I could get more out of it than just a “cruiser” type board, Yes i can and I like it.
Bradly Buben once said to me after obviously spending a lot of time contemplating this “Albert you only NEED one fin” You were right Bradly, RIP.
Ok lets get to it. The final 3 all had things that I liked. The grey “classic” style fin worked really good in smaller waves. It had a nice “pop” in the turns and pivoted good allowing some nice tight tail turns. It also allowed for some rail to rail pumping to gain speed. It was my favorite fin in smaller waves. BUT in bigger hollower waves I had to over adjust a little to keep it “tight”. All and all not bad and a lot of people would be happy with the “ride” i was getting.
The black “keel” fin is a fin I designed for paddle boards. real paddle bards not SUP’s, about 25 yrs ago. I never used one in a “conventional” surfboard. Last summer I kept putting it up on one of my single fin boards. I thought it kind of “fit” but. One day I finally had to try it. It did not do anything weird and had a nice flowing feel. This fin sparked the idea for this board. I wanted to see what the potential was. I used it a lot. I would try other fins and always went back to this one. I had to move it back in the board to find the spot where I could drive off of it and have it feel right in bigger hollower stuff. Yes it worked in barrels. It always worked. It had a very “in the wave” feel. Lots of natural down the line speed with really smooth turns. It kind of reminded me of the old style Bonzers with the really small fins. Anywhere you wanted to go on he wave it just fit. I had other people use the board with this fin and they just took off and rode it no problems.The only problem I have now is I only have one and I was told I need to order a dozen of em. Not to sure what I would do with a dozen of em since I have not sold one in 25 yrs…
The only thing that would be a “negative” would be for surfers who felt the need to unnecessarily pump a surfboard. This fin had built in speed and just did not need any extra effort to make it go. I really liked the ride. I think that this fin on a shorter stubbie type board could be a very interesting concept.
And the “winner” is the blue white black fin. I did not put this in the board until the last couple weeks. It had better holding power than the grey fin. I could pump it and have a bit more tail pivot that the black fin. At first I was not too stoked on the fin UNTIL i moved it back further on the board. I wanted a “rail to rail” type ride and when the fin was too far up it did not have the feel I wanted. Big small hollow mushy waves it felt right.
While I call it a “winner” I still liked and am going to work on the black keel fin concept.
Each of the fins had a different style to em. The key was the board. I was able to make it work with all the different fins. This just validates to me what I have been saying for a long time. “fins are like personality” to a surfboard.
I still ride my multi fined boards as well I just wanted to spend time on a surfboard with one fin and see if I could get more out of it than just a “cruiser” type board, Yes i can and I like it.
Bradly Buben once said to me after obviously spending a lot of time contemplating this “Albert you only NEED one fin” You were right Bradly, RIP.
Hi Ace -
'Back to basics'.... the winner is reminiscient of the modern Bonzer center fin or the Brewer fin of the 70s which had a fat foil.
One of my all time favorite singles was the old injection molded 9" Downing black plastic fin, also with a somewhat fatter foil. It was similar to the blue fin you show. It didn't have a ton of rake. It had a fairly skinny tip. It seemed to allow rapid edge to edge transtions on several of the boards in which I tried it but would only handle tail width and wave size to a certain limit.
I found the one I had in, of all places, the far reaches of the back waters of Morro Bay at low tide. I haven't a clue how it got there. It was stuck in the mud when I found it.
Too bad most of the current mass produced fins stick with the maximum thickness equal to the width of the box slot ... less material and less grinding I guess.
Yater designed the hollow carbon fins that POPE had for awhile that were very similar to that old Downing model.