shaped my first board board recently: 5’ 5 1/2" twinzer fish; installed probox and got a set of twinzer fins from larry with the pre-canted canards up front.
Luckily, finished the board in time for a short trip I took to Jamaica. Even more lucky, scored some really fun waves and had enough sessions to do some experimentation.
The experimental question: with all other fin positions constant, at what cant will the canards work best?
main fins: 5 1/4" twins probox fins
canard fins: 3 1/4" fairly elliptical shape; fin is pre-canted at 10 degrees (can see both fins on the probox website)
constant fin positions: somewhat randomly chose a spot between 8 1/2 and 8 3/4"; used the 4 degree cant insert.
front fins overlapped the rear fins at 3/16".
first session: used the 8 degree cant insert giving the canards 18 degrees cant.
Surf was chest to head high, super fun, walled up and fast with slight wind texture shifting to lots of wind texture throughout the session. Surfed mostly rights (frontside).
first observations: the board is plenty fast and very loose but surprisingly does fine on a semi-committed bottum turn.
I had one magical wave this session in which I did a fully committed vertical snap on the first section of the wave. The board held in perfectly with just the slightest amount of drift at the apex of the turn (felt real good); then worked some swooping top and bottum turns to shore.
Despite that one magical wave, I spent some time figuring out the new board in the first session; pulled off quite a few successful face plants.
afternoon session: decided to keep the 8 degree cant insert in to continue to feel out the board.
surf was chest to head high transitioning from blown out to cleanish and super fun.
Got another magical wave this session with another solid opening snap into some speed pumps and flailing, unsuccessful air attempt. (I don’t do airs, but had a lot of speed and decided to try something for fun).
The board was going really fast as I figured it out.
Cons: had some more face plants. When speed pumping on the face, I felt like my rail was catching at times, causing many of my face plants.
morning session second day: we went to a new spot with a short, but really hollow tubing right and a longer, walled up left. head high.
I kept the 8 degree insert in just to give it a full test in some steeper juice.
Had no success on the rights, but I determined that I just had the wrong board - needed much more nose rocker and much narrower tail for those tubes. I got fairly worked a few times before committing completely to the lefts which were less crowded anyway.
Board worked really well backside. I was able to drop in and do some nice, slidey carves out on the open face. I had minimal problems with the bottum turns on the backhand.
I got absolutely worked walking in over the reef, opting to protect the board and sacrifice my body. Found a few urchins and other sharp spots in the reef.
later morning session: put the 0 degree cant inserts in (canards now at 10 degrees cant) and headed out to the local break and found it going off again at about head high with a little bit of wind.
This was a big switch from 18 to 10. I wanted to make a big switch instead of a gradual one to really feel out the differences.
The board still worked well, just different.
Pros: I no longer felt like the rail was catching while speed pumping down the line (more on this coming up). Board was still fast and turned smoothly.
Cons: The board lost a bit of quick snappiness. Turns were a bit less vertical and more round (might not be a con for some).
Observations and some analysis: I think that when the canards were at 18 degrees, they were hanging a bit too far over the rail, causing that rail catching feeling on the downward push of the speed pump; perhaps I was catching a bit of fin instead of rail in those first two sessions. (maybe someone else has a different theory). However, I was missing that snappy feeling with the 10 degrees of cant. The board felt good, but it felt no different than the same sort of board with keels. If I wanted the board to ride like that, I could have put keels in it, making installation and fin placement much simpler.
Afternoon session: went with the same set-up at the same spot with similar conditions. Earlier observations were confirmed.
Morning session third day: put the 4 degree cant inserts in (canards now at 14 degrees cant).
Surf at the local break was in the chest to shoulder high range with occasional stray head high sets - still super fun, walled up and fast - this spot was an absolute blast.
initial observations with new set-up: MAGIC. The board felt really really good. Most of the snappiness was back with none of the rail catching feeling. I stopped paying attention to what the board was doing and just surfed - snaps, pumps, rail carves, floaters - why do I live in South Florida?
analysis: the board feels really good with 14 degrees of cant in the canards; now, I think that most of the feeling can be attributed to the fin set-up, but I’m sure some of it was that I was becoming really comfortable with the board - I had it figured out, and I was beginning to really figure out the wave as well.
That afternoon and the next morning: surf was down to about waste high with occasional chest high sets (and the very rare head high set that no one was ever in position for) I focused on just having fun; kept the fin set-up the same and just worked on shredding small waves with my new small wave toy.
On the last morning, we went back to that spot with the tubes. It was about chest to shoulder high with no wind and some really hollow waves, even the left had a nice tube on it. I kept the canards at 14 to test out this set-up in hollow juice. I had slightly less trouble with the drops but still got worked quite a bit and was well aware that I just had the wrong board for that wave. I once again, focused on the lefts, mostly flying out in front of the sections and working on some backside snaps and carves. I did get one clean backhand barrel. It was a bit comical; I dropped in and knew I had a shot at a tube. I was fighting the board the whole way down the line, trying to keep it from drifting too high or too low. When I exited the wave, I felt the lip fall on my outside shoulder and wondered if I was in that thing. Another dude was paddling out and said that I was fully in there the whole way and that it looked like a magazine cover shot - funny because all I remember was fighting my little fish all the way down the line trying not to have to pull urchins out of my head. I got worked again walking over the reef on the way out; this spot hurts - next time, I bring booties - I don’t care if the locals make fun of me.
more observations and analysis:
For me, the perfect canard angle was at 14 degrees in good chest to head high walled up, rippable waves. I think that on some smaller South Florida wind chop conditions, I would probably prefer 18 degrees, but that is yet to be determined. Also, it’s good to know that if I want to get that twin-keel like feeling, I can pop that 0 degree cant insert in - I can carry a set of inserts onto the beach rather than another set of fins. All in all, I’m pleased with the board and really pleased with being able to switch out those angles with the inserts.
I still have plenty more experimentation to do. I still haven’t tried the board as a quad yet, and Larry wanted me to try a more standard side bite fin at 8 degree cant instead of the precanted canards in the twinzer setup, but I haven’t had a chance to do that yet - after feeling what the canards did at 10 degrees, I’d be hesitant to try it at all, but for the sake of experimentation, I’ll do it when I get a chance - which might be a long while. South Florida is a disaster this time of year.