Fins

Surfboard fins are another piece of surf equipment that has come along way over recent years! There are so many different fins on the market at the moment  and the right set for you has the ability of turning a board you hate into a board you love so picking the right set can have major advantages!

Surfboard fins are applied to boards in 2 ways, either you have glass on fins where the fins are physically glassed to the board by the shaper or you have a fin system, where the fins are interchangeable and they lock into the board using grub screws.

Both Fin systems have major advantages so we shall go through a few of them so that you can determine what is right for you.

Glass in Fins

This is the preferred choice by many of the top surfers in the world. Surfers like Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson and Taj Burrow only ride glass in fins.
They are good because the shaper is able to make the board around the fin, he knows that, that fin is always going to ridden with those fins so is able to really fine tune the board specifically. They also work great because of the way they flex with the board. There are no gaps or edges for the water to pass unevenly along the board and fin. They are part of the board and flex with it giving it an alive high performance feel
If you plan on using your board with glass in fins in only one place then they are great, however if you plan on doing a lot of travelling around then you might find them a bit of a pain. For 1 they take up a lot more room in your board bad opposed to a board with a fin system where you can remove the fins. 2 they are very suseptable to damage from careless airline baggage handlers and its not unheard of for to receive board at your destination your travelling to only to find the fin has taken a knock and cracked the base or smashed off entirely. If you are planning on travelling with glass on fins make sure you overprotect and pad them out with things like towels and bubble wrap to really minimise the chance of damage when you get to your destination. If they do get damaged it can usually mean they are a nightmare to fix and require a shaper or someone who is very well established at ding repairs.

Summary
Positives: great high performance fins. Will make your board feel alive
Negatives: a nightmare to travel with. Pain in the ass to fix if they do get damaged.

Fin System

When it comes to fin systems there are 2 big players, FCS and Future Fin Systems.
FCS is the bigger more established of the two but futures also has a great selection.
Depending on your shaper he will have put one of these systems in your board. If your board is custom order you should be able to request which one you would prefer. Most shapers will be more than happy to install either system, however other shapers are passionate about using just one fin system in particular.
Both the systems operate in a very similar way. With futures the whole base of the fin sits in the board with just one grub screw to secure the fin in your board whereas FCS use a 2 tab system where 2 grub screws are required to secure the fin.

The best part about fin systems is the freedom to experiment and play around with different types of fin templates and materials. There is a massive range on the market at the moment and you will be very surprised at how much of an effect a different set of fins can have on your board as well as your surfing. They really do have the ability to turn a board you really don’t get on with to one that you cant take your hands off and want to use at every opportunity.

The other great thing about a fin system is that the fins are completely removable from the board meaning a lot more stress free travelling as you don’t have to worry about your fins getting knocked out your board by airline carriage handlers and your boards will also take up much less room in your board bag.

On both FCS and Futures websites they go into great detail about fin design performance and try to help find the right fin for you.

FCS Fins: http://www.surffcs.com/
Future Fins: http://www.futuresfins.com/

Pop down to your local surfshop if you still don’t know what fin you are after and they should be able to help you out!

Summary
Possitives: Travelling is much easier with removable fins. The freedom of experimenting with different types of fin and really fine tuning your boards.
Negatives: None really, the new technology that is in fins these days can get your board very very close to feeling like it has glass in fins. The only downside is with FCS and it’s that some fins don’t fit into the fin system completely flush and leave a tiny little gab between the board and the base of the fin, but with the introduction of the latest FCS Fusion plugs this problem seems to have been solved.