Size matters!
Spy pics with thanks to Julian Leach.
Some wise words from our top ripper Graham Ezzy…
Yes, fins are smaller than boards or sails, but don’t forget that water is much denser than air, so you need much less area to produce the same amount of lift. Even a 1cm change in fin size will have a massive effect on performance. And with multi-fin boards, fins matter even more.
Here’s a small, recent example:
I have been using a thruster setup with 10cm fins on the sides and a 15cm for the center fin. Tricks and turns flow like nothing with this setup…well, as long as the waves are the right size. In anything under logo high, the 10cm/15cm combo is magic.
But as soon as the waves get a little bigger (around mast high) as they did last week, I have problems fully committing to my bottom turn. For me, commitment is everything. So, I switched out the 15cm main fin and replaced it with a 16cm one. A world of difference that made! The single extra centimeter of depth allows me to push as hard as I want.
The takeaway is that one should have a versatile quiver of fins so as to optimize for the current conditions.
Rip it!