So, while i wait for the lamb roast on the spit, and drinkin a few beers, i've been thinking, what do you guys think is the most "user friendly" fin setup. Regardless of the board shape, is there a fin set up that is reliably easy/balanced??. Just curious. I find twins easy to surf, and my thruster midlength is sweet. Waiting for some good waves to feel out my quad, so got to thinkin. SIngles i find hard hehe
Thruster setup is, in my opinion, the most predictable fin setup. Singles can spin out too easily, quads can be tricky in certain situations, twins can be pretty unforgiving. Bonzers and the like are what I consider specialty boards. Thrusters are right down the middle, and easily tweaked with different size/shaped fins.
Single fin, with plenty of flexible rake and area…
single fin in a 10.5" box as Bill say's
but I like the flex type fin as Paul Jensen say's
and Im talkin longboard
I think the question is “user friendly” in terms of how a board rides… how forgiving and easy it is to ride.
I guess it's a matter of how you interpret the question. For me, quads and twins are the most user friendly. Go rail to rail nicely, and are generally more maneuverable, all things shape-wise being equal. However, like has been said by previous posters, the hardest setup to mess up is a thruster. To me, it's the most versatile setup, works for small wave boards all the way up. It seems just about any shape will go with three fins, longboards, fun boards, wide tails, narrow tails. Even single fin shapes will go well (sometimes better) as a thruster. I guess that's why I've become fond of the 3-4-5 fin set up, a sort of best of both worlds thing.
My vote would go to the thruster. Making a really good single fin is hard. Making a really good twin is even harder. Quads can be very difficult also. But you can take just about any shape, no matter how crude, and put 3 fins anywhere close to normal position and it will ride "OK". Which led to a lot of really bad boards over the last 29 years that sorta worked. It was a great equalizer.
A single fin. It must be in conjunction with a 10 1/2 inch FU box, with a thick foiled fin, that does not flex. You still have to know how to properly place the box, so that the adjustable range allows you to properly dial in the boards highest potential performance. Simple, eh?
I like 4 skags!
Im gunna try this theory out. Im installing a rear plug into my hybrid, which is beginning to look like chippers bushfire fish. I measured it up, and found by adding another rear plug, i'd have sides @ 11 1/2'' up, and the centre @ 4'' up from the tail. So i should get some idea, as the board has plugs for a rail finned quad setup, and also a twin fin setup. Now im gunna try it as a thruster. Will update.
Got to thinking because my midlength as a thruster just works so well, very stable, has drive, and turns pretty easily, especially on my backhand.
A couple of years ago when I was ordering a board from Greg Griffin I asked this same question, and his answer at the time was a Thruster setup. The board I ordered was a 5/4 fin, I mostly rode that board as a Quad, but the 5 fin felt similar to a Thuster to me.