Interesting to see what everyone is using for fin set ups now with all the new boards . So what are you using and show us a pic.
I'm still a Thuster man , I had to add none for the Heli Dog Just to clarify a 2+1 is a big fin with two smaller trailer fins and a thruster is 3 similar size fins.

Quads , 2 plus 1 small centre rear on sub 8 ft boards

thruster AM2 shapers on 7'11 Speeed
love the AM2 shape, use on surfboards also.

I use piros v8 thrusters on my 10' style nearly all the way back in box.

I am always experimenting, especially since most of my boards are now in FCSII, I put fins in the boards before each session. But here are my current guidelines

First, what I like in fins:

- outline: a wide base and a thin tip, for positive grips in turns and reducing "foiling" at speed that stiffen too much the board for my taste.Think of a C-drive outline. I like also some rake, especially in the rear fins (the opposite of the "Controller" setup)

- foil: an hydrodynamic foil for a smooth feeling. I like some inside foil (concave on the inside faces of lateral fins), and a max thickness far from the leading edge: this gives me more efficiency in the profile (it adds controlled power in turns) at the expense of being more prone to stalling in high variations of the angle of attack, but since I do not perform fancy tricks, this is not an issue for me. Al Merrick and FCS Nexus fins have this kind of foil. On the other hand, I do not like the new "generic" FCSII fin line (Performer, Reactor, Accelerator, Carve) as they have their main width very close to the front, they feel a bit dead for me.

- flex: I like some controlled flex (like a sail opening in gusts). It is more tolerant to small mistakes and to going through turbulences that exist on the wave face. For the instance in the FCS line, the PC Carbon fins are too stiff for me, I like the PC ones best. Better surfers will prefer stiffer fins, I guess.

- setup: In SUPing, I tend to reduce the rear fin(s) size and grip (I use 50/50 profile for rear quad fins) compared to the standard prone surfboard fin setups. Also I tend to use bigger, stiffer fins at slow speed and in shorter boards. I tend to use the thruster/quad/five fins setup as a way to balance the natural behavior of a board: using stiff boards as a thruster to loosen them up, and quads on loose boards to add drive. I only use a nubster or fifth fin if the board goes "shopping cart wobbles" between turns, which is not the case in my current quiver.

In practice, this means for my current quiver:


From left to right:

- Al Merrick Twin fins + trailer (with lots of rake) for my 9'3" modern noserider for all around sessions. For pure noseriding, I would put 2 big central fins of a thruster set (such as FCSII Performer XL) as quad rears. For hotdogging sessions, I will move the trailer to the side box on my front side, for an asymetrical setup (I can do it in the water). For very small waves, I can use Mark Richards twins, that have a fuller template and a profile less prone to stalling.

- FCS Nexus L fins for my 7'11" "mini gun". Here in thruster setup, but most of the time in a quad setup with FCS GX-Q rears, that are smoother, smaller, and more flexible than the standard nexus rears. I use the thruster setup if I need to do small, quick turns (if the waves are not clean). I also liked a lot a S-Wings setup with 2 S-Wings front and a bigger trailer than the regular S-Wing set, S-Wings give a super smooth ride. Alas, they are currently built with a cheap resin that deforms over time. I use Nexus fins as this is my only board with FCS1 boxes. With FCSII I would have used the Al Merrick L FCSII thruster set, optionally with 2 small 80/20 or 50/50 rears for a quad setup.

- Al Merrick L FCSII thruster set for my 7'5" "big shortboard". I love their flex and profile, and the fact that the center fin is smaller than the sides. This board has a very powerful tail, a bit like the Slater design "sci-fi", and quads are a bit too powerful for it. I can also use Al Merrick Twin fin + trailer set in small period swell.

- Al Merrick L FCSII thruster set too for my 7'4" "narrow shortboard" for hollow conditions. Although I could use a quad setup with small rears if the period is not too high, to give a little more boost to the narrow tail.

- Al Merrick L FCSII thruster set too for my 7'3" "low volume shortboard". This is my main board and fin setup.

- Al Merrick L FCSII twins or thruster front fins + Gerry Lopez FCSII quad rears, they are 50/50 and quite small for my 6'10" small wave fish. I plan to test with 2 Al Merrick trailers, as I love their rake in controlling carving turns

- shallow (2" deep) keel fins on my 6'10" "Simmons" foil board, helps me to unleash all my paddling power on takeoff with no drawbacks.

