With rail fins that rotate between 1/4" toe-out and 1/4" toe-in, the board gets extra loose, with turning resistance only when you are on rail, like a longskate truck. Used on a shortboard they allow a new level of speed in vert surfing.
Hey blakestah. I tried a board with one of your movable fins at OB a while back. I felt like the board was on a lazy susan. Different for sure. This was around an 8’0" (I think) single fin - you loaned it to George Orbelian. It felt like a 6 foot fish. The board would change its orientation… a bit later the fin would catch… and a bit later directional change would happen. Fun in the mush, but I prefer a more solid feel in steep and fast sections.
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Hey blakestah. I tried a board with one of your movable fins at OB a while back. I felt like the board was on a lazy susan. Different for sure. This was around an 8'0" (I think) single fin - you loaned it to George Orbelian. It felt like a 6 foot fish. The board would change its orientation... a bit later the fin would catch... and a bit later directional change would happen. Fun in the mush, but I prefer a more solid feel in steep and fast sections.
That was the 7’9" Hinds funboard, with the rotating single, and it was set up too loose for steep/fast sections. I liked that board for slopfest setup that way, because I could ride any wave all the way to the beach. But you are right, in that board, that fin, it was too floppy for performance surfing.
There is a continuum between a fin that rotates that freely, and a rigid single fin, and most people are riding the singles in boards a lot closer to a rigid single than the floppy fin you rode.
The rotating single was fun in waves like this
http://www.blakestah.com/surf/mepics/dtb020205.jpg
And this
http://www.blakestah.com/fins/demo3.mov
But the surfing trucks are different. They do not allow a greater toe-in than a thruster setup, so they “catch” in turns as easily, or more easily, than a thruster. They just don’t drag as much in between turns. And more importantly, the top competition surfers in SF who tried it loved it.
Cool… I’d like to try one someday.
Hi Blakestah,
Looks really interesting which is kind of funny because when I first saw your system here a couple of years ago I was thinking" Oh, come on!" Guess my thinking is changing. I saw a similar thread at surfermag and the rotating single fin looks very nice. How do you rout out the boxes? Do I need any special tools or is it easy to figure out with the typical tools? I’m willing to give them a try. Gives me an excuse to build anther board. mike
Blake,
I’m “on board” so to speak. Sent you an email, hopefully you’ll take paypal.
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Hi Blakestah,Looks really interesting which is kind of funny because when I first saw your system here a couple of years ago I was thinking" Oh, come on!" Guess my thinking is changing. I saw a similar thread at surfermag and the rotating single fin looks very nice. How do you rout out the boxes? Do I need any special tools or is it easy to figure out with the typical tools? I’m willing to give them a try. Gives me an excuse to build anther board. mike
The boxes are installed by routing a hole, cabosil/resin the box in the hole, and lay glass over the lip. There is a resin dam built in to reduce drippage in the boxes. If you have a router, you can install them. They have a smaller footprint than Futures/FCS do, but I had no issues with strength. The width of the box is about 1.3 inches where the fin takes the highest load - wider than other systems, and I think this is the critical consideration for taking the load in a system that installs in one deck.