Hi new to swaylocks. Involved in surf industry for a long time as a sprayer, and have always shaped my own boards. Now under a label ‘Heist’.
Situated in piha, north island - new zealand.
I have many successful templates and curves, but I am interested to hear from anyone with thoughts on magic fin placement measurements!
Have a beautiful supa-lite yellow D16 to shape my next 6’2" (for me) - any ideas on how to improve the performance would be invaluable. most interested in placements for sticks 5’8" to 6’10"
Hi new to swaylocks. Involved in surf industry for a long time as a sprayer, and have always shaped my own boards. Now under a label ‘Heist’.
Situated in piha, north island - new zealand.
I have many successful templates and curves, but I am interested to hear from anyone with thoughts on magic fin placement measurements!
Have a beautiful supa-lite yellow D16 to shape my next 6’2" (for me) - any ideas on how to improve the performance would be invaluable. most interested in placements for sticks 5’8" to 6’10"
Where do you place them now?
Generally as far as placement you feel the distance from the tail and the cluster of the fins as well as tow and all are important.
My 6’3"-6’4" I like 11 1/8 front and 3 1/2 rear and 2in off the nose.
I think You sort of generalize as far as fin placement and try and tune it to the board but small changes can give you a different feel…the key is know where to move the fins for the feel your looking for.
Try an adjustable fin system like RedX, lokbox, 4way fin system to dial in all the variables
yo j. troy thanks for your swift reply bro. on my average 6’2 with say a 13 and5/8" tail, i place at 3" and 11" . the system i use (xm) has about 12mm of fwd/bk play-so that is very useful in adjusting tightness/loosness of the boards.
so you go for the 2in of the nose gig? do you think there is any scope to alter this? or is that a majic connection between lift and drag? i know it sounds kinda novice, but i have spent so long refining my templates, curves even my fin shapes and foils- but placement i have never totally grasped with enough confidence for experimentation!!
also re; cluster, once again for that 13 5/8" tail ( at 3" and 11") i go for
5 1/2" (from stringer to heel of side fin) and 5 1/8" (from stringer to toe of side fin)- thats over a fin with base of 4 1/2" how does that sound to someone in the know?! -lets disregard splay for now, thats another discussion.
and what about placement for my superfish, with its 15" tail, how far out from the stringer is considereed ‘right’… i appreciate any assistance-thanks
yo j. troy thanks for your swift reply bro. on my average 6’2 with say a 13 and5/8" tail, i place at 3" and 11" . the system i use (xm) has about 12mm of fwd/bk play-so that is very useful in adjusting tightness/loosness of the boards.
so you go for the 2in of the nose gig? do you think there is any scope to alter this? or is that a majic connection between lift and drag? i know it sounds kinda novice, but i have spent so long refining my templates, curves even my fin shapes and foils- but placement i have never totally grasped with enough confidence for experimentation!!
also re; cluster, once again for that 13 5/8" tail ( at 3" and 11") i go for
5 1/2" (from stringer to heel of side fin) and 5 1/8" (from stringer to toe of side fin)- thats over a fin with base of 4 1/2" how does that sound to someone in the know?! -lets disregard splay for now, thats another discussion.
and what about placement for my superfish, with its 15" tail, how far out from the stringer is considereed ‘right’… i appreciate any assistance-thanks
Yes there is room to play with tow in BUT there is a point where if you have too much tow
the board will drag with no drive and there is a point where if its too straight its difficult to turn and everything inbetween will give you varying degrees of loosness or drive.
Its impossible for me to tell you that X measurement is the magic placement because of all the variables like length, rocker, etc.
Generally as your board gets longer or shorter your placement changes…generally closer to the tail and more clustered as you go shorter and the reverse as you go longer.
The generally accepted tow measurement is 1/4
Keep in mind that changes as little as 1/32 will give you a different feel.
Try experimenting with one of the fin systems that will let you adjust tow in like the 4way fin system, Edge fins, or swivel fins to figure out where YOU think the fins should go.