A short video samples of the rotating fin. I had a coupla decent (but NOT pro or even competition quality) surfers ride it, the clip are not super-duper surfing, but you should be able to see the degree to which the fin allows drivy fast turns with a loose tail. The vid is about 3 MBytes. The board is a 6’8" rounded pin.
Blakestah, just downloaded your vid…hmmm… there’s definitely something different going on here - is there just one example of that guy on the mushy wave, or do you have others on hollower sections? Very interesting - thanks.
Yeah, the rotating fin is a cool idea but you need to get a video that shows its potential. I didn’t see any what I would call “drivy fast turns” but I think the fin’s got a chance.
I’ve had this idea in the past that is sort of similar to what is going on here.
Basically, there are these skateboards called “snakeboards”, or they may have other names, but by turning your feet the trucks turn also, so it makes it turn really tight and by working it you can build speed on flat ground.
So my idea is to take that and connect the fins to your back foot just like the board. I think it would take some getting used to and it would be a bit heavy but I bet it would work good. You could really crank turns and bust the fins free easy. Possibly you would be able to build speed really easy also. Whoever makes one, I want to try it, plus I get 1/2 all proceedes.
Or maybee someone has already tried it.
Here is what the skatboards are like, they are kind of cool if you have never ridden one. www.snakeboard.com
We’ll be getting more video in the future - I didn’t set this one up, it sorta just happened.
I know someone in Great Britain that made a rear foot plate that allows you to turn the fin. Never heard how it rode, though. My set-up is purely passive, requires very little thought on the part of the user - in fact, it is quite a bit easier to learn to turn than normal fin systems.
It seems like that is a good idea to try and I would love to give it a go and see what happens.
But just thinking about how it might react, don’t you use the fins to drive off? Usually I think of fins as something that should be stable because when you pump or turn you count on them to hold their position. It seems like it would throw me off.
But I’m not dissing your idea, I think it is great to try new things. And I’m no scientist so I don’t really know.
Is there a way to adjust the resistance? Do you put it on all three fins or just the trailing fin? Usually I use Sugar Mill in Oceanside, CA to glass my boards, could they put them in for me?
I still think my pivit plate for the fins is a great idea and I’m going to try it eventually if I don’t hear that someone already did.
Blakestah - you’re right there was a guy from Uk who made what he called a thrusteer (prob 10 years ago) . It had a tail pad that see - sawed, which was connected to a pulley system which turned the fins. A couple of people tried it out and the feedback was kinda positive. The idea seems, however to have died completely which is a shame - it makes intuitive sense - as you’re going straight fins would point straight forward - creating less drag - as you turn you’d create some toe in to help you turn. Maybe it was a cost thing that killed it?
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It seems like that is a good idea to try and I would love to give it a go and see what happens. But just thinking about how it might react, don't you use the fins to drive off?
Absolutely, you use angled fins to drive off, that creates thrust. In my system, you lean into a turn, and the fin angles. If you push through the turn (like you would on a thruster), it generates a lot of thrust. The difference is that the angled fin in my system is two times bigger than a thruster rail fin, and it doesn’t compete with other, non-aligned fins. So when you pump it, you GO. The sample video shows a decent (but not high performance) surfer pumping the board for thrust a few times in mushy waves.
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Is there a way to adjust the resistance? Do you put it on all three fins or just the trailing fin? Usually I use Sugar Mill in Oceanside, CA to glass my boards, could they put them in for me?
Resistance is accomplished via rubber bumpers. The length and stiffness of the bumpers can be played with. My experience is that it works reasonably well over a substantial range of forces ie: this parameter is important, but it is not one of those ultra-sensitive parameters in tuning the fin up. It is kinda like adjusting truck bumpers on a skateboard- close to the right force works really well. Fore-aft position in the board and fin length make bigger differences in tuning up the fin.
It is designed as a single fin system. Part of the goal is getting rid of all fins on a surfboard that are not aligned with the stringer when you paddle for waves. I am 100% certain this is correct. I started with a single to get the basics well-down first and see how far it got me. I think the margin for performance improvement for using three fins is very small, but it exists. I may explore this at some point in the future. But already, you can turn easier and with more thrust than a thruster with only one fin.
The system installs similarly to a Bahne finbox, any glasser can do it.
If you want to work out the details on the fin plate - have fun with it! I can think of dozens of reasons not related to performance as to why it may not have taken off in the UK. I think it would take even more engineering than my system.
blakestah, what happened to the other video of the guy surfing on his backhand? That one showed a bit more potential in the system.
Uncertain rider ID. Possibly not the board. Removed.
New video
[url]http://www.blakestah.com/fins/demo2.mov
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This one’s got a decent backside bottom turn. This guy is a pretty good surfer, on his second wave on this board.
I have ridden this board and have definately felt the potential of the RFS. I came away feeling that if surfers had the opportunity to put this fin on their favorite board design it would open their eyes to a whole new approach to their surfing. I enjoyed the ride and am thinking of putting one on a progressive fish shape. Blakestah, how do you think this would work on one my frankenstein boards.
For those interested, Danny was the test rider in that sample. He’s a decent surfer (a non-RFS video)
http://www.keck.ucsf.edu/~dblake/ob121703.mov
He is on the last three waves. He also makes his own wood boards, and gets barreled on them. I wouldn’t call them frankenstein boards though - they are beautes. We can certainly talk about board choice - I’ll email you.
Quite honestly, if you really jab the rail into the wave a lot, the RFS may frustrate you. Thrusters train people to do this. However, if you already like single fins, you will like the RFS 10 times better. I think many people will prefer it to a thruster, it turns more easily, and is faster and smoother. But, you lose the rail-jabbing hold that is the basis of hot-dog current shortboarding.
Anyway, thanks for the props, Danny.