I’m finding trying to work out what fin for what board a bit confusing - information overload about rake, cant, height, etc.
Is there a good site that suggests if your board is XXX then a fin of this height would be a good start?
I know a lot is likely to be personal pref. but every site I visit seems to give very vague ideas of anything. I don’t have a bottomless pot of money to just experiment (unfortunately!).
If no one has a site that they know of, I’m happy with specific thoughts - my board is a 7’6" magic carpet if anyone has suggestions for what a good starting size fin for that would be (beginner, probably obviously)
I do like to geek out a bit around subjects though so a site about finology would be good.
These apparently come as a 2+1 or as a singlefin. I’m hoping your’s is a singlefin because that’s what this type of board was designed for. Singlefins are about utilizing the energy on tap and following the wave, whereas the multi-fins are about generating more energy on your own. As a novice you’ll learn more about watching down the line, putting the board in trim, setting a rail and making bottom turns on a singlefin because they don’t work any other way. These are skills that will make your surfing on multi-fins stronger when you go to that.
I commonly surf singles like this, and for those I favor a flex fin, like a Greenough 4a, although the Magic Carpet fin at Nine-Plus should also work well. With a 15" tail @12" from the tip I’d use an 9" or 9.5" fin, because you want the tip to stay engaged when it’s on a rail, and your fin needs to be deeper than the 1/2 length of the 15". Run the fin in the center of the box and you’ll be able to push it as hard as you want. Up to a little overhead, at which point you need a stiffer fin, if not a different type of board altogether.
If your board is a 2+1 then stick to the longboard sidebites (usually 3.5" - 3.9" tall) and a 7" or 7.5" fin with a narrower base. Personally, I hate cutaways like what they’re selling, but different strokes for different folks.
The 9" Magic Carpet fin looks similar to a Greenough 4A. It would be a good starting point. If you have the side fin boxes, you could try a small single fin and equal size side fins in a thruster setup. The board will be very different.
My go to single fin is the Greenough 4A. I use them in 9" and 7.5". I also like the Brewer or Parrish/Smith style about 7.5". These fins have a wide base and good amount of rake. You get good drive with these.
Except for a few specialty fins like a Bonzer center fin, and the Brewer style fins, all my single fins are 9" long. A 9" Brewer style fin is a monster.
suddenly makes things clearer as to what you want in terms of height. A lightbulb moment with something suddenly becoming quite obvious! I hadn’t seen it written anywhere before but makes perfect sense that you would want to make sure it was still engaged. That’s the sort of thing I was meaning as to what and why of fins.
