Fins to the Left, Fins to the Right
By Jud Bushkar
Nowadays, English teachers cringe when their ex-students begin sentences the way I just did. More importantly, surfboards with one, two, three, and four fins are being ridden on every beach in the Lowcountry. How did all this come to pass?
In the beginning, surfboards were just that – a board upon which a rider would lie or stand. It had no fins and the back end of the board would slide out of control on nearly every bottom turn. Single-fin surfboards marked a huge leap in technology. Surfers would use these boards almost exclusively from the beginning of the Western rediscovery of surfing until the late 1960s.
Then came the decade of the Beach Boys, Woodstock, Merle Haggard and the fish surfboard. This shape had a pair of fins and tons of speed to spare. Twin-finned fish marked the pinnacle of performance in surfboard technology for several years, and their ability to generate speed down the line is their best attribute. Their worst quality is a tendency to get squirrely or loose and out of control when pushed a bit too far by the rider.
The twin fin was the small wave performance leader and the single fin remained the big wave juggernaut, until an Australian named Simon Anderson developed a three-finned shortboard that was dubbed ‘the thruster.’ In the hands of a skilled rider, this board could develop more speed and rip turns that left single-fin and twin-fins in the dust. As Anderson won the 1981 Pipeline Master’s competition in Hawaii, the three-finned surfboard exploded onto the scene. This fin placement remains the favorite of professional shortboard riders around the world to this day.
Surfing has long been an industry riddled with self-expression and haunted by individuals. One man can try to do whatever he wants on a wave and triumph or fail. To that end, the four-finned surfboard or quad has resurfaced. This board attempts to merge the speed of a twin-fin and the drive of a thruster. In most peoples’ opinion, a good quad is fast and loose. On Folly Beach, many surfers are choosing to ride short, stubby boards known as ‘fish.’ The large volume and short length of these boards make it easy to catch small waves, glide through flat sections, and coast along without the rider pumping up and down the wave. They combine maneuverability, speed, and user-friendliness in a two, three, or four-finned package.
A surfboard with more fins will have smaller fins in most cases. For example, both fins of a twin are large fins of more than five inches. A thruster setup will have three equal fins with an approximate height of four and a half inches. Likewise, quad setups will be similar to thruster side fins and about three and a half inches high on the two trailer fins. Once you have the basics, you should feel free to experiment with various fin designs and setups. Using larger fins should give you more control and stability. On the other hand, smaller fins will loosen up your ride and give you more maneuverability. At this point, two more dimensions warrant mention. A taller fin will hold in larger waves and a fin with more rake will keep more speed and have a longer turning radius. The angle of the fin from the back of its base to its tip is called the rake. Fins that sweep far from their base have a large amount of rake and boast more speed to go along with a larger turning radius.
Finding the correct fin for your surfboards and your riding style might be the most important thing that you do this decade. I recently chose a larger set of quad fins designed by Simon Anderson. I had been using large side fins and upright rear fins. This setup had a short turning radius that inevitably lost speed. As you can guess, losing speed made my sponsors at Mountain Dew unhappy and I was obliged to latch onto some larger fins. With newfound speed due to the larger base and rake of these fins, I was again incredible in my watery home, yet overwhelmingly modest.
Most surfboards today have detachable fin systems. Trade fins with your friends or swing by the local surf shop and ask if they participate in a fin demo program. Maybe you can borrow some larger or smaller fins and get your ride dialed in to your exact needs. Until then, know your own limitations and protest vehemently if anyone else mentions them.
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