**I already have a 9 Trueames Greenough 4A on order , but I would like a few more two play around with. The board is an updated version of a traditional veebottom. Was considering one of these, looks almost idetical to the 4A but more flex. **
**http://www.trimsurfboards.com/product/485/volan-flex-fin-10/fibre-glass-fin-co**
I have one of those 10" flex fins(I think it was Larry’s version…I did not like it…made the board feel squirrely…I really am not crazy about flex fins on any of my boards over 8’0…
cheers,
rogelio
Ok, thanx for the tip. This is an 8ft veebottom, so you think the 10 flexfin wont work even in small or soft waves…
As you probably know, fins on the original Mc Tavish’s V-bottom boards were easily in the 10" to 12" range, lots of rake and VERY flexy. I remember one that you could almost bend to the rail… Are you looking to be historically correct or to perform? Also, what’s the tail width?
If you get around Malibu…I could hand it off for a try., but my guess it is too much fin( lot of area)…maybe a 10" with less base…and or less flex.
It pays off to be finicky about your fins!
Not looking to be historically correct, just for as much drive of the bottom as possible, the 10 fin has a wider base so I was thinking it would have more squirt of the bottom and down the line speed. But then again I’m not sure I’m versed on the benefits of flex, need to read up some more.
Tail is wiiiide, that’s what sold me on these things, will give you some dims once Bruce is done…
Bruce Fowler…?..then I guess you are in So.Cal. let me know if you want to try my 10" flex…It might be that mine is just too flexy…and maybe Tru Ames is different than my Fiber Glass Fin Co. fin. In any event, it is good to experiment.
howdy proneman, the 2nd from right that looks like a shoemaker’s knife certainly stands out. in what conditions do you use it and with what board size? interested in the performance benefits you derive from it as well
cheers,
Surfiber,
That fin is a Maisch that I got from a guy in NSW, Oz in 2006. My recollection is that they were made in South Africa…This guy had been a distributor and he had a bunch of them and I got like 4 of them. This is one that I left down under on a 10-0 round tail that is waiting for me about 2 blocks from Kirra! I liked it on this board…drove it good…with no fear of spinouts on hard turns.
I used this one on this 10-0 square tail and it worked fine…as good as any other proper fin…but I would say not better. Can anybody ID this location and if so you probably recognize the socks and umbrella.
Ultimately this blue one ended up on Oahu as I was looking to get something that would allow my 10-4 Simmons to turn a little. I experimented with 4 or 5 front tabbed fins that would allow me to have the fin area as far back on the tail as possible. The PG whale tail was an improvement. The cut away would spin out. The 8" Greenough Stage 6 is my low tide small wave fin. If it gets chest high of bigger it will spin out.
Anyway, It is about a 10" deep fin and it found a home on the Simmons. I do want to try a 9" and a 10" stage 6 on this board and see if that might be an improvement. Keep in mind that my performance criteria are related to mostly prone and knee riding, although both of these favorite fins also work good stand up riding this unique surfboard!
The left at Rockpile…south shore…on these tiny waves at low tide it is crazy shallow…often I surf it alone or with just a few.
Aloha,
roger
thanks roger, appreciate the feedback very much. wondering though whether setting them too far back is what’s causing the cutaway to spin out?
cheers,
Sami is in Finland.
He was laughed at the first time he brought a surfboard home with the intent on finding waves. The windsurfers told him ‘there are no waves in Finland, what were you thinking’?
As he related the story to me, Sami has surfed other parts of Scandinavia. I have at least one guy that bought a Stoker V Machine in Cali and took it home to Denmark or Sweden. He sent me a picture of a wide open beach with abundant surf. Sami knows the coast areas and didn’t agree with the windsurfing crew.
He studied maps, talked to lots of fisherman, and after many long hikes into remote spots of suspected coast… HE FOUND WAVES.****
I’m working on a board for him this week and he will pick it up at the airport in Helsinki. I don’t think he is too concerned about me blowing his ‘cover’, and his ‘secret spots’ are quite likely to remain his secret for a very long time. He might be the ONLY board surfer in Finland?
