I have been hearing a lot of chatter re fin set ups in the smaller sups and how they can make so much difference to the performance of these boards. Keeping in mind there is different size riders and boards, has anyone got any thoughts or generic info on this please.
Ta

Personally, I cant go past AM2 fins, so much drive for me.

As I said in: www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/The-Surf-Fins-Thread/

I have come to 2 sets of fins as my favorite:

- C-Drives for boards I pump to speed and "throw around". Typically sub-7' boards. Extreme positive grip (wide base) and stellar reliability at speed in extreme situations (small tip does not "foil" in powerful sections). Australian made but ship wordwide , plenty of sizes, owner is super cool (you can buy any replacement one easily).

- FCS Nexus H3 for boards that I drive through the rails. Typically thin railed ~ 8' boards. These are the best fins I ever found to glide and accelerate during rail turns, less drag (and weight) than the C-Drives, but less grip at slow speeds. Quite overpriced however. I use them as thruster, quads, or quad+nubster, or twin+trailer.

Thus, for energetic and fast wide tailed fast short boards, I use C-Drives, thus I would use them also on vanguards.

Select to expand quote

colas said..
As I said in: www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/The-Surf-Fins-Thread/

I have come to 2 sets of fins as my favorite:

- C-Drives for boards I pump to speed and "throw around". Typically sub-7' boards. Extreme positive grip (wide base) and stellar reliability at speed in extreme situations (small tip does not "foil" in powerful sections). Australian made but ship wordwide , plenty of sizes, owner is super cool (you can buy any replacement one easily).

- FCS Nexus H3 for boards that I drive through the rails. Typically thin railed ~ 8' boards. These are the best fins I ever found to glide and accelerate during rail turns, less drag (and weight) than the C-Drives, but less grip at slow speeds. Quite overpriced however. I use them as thruster, quads, or quad+nubster, or twin+trailer.

Thus, for energetic and fast wide tailed fast short boards, I use C-Drives, thus I would use them also on vanguards.

Hey Colas, what size c drives are you using in quad setup?

Colas,

Can you please provide contact details for the C Drive supplier here in Australia.

Cheers Ozzie

Select to expand quote

ghost4man said...
Colas,

Can you please provide contact details for the C Drive supplier here in Australia.

Cheers Ozzie

C drive man is Troy ph 0478 222 591 super top bloke to deal with

Select to expand quote

Loz79 said..

ghost4man said...
Colas,

Can you please provide contact details for the C Drive supplier here in Australia.

Cheers Ozzie

C drive man is Troy ph 0478 222 591 super top bloke to deal with

Okay thankyou for this information mate!Ozzie

Has anyone tried a thruster setup yet? Just curious to know if the board will behave differently.

What weight are you?

Shapers Power quad set up with a nubster/darc drive centre rear fin. I'm 94kgs and like the feel of a larger fins for drive. You can always change the rears for a smaller set.

If you are lighter you can go smaller fins.

Fins are so personal so what is good for one may be crap for someone else.

Swap fins with your mates, you may find a great set up that feels right for you.

Hi Waz, 62kg dripping wet. Im running the Power Quad & nub setup in my Gulliver Box. I was told to take out the nub & relplace it with a kids size rear fin which is supposed to give a bit more drive & grip. Will try that & perhaps even C Drives. Cheers

I just ordered them via the website. If you have specific needs (replacement fins, etc.) juste mail/phone, everything is possible.
www.cdrivefins.com/

I used their sizing chart: www.cdrivefins.com/pages/Sizing-Guide.html
This means XL for my 100kg + QM rear quads

I tend to undersize them (use size L) for "long" (8') boards as XL provides a bit too much grip for my weak waves. XL on 7' boards gives a nice traction to leverage pumping however.

The Twins are stellar in the rearmost finboxes for wide tailed (Simmons) boards.

thanks Guys for the input.
Have reverted to testing myself and to be honest there is a huge difference in the way the board responds to different fins. Actually I can't believe it.
So far happiest using the 4 plus nubster but getting the sizing right seems to be an art as my boards seems quite sensitive to the suttle fin change.
Will keep you guys posted on my progress
thanks for the help too.

hey colas you mention above putting twin fins in the rear most slots for simmons style sups - I've always put twins into the outside slots on a quad set up, are you saying put em in the inner slots which are further to the rear (presumably to get your foot over them to turn more?). thx dools

Yup, look at my 3 sub-7' SUPs with different fin placement here: www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/Review/New-610-Simmons-SUP/?whichpage=3

The 3rd picture is especially telling: you see you will need to dig deep the rear corner to make the board turn, no dishpan possible with this setup. With such a wide tail,, you can imagine there is no way to turn them at speed if not with the foot on the leash plug.

It also explains why a 7' Simmons with fins on the tail feels like a 8' for paddling speed and handling: row is minimal.

Also you can see, the tail width difference between my Simmons and my fish tails are not so extreme. Clearly less that the difference between the various Simmons / Fish / Tomo - inspired design out there. So if my 2 boards work with fin setups so different, it means that I cannot offer a definitive advice for other boards other than "experminent widly!". The Simmons was definitely not working properly as a quad using the front fin boxes

thx colas and sorry to highjack this topic... I have an L41 simsup and the fin slots are nowhere near as far back as yours. can you recommend twin fins (futures) that would work best in this situation?

Try futures T1 set in the front and they will give you a lot of drive as they are a large front fin.

Put some smaller rears in the back and see what you think.

I have never ridden a L41, so I cannot offer advice, plus I think the rear future boxes are a different format from the front, so I guess yiu cannot put large fins in them anyways...

From the pics the L41 seem more fish than Simmons (pulled in tail, double oncave), so the quad setup may work.