Most surfable downwind board?

[stoneaxe]

Congrats on the board buy. Looks like a good choice. and now you've gone and started all the discussion about which fin.....

A 28" Search would be nice. My 14' Vec is loosely based on the Foote Maliko and is 28". The rails aren't as refined as the search but it surfs well.

[Area 10]

Congrats on the board buy. Looks like a good choice. and now you've gone and started all the discussion about which fin.....

Never mind which fin, we should be talking about which fin *setup*. I believe that a 2+1 fin setup is best for a surfy downwind board. I have a 2+1 on my 16ft DW board and it’s a huge improvement both DW and in the surf. A single fin just cannot give you the control required in critical situations. The traditional objection to a 2+1 setup is that the side bites will increase drag, which might make it hard to get into small bumps. So, for this reason I run symmetrical foil side bites (actually, quad rears), and run with no toe-in. It works well, and even increases flat water speed, presumably because of reduction of yaw. It’s a good compromise between reducing drag and increasing control.

I can see I’m not the only one thinking along these lines because the recent model Gong Perv downwind/small surf board has a 2+1 fin setup on both the 12-6 and 14 models. The head shaper, Patrice, has always been at the forefront of design innovations in SUP.

So come on Robert (S), Jimmy (L), and Mark (R): please put a 2+1 fin setup as standard on your DW boards. Once you try surfing a 14 with a 2+1, or try it in hell messy conditions, you’ll never want to take those side bites out.

A friend of mine even has a quad and thruster setup in his 17ft DW board.

So, I think we should be experimenting with different fin setups rather than arguing over the merits of particular single fins. Having one large single fin is I believe just a conceptual hangover from the rudder era. It is going to look very old-fashioned in a year or two, I believe. Let the multifin revolution begin!

[Ripple]

Do FCS II "click-in" fins work with any standard SUP box?

[Area 10]

Do FCS II "click-in" fins work with any standard SUP box?

In theory, yes(ish), in practice definitely no.

The FCS II fins are intended for standard US surfboard boxes. But several brands (eg. Starboard) use boxes that are like windsurf boxes. They are deeper and slightly different in other way too. So the FCS II fins do not fit well in them and you might need to use shins etc to make them fit.

Furthermore, I’d your board DOES have a US surf box, it still may not fit. It depends how well the box has been fitted. I have a SIC RS race board and it has a US surf box, but the FCS II does not fit it. The fin is is too wide. I suspect that when the fin box was fitted there was a little expansion around the box which has made it slightly narrower than standard.

Other boxes tend to be a bit looser, so some people have had the FCS II fin fall out. I don’t use them on really big dangerous downwinders where I am going to be well offshore - I use a screwed-in fin (using a surf longboard fin screw which requires no screwdriver - you can fit it and tighten it by hand).

So my advice is not to buy a FCS II fin until you’ve tried one in your particular board, and made sure it fits snugly (but not too snugly - you don’t want to pull the box out over time).

So, basically, be aware. If they happen to fit your board perfectly they are great. But you might just be heading for an expensive mistake unless you check in advance on *your* particular board.

[Ripple]

Cheers, both my Starboard and Infinity (Stavron) fins have a loose fit, the Naish one fits well but the box is not deep enough for the "bump" on the fin base. What can i gather from that?

[Area 10]

Cheers, both my Starboard and Infinity (Stavron) fins have a loose fit, the Naish one fits well but the box is not deep enough for the "bump" on the fin base. What can i gather from that?

Nothing much. You need to actually get hold of a FCS II fin and slot it into the fin  box in YOUR board to check it fits. Try to find a friend who has one, or try it in a shop.

The Naish box sounds like a US surfboard one. The Starboard race board fin boxes  are annoyingly odd: a constant source of irritation for me - you need longer fin screws and the fins with the tabs in the bottom to fit, so most standard surfboard fins need a bit of fiddling around to make work.

There are many different fin box standards, not just one. So you really only can be sure if you try a fin actually in the board you intend to use it in. It’s very irritating! Often I have to get the sander out, or create shims, to make a fin fit. I own 18 SUPs, so it’s a real problem.

[burchas]

So come on Robert (S), Jimmy (L), and Mark (R): please put a 2+1 fin setup as standard on your DW boards. Once you try surfing a 14 with a 2+1, or try it in hell messy conditions, you’ll never want to take those side bites out.

It is going to look very old-fashioned in a year or two, I believe. Let the multifin revolution begin!

You sound like you were asleep for few years and just woke up Multi-fin revolution has
started while you were in that state. Brands like Infinity has been offering their boards with
Larry Allison's 4 fin setup for few years now and some other brands are now doing so.

Mark did put a 2+1 on my custom SIC board. it sucked in flat water, I had to modify it to LA 4
fin setup so I don't have to compromise between flat water speed and control in the bumps.

As for the OP, FCS II can fail regardless of fit, it happened to my Danny Ching FCS II fin.

On the Larry Allison Click-it fins there are no moving parts so it won't fail if the fit is good.
as for fit, it's a hit and miss depending on boxes but more often than not, the fit is too
tight which is usually easy enough to solve by lightly sanding the box or fin.

[Ripple]

I would definitely buy a LA fin instead of FCS if I could, but they are not available here in Oz, so by the time I source one from the US and get it shipped here it will cost me 3 times the price of a FCS.

[Area 10]

So come on Robert (S), Jimmy (L), and Mark (R): please put a 2+1 fin setup as standard on your DW boards. Once you try surfing a 14 with a 2+1, or try it in hell messy conditions, you’ll never want to take those side bites out.

