I'd like to have a go at making a few [different sizes, and templates] 'winged tipped fins' , one of these days . For fcs plugs , AND for finboxes [and , with the fcs finbox adaptor , I can do BOTH , more easily !]
Anyway , here are a couple of the 'commercial' ones from the past that I have , to kick things off ...this first blue one is shown alongside RDM's 'Spitfire' [winged keel template , without the winged tips , basically] ...THANKS , Rohan !
I'd like to use this template to make another , winged tip version [ possibly as a slightly deeper fin , though ]
Nicky Wood used to ride a modified and curved winged keel. Nice fins. Also with the Spitfire we did quite a bit of R and D on that fin. We originally used the thick foils like on the actual Spitfire plane wing, but now do more of a reverse foil. I actually like the thick foiled and still ride it, but the one Larry normally puts in works best all around. Foil makes a difference with these type of fins. It’s why I stick with Larry Allison who has seen it all and been part of much of it. Cheyne rode his winged keel in one of the Cambell brothers bonzers years ago. Duncan used to have it hanging in his restaurant.
Nice chippy, Bet you didn’t know you could ride this Spitefire Fin me and Solosurfer created backwards. Here’s a board builder that sells his board that way. Mahalo, Larry
I spent many years (about 15 years) riding a board with the Lexcen wing fin (the blue wing fin in the pictures above). Loved it, Sadly nearly everyone I came across that had one, had it in backwards or had a board where the fin box was on an angle and the fin pointed up or down, or a pin tail. I was lucky, the board I made just happened to have the fin box on the right angle. So the wings were parralell to the average of the bottom curve that was used when riding. Also I had a really wide round tail, very much like a McCoy nugget. I had a slightly veed bottom increasing from in front of my front foot to the tail, rounded rails in the nose of the board. Sorry, no pics, or vids. So how did it ride. Very quick and responsive, easy to make sections that my thruster set up on the same board would need force to cope with. Plenty of kick in a bottom turn, easy to cut back. Compared to a normal single fin, it was a dream. Had to keep buying them, because everytime I hit seaweed they broke. I bought about 9 of them in fifteen years.
That little black fin pictured, I had one of those too, and I didn’t take to it, slid in turns, I didn’t feel an improvement compared to normal thruster fins, to be honest I eventually hated the thing for ruining so many good surfs. But remember I had a very wide fat tail. Might work OK on a normal board. Sorry to the guy that designed it, I just made an enemy for life … Damn … expect shots fired through the house at night.
I invented a fin that was my favourite fin of all time. Imagine a single fin, Typical single fin, back edge curves towards the front, then down to the base. and imagine two of those fins that are bent side ways in an eliptical shape, one bent left, the other bent right. The bases are about 3 inches apart and they are crossed through each other at the peak of the eliptical curve. Creating two wings just like the Lexcen Wing fin and creating a sort of hollow section below the wings cross point and down to the bases. The inside of both fins is less foiled than the outside at the base, but by the time it is at the cross point its even both sides, like the Lexcen Wing fin. I don’t have a pic, but if anyone is interested I will draw a pic.
It seriously works so good, till I hit a rock, lost the whole fin. It was so hard to make, that I never made another, but I’m keen to try again.
solo and larry and malaroo thanks heaps for your feedback guys !
mala , funny you should mention .... I too rode mine backwards [fin , not board , that is !] for years ! .... I only discovered that one day , when I eventually changed it out for a 'conventional' finbox fin , and noticed the word 'front' in big letters , written on the ..er...'back' of the fin [ oopsy !! ]
moving right along now ...
my mate 'Stuey' rode this , yesterday...
I guess it seems to work okay for him , eh ? .....
and marty rode THIS , but with FOUR other fins too [?!] ...
I'd be interested to see how it goes , as a tiny trailer , with the two webber CRV fins he was running in his "quad , plus one" setup yesterday [ during that surf, he had the 'Webber CRV's in the front side plugs , though ]. But if he had it set up as a back trailer fin with just the CRV's , in the back side plugs , well... to be continued , hopefully ???
Anyway, he managed a few turns on it yesterday too, as the "5 fin setup" !
I rode a Starfin with a couple of 3 3/8" sidebites in aan old 6'2" winged pintail shortboard for a good while. I actually found it to be the best all-round setup for the board, apart from when it was solid surf, where I ran a 6.5 bamboo bonzer centre with 4 1/4" sides.
I'll try and find some some pics, but if I remember rightly, the trailing edge was in line with front of the (10in) box and they were toed about an inch off the nose. Maybe a little too much toe in hindsight, but still worked a treat. Interestingly (or not, maybe!) the board had both the widepoint and foil forward of centre, unlike the Horan style boards. It was just great in hollow beachbreak though, especially in the barrel.
Tail rocker is crucial when looking at using the Starfin. The board I used just happened to be just right for the fin, but there is definitely some truth in the assertion that the board should be designed around the fin.
Solosurfer and Larry seem to know their onions when it comes to designing such boards.