As you can see, currently a set of Al Merrick twins (with an extra trailer for using as quad rears) + a set of Al Merrick thruster L would be sufficient for all my quiver. Needing only 2 sets of fins to share on all my quiver is quite a substantial saving, thanks to the FCSII system.

10' Longboard and I use either 2 + 1 (7" or 8") and single 9?

Shortboards, quads. Longboards smaller size, quads, big size, single. Gun, single with small sidebites.

Nice quiver Colas , impressive hows the 6-10 foil board going . Love the shape of that one.

Caution love the AM2's that's what I designed my fins around those and the T1's great fins.

Oh to have the time to try different set ups in the same board on the same waves on the same day.
I love fins, and have a lot, trying to get a bit smart.
After going way too big, current surf set up on 12' Gun (tiny waves only) 7" centre and 3.7 sides.

Windsurf mode swap to a 9" centre forward in the box.


11' Nalu I was trying a FCS II 10" as a single - was very skittery (if that's a word), not unstable but jumping around side to side in broken water.
Reverted to the stock Naish 2 + 1 fins, much smoother.
Disclaimer, to measure my surfing ability on any scale would be difficult.

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Piros said..
Nice quiver Colas , impressive hows the 6-10 foil board going . Love the shape of that one.

Quite fun. I reckon that after the initial learning phase, going as short as possible with a SUP is the way to go, the added control once airborne is very noticeable due to the drastically reduced swing weight.

The semi pointed nose paddles very nicely, penetrating the water more efficiently than a wider nose. However, I think I would prefer the shape to its left: with the pointed nose, you must be somewhat careful on takeoff not to push too hard on the front as you may nosedive. With a squarish nose, you can move your weight around to "pump" the foil on takeoff without worrying too much of what is happening to the nose.

I would also reduce the width (for faster paddling + less risk of touching the water in turns) and the length (to reduce swing weight), but add more thickness to keep some volume. Basically like what Dave Kalama and Brett Lickle are doing with their boards.
But I must say that paddling back to the lineup after a long foil ride take a looooong time with short boards :-(

However, I dont really foil anymore since mid-september. No more crowds and powerful winter waves means that conditions are either mega-fun for regular SUPing or too extreme to risk foiling in them (With its big tide range, in Hossegor weak waves can become tubular in minutes). But I will clock a lot of foil time in the spring with its holiday crowds, that's for sure.

I've already posted pics of my fin setups on my personal Sunova range I own

But, here are the details:
Flow 8'7 - Quad for more hollow and ramped waves, PCC7's, the fronts are bigger than the trailing and it grips well.. Thuster for slop and humpy shallower crumble and slash and burn .. again PCC7's with the fronts being the same as the Quad and the center fin is the same size too.. I'm currently riding it like this and have been for some time now in shorebreaks and humpy stuff.
Speeed 8'10 - Thruster, because it would look really nasty if I chiselled a couple of extra boxes in it again PCC7's and I'd not like to try it with smaller fins than are in it, those channels grip hard as it is and I like the speed produced from it with a big lump of grip for hard backfooted cutbacks.. it's a big Board and needs drive.
Shroom 8'0 - Sunovas std Quad setup, I have tried taking the rears out to loosen the tail up.. and it works but it does slip and release really easily in anything bigger than humpy waist high.. so mainly surf it in its original Quad setup and I like the grip in slop..

My two cents woth and I'm not as experienced as a lot of the team here, 110kg +/- and 5'11.

Ive found some board ride better s a thruster or quad and then you can dial in particular fins.

My Jimmy Lewis worldwide 9'9 is very ordinary as a thruster, turn it into a quad and look out its a totally different but better board (JL fronts shapers rears).

My dogman inspired custom deep 10' is the opposite , I started as a quad because thats what I liked in the JL, I wasn't stoked, switched it out to a thruster (dogman shapers) and what a board .... awesome.

Fins to me are such a personal item, one fin may work for me yet not for another even if we rode the same board and were the same weight and height. Interesting that Colas would say he's not that impressed with the new fcs2 range, I would agree in part to this, the performer front has an ever so slight concave and the rears a convex near the leading edge. For me this isn't working that great. Bring in the Carve model, now this works, slightly more raked and with symmetrical rears as quads, I was a bit nervous about these for one I'd never ridden a quad setup and two the symmetrical thing. Anyway it's good fun trying different setups. Also the thruster works well and fun on the 7" single not very often though.