It is going to look very old-fashioned in a year or two, I believe. Let the multifin revolution begin!

You sounds like you were asleep for few years and just woke up Multi-fin revolution has
started while you were in that state. Brands like Infinity has been offering their boards with
Larry Allison's 4 fin setup for few years now and some other brands are now doing so.

This is pretty cheeky! Neither the Bullets (Mark), M14 and Rail (Jimmy), Bump-Rider (Robert) have ever offered their production 14ft DW boards  (to my knowledge) with a 2+1 setup, and it was those I was talking about.

Of course a couple of other brands have been trying multifin setups. But not for specialist downwind boards. And many of these offerings have met with a mixed response, whereas I reckon a 2+1 setup (especially with reduced toe-in) would be accepted by most for gun-style DW boards.

[Luc Benac]

There is one shaper that is offering one:
https://ianbalding.com/product/albatross-downwind-sup-board/

ALBATROSS DOWNWIND SUP BOARD
The Albatross Downwind SUP board is designed as a scaled up big wave gun. Great for downwinding, finding or riding any bump in the ocean or gliding on big open water breakers. It’s also just as fun to paddle on a cruise through the backwaters. The design features double concave with vee through the 2 plus 1 fin set up for control and maneuverability. Available in color/Kevlar vector net or carbon fiber laminations. This board will be made custom for you.

14′ Starting at $2800 . (Board shown has special upgrades) Please request a quote for more information.

Contact us today to start building your custom paddle board!

FEATURES
Full Kevlar Vector Net Deck and Bottom Shown In Image
Carbon Stringer Tape on Deck and Bottom
Dual Color Lamination
$2,800.00

[burchas]

This is pretty cheeky! Neither the Bullets (Mark), M14 and Rail (Jimmy), Bump-Rider (Robert) have ever offered their production 14ft DW boards  (to my knowledge) with a 2+1 setup, and it was those I was talking about...

But you mentioned increasing flat water speed so that's not downwind specific. If you stay in
the realm of downwind, I'm sure 2+1 or other setups works well in offering more control.

[Area 10]

This is pretty cheeky! Neither the Bullets (Mark), M14 and Rail (Jimmy), Bump-Rider (Robert) have ever offered their production 14ft DW boards  (to my knowledge) with a 2+1 setup, and it was those I was talking about...

But you mentioned increasing flat water speed so that's not downwind specific. If you stay in
the realm of downwind, I'm sure 2+1 or other setups works well in offering more control.

Well this topic is about “surfable downwind boards”. So that’s what I was talking about.

And I believe that a 2+1 setup, carried out like I said (no toe-in, symmetrical foil fins) can increase flat water speed *in a surf-style downwind board*. I’m not saying it will work in a Starboard Sprint etc. Maybe it will, maybe it will just cause drag. Most surfy DW boards have a bit of a V at the back, and very hard rails at the rear, and that affects things a lot.

[burchas]

...I believe that a 2+1 setup, carried out like I said (no toe-in, symmetrical foil fins) can increase flat water speed *in a surf-style downwind board*. I’m not saying it will work in a Starboard Sprint etc. Maybe it will, maybe it will just cause drag...

Which is why I said you're late to the party. My 3 fin setup works for me both downwind and
flat water. same setup same fins either downwind or all water board.

But better late than never, whatever setup works for you, just like you said, forget the single
fin setup, muti-fin is definitely where it's at IMO, especially for the technically challenged paddlers
like my self.

[Area 10]

...I believe that a 2+1 setup, carried out like I said (no toe-in, symmetrical foil fins) can increase flat water speed *in a surf-style downwind board*. I’m not saying it will work in a Starboard Sprint etc. Maybe it will, maybe it will just cause drag...

Which is why I said you're late to the party. My 3 fin setup works for me both downwind and
flat water. same setup same fins either downwind or all water board.

But better late than never, whatever setup works for you, just like you said, forget the single
fin setup, muti-fin is definitely where it's at IMO, especially for the technically challenged paddlers
like my self.

Well, actually, I was using 3 fins on a SUP at least 8 years ago.

But that aside, what is the theory behind having those 3 fins in a row rather than in a 2+1 configuration?

[burchas]

...I believe that a 2+1 setup, carried out like I said (no toe-in, symmetrical foil fins) can increase flat water speed *in a surf-style downwind board*. I’m not saying it will work in a Starboard Sprint etc. Maybe it will, maybe it will just cause drag...

Which is why I said you're late to the party. My 3 fin setup works for me both downwind and
flat water. same setup same fins either downwind or all water board.

But better late than never, whatever setup works for you, just like you said, forget the single
fin setup, muti-fin is definitely where it's at IMO, especially for the technically challenged paddlers
like my self.

Well, actually, I was using 3 fins on a SUP at least 8 years ago.

But that aside, what is the theory behind having those 3 fins in a row rather than in a 2+1 configuration?

I'm pretty sure many here used 3 and more fins on a sup even before that in sup surfing.
But successfully using 3 or more fins on a sup race board is a different thing.

The theory behind this setup enables its multi-purpose usage. You can find pages and pages
of information and many videos that explains it in details including how to install.

You have so many boards, you can afford converting one and try it for your self instead of
spending time on speculations you can't establish. The multi-fin revolution doesn't mean taking
an old concept and try to make it fit into something it was never created for, but rather tweak
it in order to make it fit.