Author Topic: A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set  (Read 6358 times)

Night Wing

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A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set
« on: February 17, 2020, 08:09:53 AM »
My next door neighbor and I went down to Surfside, Texas last Thursday, Feb 6th, to do a little jetty fishing for speckled trout (weakfish for those on th East Coast of the US). We had a good day where we both caught 10 keepers apiece ranging from 16"-22" in length.

On the way back home, we had to go though the small community of Surfside where all the beach houses are. These homes are places where the year round residents live and there are beach houses for rent by the weekends, week and month for "snow birds".

I'll cut to the chase now.

At one of the beachhouses, a resident had a yard sale going on and there were lots of surfing gear laid out on the ground and on tables. I thought I would stop and see if there were any "hidden jewels" which I could find.

On one table there were surfing fins for prone surfboards and sups. What caught my eye was a Gerry Lopez Futures GL1 (2 + 1) fin set. Bummer for me. :(

Since the lady home owner in charge of the yard sale saw me looking at the GL1 fins, she came over and started to talk to me. To make a long conversation short, I asked if she knew where her late husband had bought the GL1's from.

She told me she didn't know, but she also said her husband was a detailed oriented guy and who lived in a "paper empire" which means he kept every sales receipt from all of the "hobby" items he had purchased down through the decades in one huge paper folder in a filing cabinet in her home. Her late husband sounded just like me. ;)

I told her I was hoping to find a "gem" which were a set of Gerry Lopez Futures GL2 - 5 Fin set for a sup since the GL2's are installed on my Blue Planet "Duke" sup. This fin set is hard to find since they are discontinued. But if I could find them, I would have a backup set in case something happened to my original GL2's.

She told me if I would like, I could look through his folder and see if I could find the receipt for the GL1's to see where her husband had bought them from. I told her I would like that.

So she asked her daughter to go into their house and the daughter brought out the folder. It was a huge folder about a 12" in thickness. I told my next door neighbor, since I'm driving my truck, you're basically a "captive audience" right now. ;D He told me he didn't mind because he knows when I get on the trail of something, "I'm like a bloodhound on a blood hunt".

Anyhow, I did find the receipt for the GL1 fin set. It came from BC Surf in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I wrote the information down a piece of paper, thanked the woman for her hospitality and me and my neighbor continued on our way home from our fishing trip.

After cleaning the fish and taking care of the fishing equipment, I got on my computer to see if BC Surf had a website. BC did with a search field for their store. Later on I found out BC Surf has about 15 stores now.

Anyhow, they had "one" GL2 - 5 fin set for a sup left in stock and the picture of it was an exact match to the GL2's I have on my Duke". The GL2's were new with a price of ($140). But right below the price was a little context window button and it said, "Please see our Amazon store".

So I clicked on the button and their Amazon store came up and there were the GL2's. But then I got a shock because instead of $140, they were on clearance with a price of ($69). :o So I got out my credit card and placed the order which did go through on Feb 7th. When I went back to the link where the GL2's were, the page that came up now said, "currently unavailable" since I had bought the last item. The link is below and I don't know if it will still show up.

https://www.amazon.com/Future-Fins-Stand-Paddle-Board/dp/B01H0O40HW/ref=sr_1_54?tag=landlockedriv-20

Then in my email account, I got a confirmation order with a tracking number. This past Saturday, Feb 15th, my Gerry Lopez Futures GL2 - 5 Fin Set for a sup arrived at my home at 1:31 pm CST.

I really like these fins. They work perfect for my Duke at 190 liters for the typical waves we have here on the upper Texas coast along with my 144 pound weight.

Now for a closing "teaser".

Although I bought this second set of GL2's for my Duke; while on my computer, I came upon another item which I found on clearance on Sunday night, Feb 9th. So after making a phone call on Tuesday, Feb 11th, I'm in the process of having something finalized and which this second set of GL2's "will come into play" as well.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

NorthJerzSurfer

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Re: A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set
« Reply #1 on: February 17, 2020, 11:27:27 AM »
Nice NW.  Those are a great set of fins.  I also have a set.....i dont use them much anymore as they were on a bigger wave board and I have moved to much smaller fins- but when i got them they were kind of the original 'designed for sup' fins.

I actually use the two sides of the thruster on a twin plus FCS nubster in a longboard conversion box in the summer.



Night Wing

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Re: A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2020, 12:17:07 PM »
After I had placed my order, I went looking on the internet to see if I could find another place with the GL2's. Using Google and Ekoru search engines, I found quite a few links, but when I clicked on those links, 99% of the time the link took me to a page where it said, "no longer in stock".

