How to choose the best fin for your surfboard
A fin is not just a fin. Why? Well let’s say because a shark is not a dolphin. The numerous factors that affect how surfboard fins perform is vast. Fine tuning your fin set up can really open up so many new possibilities and bring new dimensions to your surfing. The fins we have in our shop are made by True Ames, Californian experts with decades of shaping and surfing experience.
There are a lot of options for you to choose from. What works best for you or your board depends on so many different things. So we try to make it easy for you and help you pick out the right fin with our fin guide. In this blog we will focus on the way it all started; the Single Fin
The single fin set up will always have its place in the lineup. Boards ridden as single fins tend to be smooth and free-flowing, but beyond these foundational qualities there is a lot of room to customize their feel. The wide variety of designs, the range of sizes within each design, and the options for fin placement make available numerous contrasting performance characteristics: loose down the line speed, reliable hold, tight turning ability, long drawn out lines, extended tip time, etc.
NOSERIDER FINS
We get a lot of orders for traditional longboards like The Legend from Pete’s. The pairing of a traditional longboard such as The Legend with a classic nose rider fin will provide classic lines and long, stable nose rides. Our offering of nose rider fins spans from high area designs aimed at optimizing stability on the nose, to relatively moderate area designs that aim to find a balance between tip time and flowing turns. Here are a few guidelines for selecting your nose rider fin
Greater fin area generally means more stability on the nose, while lesser fin area generally means more free-flowing lines and maneuvers.
A noserider fin with a more “upright” stature will tend to pivot through turns and turn from the tail, while a fin with a more “swept back” stature (i.e. more rake) will tend to carve through wider turns.
Finding the right amount of area can be accomplished by choosing between different fin templates, or by choosing different sizes from within the same template.
As a kind of size guideline you can follow the list below. Said that, as you will probably understand, it is meant as generally effective starting points as optimal fin size varies with many factors including rider weight/height, wave size/power, board design, style of surfing, etc.
BOARD SIZE 9'0 - 9'3 / FIN SIZE 9.0 - 9.75
BOARD SIZE 9'4 - 9'6 / FIN SIZE 9.5 - 10.0
BOARD SIZE 9'6 - 10 / FIN SIZE 9.75 - 10.75
BOARD SIZE 10'+ / FIN SIZE 10.50 - 10.75
If you are seeking a fin for your longboard that will provide classic lines and long, stable noserides then you are in the right place.
ALLROUND SINGLE FINS
To achieve timeless smooth lines on a wide variety of board designs, look no further, an all-around single fin will be your weapon of choice. The all around fin will feel great with longer sweeping turns and still provide plenty of hold in the tail while you cruise down the line.
Greater fin area generally means more hold and drive, while lesser fin area generally means a faster looser ride.
A more upright stature (i.e. less rake) will turn with a tighter radius, while a more swept back stature (i.e. more rake) will produce wider elongated turns.
Finding the right amount of area can be accomplished by choosing between different fin templates, or by choosing different sizes from within the same template.
Stiffer fins will provide relatively sensitive and predictable response, while fins with more flex will often provide a subtly delayed, yet increased projection.
As a kind of size guideline you can follow the list below. Said that, as you will probably understand, it is meant as generally effective starting points as optimal fin size varies with many factors including rider weight/height, wave size/power, board design, style of surfing, etc.
BOARD SIZE 6'0 - 7'0 / FIN SIZE 7.0 - 8.50
BOARD SIZE 7'0 - 8'0 / FIN SIZE 8.0 - 9.25
BOARD SIZE 8'0 - 9'0 / FIN SIZE 8.5 - 9.75
BOARD SIZE 9'0'- 10 / FIN SIZE 9.0 - 10.5
If you are seeking a fin for your longboard that will provide classic lines and long, stable noserides then you are in the right place.
