What do you think is the leading cause of squirrely behavior in this board? The only criteria for this board was that it float and it does. Things to note: The toe-in of the forward (thruster set up) fins might be more than an 1/8" I think even a 1/4". The rails in the tail are soft. The swallow is a ^ with the apex 2" deep. The rocker is shallow i mean pretty flat. Its 5-10 X 19 5/8.
I’d bet either your fins are too small for you or you aren’t used to riding boards that sized.
You want stable? Straighten and increase fin size.
Or…just turn more, both harder and more often.
Surfing it on a 15 ft plus day might have made it a little bit squirrly. Or maybe it was when you were being towed 95 mph behind that 1200 hp drag boat?
Wave size, wind, current, beach steepness, point break, reef break, reef pass, surfers ability, new board, fin size, fin shape, 60/40, 70/30 rails, brewer rails, box rails turndown rails, Fin cant…too many variables. It’s like saying, “my car is making a rattling noise from the engine, close to the starter and those wire thingys, can you tell me whats wrong?”
-Jay
Not sure I like the convention of measuring toe-in by fractions of an inch…there’s a lot of error to be found between 1/8 and 1/4. get a long straightedge and see where they are pointing with respect to the nose of the board. normal should be somewhere between 3" to the side (not crossing the stringer) to right at the nose.
I finished a new fishy shortboard recently, and the first day seemed real squirrelly, but it was because I was riding a longboard for a couple weeks, and just had to adjust. now, it rips! it could be you have to learn the board.
Wells got it!
Best way to measure toe-in is projecting the fin angle to the nose of the board.
Standard measurement, something anyone could replicate, is half way to the tip of the nose.
More is slow, squirrelly, no drive, no speed.
Less can be fast and ride like a single fin.
Alright, nice. Although I don’t have the board to measure using Wells technique I would have to guess that it is well below 3 " and is probably the root of the squirrelyness on the takeoff. It is definetly fishy vs what we usually ride like 6’1 or 2 normal sb’s. So there is probably a learning curve to it also. I just checked a fin installation that is drying and it hits wells jig at 3 3’4" which is a good check. Thanks.
maybe go with a harder rail, something with a little “bite” in the wave. shorter boards with soft rails seem squirelly at faster speeds,for me they do