thruster grab

General Discussion
1

Hey everyone,

i’ve got a thruster question. Been riding one for two days. it’s funny, cuz it’s been so long since i have ridden a surfboard with 3 fins. at first, when I would pump, i would almost fall backwards because of the drive.

So when you see people pull in at pipeline on thrusters, or waves like that, and they pretty much just grab the rail and drop sideways till the fins grip the face, and then get tubed, is the ability based only on the fact that the board has fins near the rails so it won’t slide out, or is that also due to the toe in of the fins.

I know the toe in is what makes a thruster a thruster. its where the speed from the fins comes from. But i’m referring to just hold. If the fins had no toe in, making them parallel to the center fin, would they still be able to grab rail, drop down the vert late and not slide out like you would on a single fin? Or does the toe in make the claw action of three fins more effective.

thanks!

2

I’m no fin guru, but I do know that fish ride great in the barrel. Toe-in or no toe-in, that big keel fin planted out on the rail, along with the twin pin tails, stick in the face of the wave and give great hold in the tube. I was talking with another guy yesterday about that. Fish need to be controlled in the tube more, as the keel fin is a big, solid foil and tends to feel kind of twitchy. Thrusters on the other hand, have some release between the front and the center fins, which, at least to us, seems a big more forgiving than one solid fin. This might explain how thrusters can be slid sideways down the face and give you that tubed-on-takeoff thing. On the same wave, you’d have to set the rail and fin by turning about half way down the face, which is possible because you can get up on your feet a little earlier with a flatter rocker.

That’s my explaination.

3

thanks nj man.

I guess you said it so nobody else had to respond.

good answer.