Question from the Audiance

Kevin wrote:

hey dood,
i have a foot pad that's coming off? do you know what kind of glue i need to use to make it stay on? also, do you have an article or reference about fins? what's the difference between small and big fins?
i have 2 small fins and a bigger on in the middle, is that bad? my friend said i should have a smaller on in the middle....

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Kevin

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Travis Wrote:

Kev,

A good general resource on all technical things surfboard related is here. If you do a search for "re-sticking a tailpad" you'll find the thread you are looking for.

On fins, I'll give you my opinion first, and then some links.

My understanding of the true "thruster" concept is that it consists of three equal sized fins. Think of your bottom turn. When you are leaning back, one fin comes up out of the water a little bit and becomes kind of useless. But, at that point, you've still got two fins working for you. You get to the top and turn the other way, and the other side fin is working for you with the center. So, the center fin is a "common" in two sets of twin fins.

Now, in reality, the third fin doesn't become useless, and can add power to your turns. But, the basic concept (at least the way that I understand it) is based on three equal sized fins. That's how all my short boards are, and I've never experimented with other arrangements. (Before my current shortboard, I'd always had glassed in fins)

However, I do use a longer middle fin on my funboard. It's not much bigger, only by about 1/4". But the long middle fin concept is about riding in a straight line, like a longboard. So, the board gets a little tighter. You just have to press a bit more to get a turn. On my finboard, you'd never really know. That thing is loose as hell anyway for as big as it is (my theory is that it's beacuse of the pintail). I've never had any problems turning it.

At the recommendation of a buddy, I have pulled the middle fin of my funboard out, and that is really fun. Though the traditional twin fin boards do not have angled fin placements, a thruster board can be ridden without the center fin. To have a good day with it, I need at least chest high waves, but no bigger than head high. Riding twin fin takes a lot of power out of the top turn. The bottom turn feels looser, but the top turn feels WAY looser - almost like the tailslides we used to do on skateboards. A couple of guys I know have fallen in love with twin finning, but want a little more stability, so they put in a middle fin and cut it down to just about 1" - 1-1/2" long, like a little rudder fin in between the two.

To read more on fins: I'd start here. I know, it's a corny little article, but a good intro. Then read some history lessons. Here, you read about a knee boarder who designed fins based on the dorsal fin of the blue tuna and gave us the fin shape that we know today with the rake. Not to mention the oddball tube photography from a surf mat that made big wednesday fun to watch. But, then you have to read about this guy, who was just too big for the twin generation, and needed something with more thrust. OK, now check this out. There is a board design section of this website that has some really good basic info on many things, fins included. Of course, for the actual fins themselves, one must respect the pros at FCS. Their catalogue has a little bit of design info but not much.

Happy trails. I heard you guys had some good south out there.