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Nozza said..
Oh to have the time to try different set ups in the same board on the same waves on the same day.

FCSII is great for this: I have done sessions with 2 spare fins inside the pouch below the zipper of a chest zip wetsuit, changing the setup quite often in the session. I guess a fanny pack could work, too.
You must be careful to not drop them however, fins sink...

I had a 2 + 1 setup in my Blue Planet Funstick but last session changed to the quad fins the board came with. It was like a different board, like taking the handbrake off.

I'm thinking of getting a better set of quads. Was looking at the Gerry Lopez Quads but they aren't available anymore. WetFins suggested Shapers Fins - JC01 (Future) 5 Fin Set (2+1 and Quad) as an alternative. I'd be interested to hear if anyone's used them.

Cheers Mark

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MarkW81 said..
I had a 2 + 1 setup in my Blue Planet Funstick but last session changed to the quad fins the board came with. It was like a different board, like taking the handbrake off.

I'm thinking of getting a better set of quads. Was looking at the Gerry Lopez Quads but they aren't available anymore. WetFins suggested Shapers Fins - JC01 (Future) 5 Fin Set (2+1 and Quad) as an alternative. I'd be interested to hear if anyone's used them.

Cheers Mark

Those Gerry's are really big look at a set of T1's at the front and AM2 rears

Pfffft no place for small fins on 666 boards
you are dish panning stop kidding yourselves.

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micksmith said..
Interesting that Colas would say he's not that impressed with the new fcs2 range, I would agree in part to this, the performer front has an ever so slight concave and the rears a convex near the leading edge. For me this isn't working that great.

There was an interesting video with some co-founder of FCS discussing fins (see it below) with the progression project blog author. He is not a technical guy but his insight were interesting, especially on the inside foil fins. There is no question that these fins are better hydrodynamically (no plane has wings with a flat lower side), but in tests, all the pro level guys were preferring the flat sided fins. They finally found that the feeling the pro liked was provided specifically by the sharp angle where the flat side was meeting the leading edge in the traditional foils. It seems to provide a positive, well defined bite, at the expense of some added drag and earlier stalling.

This may be why you do not like the inside foil in fins. They give a tad more speed and fluid drive, but their response is not as immediate as with flat sided fins

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Piros said..
Those Gerry's are really big look at a set of T1's at the front and AM2 rears

I confirm, I had the Gerry Lopez on a Gerry Lopez board with Future boxes, and there was definitively something wrong with them. They felt slow and cumbersome, maybe too big or with a problem in the foil.

I have nearly no experience with the fins available in future boxes, but I would definitively buy a set of Al Merrick Twins + trailers and an Al Merrick thruster set in the size for your weight, plus a pair of very small quad trailers, the QD2 3.75 for instance on their online shop, either in 80/20 foil if you like a pure quad feeling, or 50/50 if you want to tame it a bit to inject some thruster feel in it. This this kind of quiver, you should be able to experiment a very wide range of fin setups.

Fins more fun than shoes..... different types of waves different fin fun..like... knee high slow summer noserider runners on you 8'6 Space Pickle with a cutaway D fin..... Xsmall quads on the same wave gets nose's with drift on GL 9'0.... xxl twins lets me use all of 9'5 Starby in big washing machine lump n bump ..... same board Big clean waves- Glide fins; WL Revolution ..... Bigger out back when taking late drop'n run, got this football fin....
Or are fins like music ....

On performance boards, I am also a thruster guy.
After setting up a few boards as quads, I have always gone back to thrusters

Here are set-ups I use for different style SUP's

Jimmy Lewis 8'7 I find I like thruster better than Quad so far. more drive.

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toolate said..
Jimmy Lewis 8'7 I find I like thruster better than Quad so far. more drive.

Yeah I find on smaller performance Sups with pulled in tails , the Thruster does a tighter pivot turn keeping you closer in the pocket , where the quads produce great down the line speed but have a wider turning arc like a shopping trolley.

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MarkW81 said..
I had a 2 + 1 setup in my Blue Planet Funstick but last session changed to the quad fins the board came with. It was like a different board, like taking the handbrake off.