FLEX FINS
We have put together a subset of our single fins that feature enough flex to qualify as “flex fins.” Sounds like a complex thing but Flex fins are just what they sound like; simply offering more flex that a traditional longboard fin. When compared to stiffer fins, flex fins have slightly delayed responsiveness that ends up providing unequaled projection and acceleration. In short, the flex makes the board feel a bit looser and adds a bit more liveliness/springiness to the board which can bring a whole new flow to your surfing. There are different levels of flex that you can get in these fins, and the amount of flex will impact the amount of drive a fin will give when you really lean on it. If you want more drive out of our your turns - a fin with moderate flex in the tip may be the trick. Of course everyone's style is different, so its up to you to experiment!
Greater fin area generally means more hold and drive, while lesser fin area generally means a faster looser ride.
A more upright stature (i.e. less rake) will turn with a tighter radius, while a more swept back stature (i.e. more rake) will produce wider elongated turns.
Finding the right amount of area can be accomplished by choosing between different fin templates, or by choosing different sizes from within the same template.
As a kind of size guideline you can follow the list below. Said that, as you will probably understand, it is meant as generally effective starting points as optimal fin size varies with many factors including rider weight/height, wave size/power, board design, style of surfing, etc.
BOARD SIZE 6'0 - 7'0 / FIN SIZE 7.0 - 8.50
BOARD SIZE 7'0 - 8'0 / FIN SIZE 8.0 - 9.25
BOARD SIZE 8'0 - 9'0 / FIN SIZE 8.5 - 9.50
BOARD SIZE 9'0'- 10 / FIN SIZE 9.0 - 10.5
If you are seeking a fin for your longboard that will provide classic lines and long, stable noserides then you are in the right place.
Rake? Say what?!
Being familiar with basic surfboard fin theory and terminology will help in deciding which fin(s) might best facilitate your style of surfing. More specifically, understanding the following concepts will help you sort through our True Ames collection of fins.
TEMPLATE:
The template of a fin is the outline of the fin. Each True Ames fin model is based on a template that has been designed using decades of experience and knowledge, and has proven itself where it most counts: in the water.
AREA:
The area ( Including Base and Height ) of a fin can be described as the amount of area inside the outline – or template – of a fin. And you might apply your geometry skills to note that the length of the fin’s base, and its height (i.e. depth) are closely related to the the area. In general, more area equates to more hold and drive, and less area equates to a faster, looser ride.
RAKE:
An easy way to the think about rake is how “swept back” as opposed to “upright” the stature of a fin is. The more “swept back” a fin is, the more rake it has. A more technical definition is the angle between a line that runs parallel to the base of the fin, and a line that runs through the front corner of the fin and the tip of the fin.More rake will deliver more stability and a tendency for long drawn out turns, while less rake will deliver a more sensitive ride with a tighter turning radius.
FLEX:
In the most basic terms, the flex of a fin is how much it will bend side-to-side. More precisely, the flex of a fin is a description of how the fin flexes perpendicular to the direction of flow. Important qualities are how much force it takes to flex the fin (i.e. how stiff the flex is), and how quickly and reliably the fin returns to center. At True Ames, our craftsmanship and materials produce fins with consistent flex that quickly and reliably return to center, and with this as our starting point, we make each fin design with the optimal amount of stiffness. A stiffer fin will have a more sensitive and quick response, while a less stiff fin (i.e. lots of flex) will often provide subtly delayed, yet increased projection.
FOIL:
The foil of a fin can be described as the contours of the fin when viewed from an “edge-on” perspective. Similar to how the foil of an airplane wing affects the flow of air as it passes the wing, the foil of a fin affects the flow of water. A 50/50 foil has symmetrical contours on either side, and this will be the case for all of our single fins. Within our system fin collection, you may find anything from 50/50 foils to 70/30 foils to flat inside foils. Whatever the foil ratio is, all True Ames fins feature continuous foils with the thickest section of the foil towards the center of the fin, and thinner sections at leading and trailing edges.