fin we depend on physics and computers and close observation to get the greatest flow quotients. This is what makes those shaper dots on the bottom of your board so significant. Shapers place fins alot on feel. That’s why feedback from the surfer to the shaper about fin placement is so critical to the board’s performance. -Shaper’s know alot more about fins than their riders do. -Some surfers, like Jack Freestone, pay attention to foil for different conditions. For example, he rides more foil in small junky surf an flatter foils for Teahupoo. So that he can control his speeds easier. -I hear from our riders that the key to surfing Teahupoo is controlling your speed. A real
fine line there to stay in the tube. The wave wants to spit you out. And with no face, its hard to stall. Freestone believes the right fin foil can make the difference between winning and losing when it gets that heavy. Speed control. - When people ask me which fins to use I say, Machado has fin tip flex and fatter foil for fluidity and Jordy has more area and flatter, stiffer profiles for more brute force. Where do you fit in? - We also break down fins for specific spots. Trestles as opposed to Pipe and so forth. When you wanna generate speed you want more foil and flex. To control your speed, flat foil and stiff. That is the basic spectrum of design.
-Once you lay into a turn the place behind the shaper’s dot becomes real important. The trailing edge of the base. Everything we make is based on those shaper’s dots.
Though computer imagery and simulation has finally caught up to the refining of fin design, there is nothing like the real thing. Still, the computer simulations are providing breakthrough discovery’s in speed and projection. Even more so than the surfboard, the evolution of the fin has been accelerated into the stratosphere by new technology. Photography by Liquid Barrel