I did find two places which had the GL2's still in stock, but on the pages, there was the "only 1 left in stock" prompt. One place was in Okinawa, Japan and the other place was in the country of New Zealand.

In Japan, the price was $25,800 yen which was equal to $234.68 USD . The place in New Zealand was around $275 New Zealand dollars which was equal to $177.09 USD. The GL2's perform great on my 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 liters Duke sup.

And at 2:30 pm CST my time, I'm going to make a phone call to check on an item and see what is going on with it.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

OkiWild

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Re: A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set
« Reply #3 on: February 17, 2020, 09:28:09 PM »
In Japan, the price was $25,800 yen which was equal to $234.68 USD .

This has been a major problem in Japan since...forever. In the past, distributors and retailers leaned on the little lie about "taxes" and "freight," and the language barrier between the average Japanese consumer and the foreign seller. They love to jack things up to north of 100% over RRP in the country of origin. The modern consumer has moved past this, and for the most part, prices have come down to reasonable, considering freight and tax. However, there are still the holdouts, and many times smaller manufacturers get sucked into this trap with the "sole distributor" racket. They either can't, or refuse to deal with the individual customer, so they rely on a single point to deal with their product in the country. That sole distributor will then jack the price way up, as they they wrongly believe they have a monopoly on the product, and everyone will have to go through them to get it.

For instance, Starboard is huge in Japan. Other than a good name they have an excellent distributor, and the retail price of a board is a few hundred over US RRP plus 10% Japanese consumption tax. That few hundred covers the freight and handling. Buying a single board from a US vendor at retail would cost the customer more, as freight on a single board is much more than Starboard Japan is paying with bulk shipment. On the other hand, I looked into a "popular" brand board a while back, and they want me to go through the distributor vs. buying direct from them. For the cost of one of their boards through the Japanese distributor,  I can buy a single board from a retail shop in the US, pay for the freight on that single board, pay the 10% tax, and come in way under the asking price here. I've seen a few of these boards around, and they were all brought in privately. As in the case of your fins, I spoke to the shop in question (same for the board manufacturer), explaining to them that everyone in Japan can go straight to Futures, or even a seller on Amazon.jp, and pay US RRP plus tax. With a few exceptions, you will never sell that product. No deal, and the fins have been sitting there...forever. Sometimes, they will move the product enough that the distributor makes some money, but the manufacturer gets screwed due to low sales volume. No one will ever buy those fins at that price, but they won't budge...LOL

A major appeal about Blue Planet was their willingness to deal with any single customer, and will ship to anywhere. This business model keeps local prices in check, and is better for the manufacturer in terms of sales volume and customer satisfaction.

Anyway... /rant. Glad to hear you got your fins. BTW, I'm also pretty happy with the Futures F6 Honeycomb and  F6 Alphas for performance SUP. But no US Box center if you want thruster...

Night Wing

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Re: A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set
« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2020, 05:53:16 AM »
BTW, I'm also pretty happy with the Futures F6 Honeycomb and  F6 Alphas for performance SUP. But no US Box center if you want thruster.


There are adapters where a FCS fin can fit into a US Center Box if someone wants to use a thruster. The link to an adapter is below.

https://www.amazon.com/FCS-model-Longboard-Box-Adapter/dp/B003JCL5XW

But I'm sure you already know about an adapter. The adapter has one major drawback for me and for me, this is a deal breaker. The original FSC fins have two set screws that bite into the tabs to securely set them into the FCS fin boxes. With the adapter shown above in the link, there are no set screws so if the FSC fin in the adapter hits an underwater object, the FSC fin can pop out of the adapter thereby losing the FSC fin.

Speaking just for myself, I'm not a fan of FCS fins. Why? Because the original FSC fins had two tabs and those two tabs needed two set screws to bite into the tabs to securely hold the fins in the FSC fin boxes. Furtures fins only needed one set screw for a front and rear sidebite boxes.

Secondly, those tabs on the FCS fins are the weak spot in those fins. They can break off much easier if they hit something broadside to them because they do not have a long base. Futures fins have a long base with no tabs and this long base provides more protection from a broadside hit with the same force that would be most likely break off an FCS fin.

My two objections were confirmed by someone else who did a YouTube video on fins and this video is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns_vFtPDmV0
« Last Edit: February 18, 2020, 05:55:39 AM by Night Wing »
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

exiled

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Re: A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2020, 12:22:35 PM »
The fcs adaptor does have 3 set screws, they come in 2 from the front and one from the rear. I don't think its the best design, but they are there.

