On a roll with Twins for next trip.
Cdrive,

Comparison with XL and Grom





Cdrive club sandwich

Also custom, Hanalei NRG 525 Twins, Phat foil .
These have inside foils from base to tip. I found it difficult to capture the foil as my eye and the lens see it differently. So front n back flat pics look plain . As you see from angle pics the foil is extensive.
Am open to techniques on how to better capture these foils














Used a chalk stick to highlight the crest .
The refraction in sunlight is awesome , again hard to capture.

NRG center on 525

After enjoying the Q2 XL as Twins I was intrigued to try the Q3 550 prototype custom with flip tips n Phat foil as Twin and trailer.
The inner foil starts at base and flows through to the flip tip.


Next pics show flip, foils and refraction

Had a play with video to highlight inner foiling but wouldn't load.
It looked like liquid flowing
So took some angle shots





How sick are the NRG , thru the moving lens they look like molten glass
All photo tech advice welcome

Next step is to reshape Gearbox base to Smik / Starboard sides base ( still don't know name of this style of side box ) to keep lots of beef in base. With max for/aft adjustment.

Put Shapers AP 5.79 with Cdrive Twins overlay

Twins lineup









A mix of Twins for different waves, days and moods.

I was wanting to get a better fit in the Smik side fin box so I got a Profile gauge . To trace the contour of the cavity for reshaping the fin tabs allowing full adjustment.
A bit of tweaking needed on Q2 's

Pre reshaping

Full Smik Hipster adjustment potential

Avro Amber Ambiance


Great hold on the steep choppy faces

Hi Bighugg, I have the Smik Hipster longboard on order, whats your go to setup to get the most out of the Smik?

Hi, Choice... Enjoy... go with Scotty's fins for awhile in a range of conditions as a benchmark to see if you are wanting something else or not. Scotty has put some time in on his fins
The Hipster is a unique critter so you may need to keep a open mind and get them feet moving front to rear to make it happen
If you haven't Hipster'ed before.... Custom ?

Nothing wrong with the stock fins, but in the spirit of chasing the dragon with some retail therapy am wondering what one of these would do to a smik bonza... for that matter what is the logic behind the shape?

Interesting you should ask have been working on this with specifically for your environment

Where do you buy sup fins from?

Picked up a Tyler Warren 11" Pivot beast.
Because, well, why the feck not?!?
I mean what's not to love about a beautifully laid up centre fin.
It's a thing of beauty. Prolly won't make me surf as good as Tyler but I can pretend.

PS - if you haven't seen Tyler surf - check out One California Day.
Just don't blame me when you realise you've been living a false existence all this time and need to sell all your short boards, so you can get yourself a longboard.

Very beautiful fin, the blue fade. Single fin love it.

For sure J - I love running single fins eh. There's a lot to be said for simplicity in design. I suppose that's why dorsal fins on dolphins and sharks etc haven't changed in millions of years.

Select to expand quote

MangoDingo said..


Picked up a Tyler Warren 11" Pivot beast.
Because, well, why the feck not?!?
I mean what's not to love about a beautifully laid up centre fin.
It's a thing of beauty. Prolly won't make me surf as good as Tyler but I can pretend.

Mango, beautiful fin,a lot of GG in that but with more tip area,which suggests it is stiffer,more of a pivot than an alrounder ? That combo interest me! ,on the Tyler story I still watch him surf the sequence on the green Terry Martin 11ft absolutely my favourite bit ,beautiful minimal surfing

Hey JAW, cheers man
Yeah, spot on, she's got bugger all flex and there's a heap of of fin from the base running pretty full through to the tip - yep it's gonna have plenty of GG! Full power fin.
And man - how good is that Tyler sequence! Definitely some of my favourite surfing to watch ever. That whole movie is just incredible - Joe Curran at Rincon, Joel Tudor, Alex Knost - such incredible surfing. But I remember when I saw that Tyler sequence for the first time it was one of those 'stop what you're doing' moments and just watch. He's a class act eh.

Novice in regards to fin knowledge here. I'm thinking of adding a bigger centre fin to try and add some stability to a Starboard Pro. At the moment i'm leaning towards the Gohard 7" Bombshell. from 3dfins. Any thoughts/advice on this?

Adding a bigger fin for stability is not a good idea. You will pay a huge price in liveliness for very little stability gain, if any.

Better just to work a bit on your balance technique: feet closer to the stringer and staggered. You will thus gain in balance, and in performance. A win-win!

New addition to the fin quiver,
Hanalei Bonza 5 fin set