As far as the extreme flexiness of the old Aussie Vee bottom fins being used circa '67 thru '69… yes, they ranged from 10" up to 13" with varying degrees of flex. The big glassed on flex fins on the “Wilderness” stubbies around '69-'70 were laid up using something like 32 layers of 8 oz. Volan if I recollect right. Those were all foiled and tuned once glassed onto the boards to flex around 1/8" or 1/4" side to side when pushing the tip with your little finger. Larry Allison or Chuck Ames probably will recall this better for verification?
The Greenough Stage IV-A and IV-C aren’t super flexy. I offer those with the Stoker V8’s, which is the model Sami is getting. Chuck Ames told me a couple weeks ago that the fins start with this amount of flex and will eventually flex more as planned, due to FATIGUE. So, in a sense, you ‘break in the fin’… like you might a new engine.
The crazy looking fin in Proneman’s foto is a cousin to the sailboard “football fin”. That was an era where fins on sailboards deviated from typical surfboard fins. It was also the time that all of us were trying to learn how to land 50 feet of air without landing wrong and spinning out. Cavitation was a big problem sailing in heavy wind and chop. That, subsequently lead to cutaways, slotted fins and eventually the best solution “forefins” aka canards.
Eventually after we all blew out too many fin boxes to count, we learned to launch off the wave slghtly upwind, use the sail like half a hang glider wing, then land slightly off (down) wind to keep water attached to the fin on landing.
Here’s a short review of some fins that we rode back then with varying degrees of success. Once I got used to my molded Greenough Stage 3 fin, I would do controlled drop knee turn spinouts with it…
Deadshaper ,
thank you , those history posts are my favorite 
Not the only one, there was this one windsurfer who has been making sailboards and the odd surfboards since the early 80’s. But he only surfed the blownout beachies that the order windsurfers used before I startedexploring the coast 10-12 years ago. Like in Sweden and Norway surfing has grown but thankfully only down south near our capital.
It’s funny we where sittning in his van last night discussing old sailboards and the incredibly stiff uprigth fins used to get the boards to track and hold with the help of just the last few feet of inside rail in rely hard wind. Matti has made some rely clean boards with his sailboards and boatbuilding design knowledge.
Back on track, there is some great fotage of those early veebottoms in Fantastic Plastic Machine of Midget Farrely and Ted Spencer surfing some rely crap waves even by our standards. Midgets stringerless boards looked to have à better foil than Nat’s and Mctavish boards huge tailblocks. Midget claims he was first with the Veebottom not Bob on his website.
is true ames still making the 4a in 9.75" measurement? that has been the magic one for me-especially in my v-bottoms.
An Andriene “A-Flex” or even one of my templates could work for you.
I made one a while back for Proneman. I wonder how it goes.
No Worries, Rich
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<snip > " . Here's a short review of some fins that we rode back then with varying degrees of success. Once I got used to my molded Greenough Stage 3 fin, I would do controlled drop knee turn spinouts with it....." <snip>
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hi deadshaper !
WHERE did the second photo come from , the board with the surf permit sticker on it ?
I ask , because I had a 1971 permit sticker on the 6'9" wilderness my mate scored at the garbage dump , a few years back now....
cheers !
ben
I can’t really say… it came off the “Surf Research” (Aussie) site… has a lot of history and pix.
I imagine it is from Oz. The only permit places I knew of in USA was Newport and some spots on the East Coast… maybe the Gulf, but not sure.
The fancy looking blue greenish fin off to the right is actually 11-1/2" deep with an 11-1/2" base! Mind boggling, but that was the ‘post-LSD’ era so anything and everything was possible.
P.S. Ames still makes the 9.75" Greenough’s… Sami, let me know which fin you want me to send you. 9’25 or 9.75"? There’s also a smaller 8 ish one if you already have bigger ones… or the L Flex fins from Ames is an alternative…