OkiWild

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Re: A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2020, 05:31:42 PM »
Not on a SUP, but I've snapped a bunch of FCS1 tabs off, and have no use for them. I have the Futures center box adapter, and am currently doing R&D  ;D

ninja tuna

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Re: A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set
« Reply #7 on: February 18, 2020, 08:27:56 PM »
That is funny nightwing.  I worked at BC for 10 years
.

Night Wing

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Re: A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set
« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2020, 07:40:08 AM »
The reason why I like the GL2- 5 fin set of fins is because I surf my 10'5' Duke and my 11'1" One World with a 4 fin quad setup for the speed. Since both my Duke and One World are long, they both have a rounded pin tail and they both have 5 fin boxes.

Through fin experimentation, I have found with long length boards with a rounded pin tail, the pin tail acts like a "fifth fin" without having to put a short (in height) nubster fin (guitar pick) in the long 10" Futures center fin box. So this allows me to turn the long length boards with a 4 fin quad setup.

And it just so happens, Robert of Blue Planet says the same thing when I found his video which is below. Since the video is 14 minutes long, if you are short on time to watch the entire video, you can jump ahead to the 10:45 time mark where Robert mentions the rounded pin tail acting like a fifth fin.

But I think watching the entire video, from start to finish, is well worth the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umvyhcOYlTE
« Last Edit: February 19, 2020, 07:51:23 AM by Night Wing »
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Badger

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Re: A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2020, 08:15:18 AM »
Nightwing, here are the fins I PM'd you about.

I have a GL2 quad set and a GL1 thruster set.

$55 shipped for each set.
Kalama E3 6'1 x 23" 105L
Axis HPS 980 / PNG 1300
Sunova Flow  8'10 X 31"  119L
Me - 6'0" - 165lbs - 66yo

Night Wing

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Re: A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set
« Reply #10 on: February 19, 2020, 09:00:27 AM »
@ Badger

I'm going to hold off on purchasing your fins. The reason being, the spare Gerry Lopez GL2 - 5 Fin setup fins I have now in my possession, these spare fins may not be spares in a few days time. But if someone sees your fins, sell them to them. As they say in Texas, "A bird in hand is worth five in the bush."

I have something in the works right now as I type this post and until it is finalized, these spare fins will stay spare fins or they will be used on "something else" and will no longer be spares.

Until I get confirmation on the "other end" with whom I'm working with, I'm in limbo right now.

Anyhow, I thought I would post a picture of my spare GL2's (for now) and for a backdrop, I thought I would take a picture of them laying on the underside of my Duke with it's own GL2's installed as a 4 fin quad setup. The center fin of the GL2's, with the screw and square plate is easily seen, fits into the long 10" Futures center box

I just wish the Zone site would allow a Preview of a post with a picture or multiple pictures in them. Since I can't preview the picture, I just hope it takes.

Edit: Looks like the picture took. And if you left click on the picture, it will slightly enlarge again.
« Last Edit: February 19, 2020, 09:04:08 AM by Night Wing »
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

p06781

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Re: A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set
« Reply #11 on: February 20, 2020, 03:26:09 PM »
@badger , would you take $100 shipped for both sets of fins ?  Jim in PDX

Night Wing

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Re: A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set
« Reply #12 on: February 22, 2020, 05:56:42 AM »
Thought I would give a little edit here.

The "teaser" which I announced at the very end of my first post in this topic thread and still have in the works, due to unforeseen circumstances has been delayed by at least a week.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Badger

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Re: A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set
« Reply #13 on: February 23, 2020, 05:15:57 AM »
@badger , would you take $100 shipped for both sets of fins ?  Jim in PDX

Sorry, late reply. I haven't been checking the forum as often as I used to.

I was hoping to pocket $50 for each set. The extra $5 was to help pay for the shipping expense. Each set cost over $100. The GL1's still have the $112 price tag on the package.

I think $110 for both pairs shipped is a fantastic deal considering they are in excellent condition.

OkiWild sent me a PM asking if they are still available, but since you asked first I suppose you have first dibs.

« Last Edit: February 23, 2020, 05:19:15 AM by Badger »
Kalama E3 6'1 x 23" 105L
Axis HPS 980 / PNG 1300
Sunova Flow  8'10 X 31"  119L
Me - 6'0" - 165lbs - 66yo

mtnbkr

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Re: A Great Find: Gerry Lopez Futures GL2- 5 Fin Set
« Reply #14 on: February 23, 2020, 01:40:56 PM »
Badger just sent you a PM for the quad set of fins.

 


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