I'm thinking of getting a better set of quads. Was looking at the Gerry Lopez Quads but they aren't available anymore. WetFins suggested Shapers Fins - JC01 (Future) 5 Fin Set (2+1 and Quad) as an alternative. I'd be interested to hear if anyone's used them.

Cheers Mark

Gday mark I haven't used the shapers ,but I did buy a set of blue planet quads which worked really well for me .you might be able t get them through blue planet Australia on the n.s.w. Central coast

On my Sunova Acid 8'10 @120L I have just started using the Maui Fin Co Kai v2 Thrusters: https://mfchawaii.com/catalog/surf/surf-fins/v2-thruster-set/

OMG these fins run faster and turn tighter than the FCS Nexus H3 I was using. I use the large Maui Fin Co Kai v2 surf fins rather than the SUP fins in thruster set up with the centre fin slightly smaller than the the side fins so a "2 -1" haha.

Yeah fins are like props on a Boat and disclaimer I don't sell fins anymore . But as far as stock fins go Sunova do a great job and Bert was selecting what boards were 3 or 5 fin but now most of the range has multi boxes . Nice work Steve0 on the Maui. The solid Sunova stock fins are nice but you are now feeling the multi flex and power return of the Maui which is a great fin set .

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Piros said..
Yeah fins are like props on a Boat and disclaimer I don't sell fins anymore . But as far as stock fins go Sunova do a great job and Bert was selecting what boards were 3 or 5 fin but now most of the range has multi boxes . Nice work Steve0 on the Maui. The solid Sunova stock fins are nice but you are now feeling the multi flex and power return of the Maui which is a great fin set .

Yeah I am a fin fanatic and always play around with fins and am the NZ importer of K4 windsurfing fins which have a lot of flex. The stock Sunova fins are very large with a bit of flex. I then got the FCS Nexus H3 with a more upright profile and more flex which sharpened up the ride for sure and offered more pivot. Then took a punt on the Maui Fin Co Kai v2 Thrusters which feel like they accelerate quite a bit faster and can really load up in the bottom turn to give a tight turn with more feedback i.e. I can sense what the fins are trying to do through my back foot. (Hard to explain, but my experience with flexy fins is that you can "feel" the fins loading up in a bottom turn and then mid transition just when you head back up the face you feel the fins release the energy loaded up from the bottom turn to give a extra squirt of speed just when you need it. Especially wavesailing DTL on a windsurfer as you have sooo much speed and power from the rig you can really leverage the rail and fins and feel their flex. I am now finding on a SUP when you stick the paddle in the wave face you have similar leverage, but less speed, and finding with flexy fins I now get a similar feedback from them which I love the feel of as more engaging rather than feeling like being on rail way tracks.)

I guess most qualities of the MFC fins derives from the care they put into having a very good foil profile. On my windsurfing boards, the MFC fins were one of the best foils I ever ridden.

Piros check your Private Messages if you would. Thanks.

Done

I mainly use the old TC red line thruster on my SUP of 6'6" 29" and on 7'11" 29" with 6 channels bottom witch are my main boards because SUP as much shorter and narrower as I can stand on are not easy to do bury their rails. So I avoid all the foiled fins because the addition of positiveness of the concave intrados of those fin need an extra torque to sink rails and therefore harder to sink the all tail of the board.
On an other board of 8'8" I use the twin MR with a twin of GX settled forward the MR . This system of those 4 fins does a very good TWINZER one. I love it. If I may have a twin from Scotty I should have a go on it with this twinzer made of MR+ GX fcs fin.
Piros , I remember the demo you've made about the cant and flat foiled fin of JP's board. ( with the help of the beer can as a square!) I reckon you was already on a good way.

BTW ; I use the AB2 on my 7'11"six channels bottom when it's getting hollower. The AB2 are almost 90/10 foiled.

Recently took master shaper Bert's advice and tried two larger side fins and smaller centre on my ten foot Sunova. Stock Sunova 105 sides and 4.5 Futures centre. After using two plus one in a few different ways. Has really increased the performance and feels faster, looser and more responsive. Just left me a little confused how a ten footer can be set agile. Doesn't want to be surfed slow and cruise. Nose riding now super sensitive, knife edge critical.