Hey all.
Another beautiful winter's morning.
I have been practicing nose riding (novice) on my 10' boards and was wondering if anyone could tell me how fin choice helps. It seems simpler on my rhinochaser with it's big fat tail and a 2 + 1 or thruster set ups of varying sizes, but these combos on my 10' deep mal style, with a much narrower tail seemed to not "stick" as well. Constantly popped up and surprised me.
The last 2 mornings I have tried a 9" fluid foils and it works a treat, really burying the tail in nicely, even though it is less surface area than the other combos.
Is it the depth of the fin in the water? How does it work?

Basically you want a big fin surface deep in the water. You want a big "wing" that will not stall at slow speed: so, lots of surface and chord length, and a thick profile.

And a big single is much better than a multi-fin configuration, that cannot go as slow without spinning out.

The classic fins for noseridings are the Hatchets or D shapes, such as:

Hatchet:



D fin:

Thanks Colas.
Would the hatchet be better for a combo of nose riding and surfing from the tail?
These are the 2 singles i currently have.

isn't it more to do with the rocker of the board?.....thought boards good for nose riding have a very flat rocker line......especially up front. Maybe unless your board has a shape ideal for nose riding you can change fins until the cows come home without making much difference ?

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GizzieNZ said...
isn't it more to do with the rocker of the board?.....thought boards good for nose riding have a very flat rocker line......especially up front. Maybe unless your board has a shape ideal for nose riding you can change fins until the cows come home without making much difference ?

It has a nice flat rocker and a generous concave. Fins have already proven to make a difference, that's why I asked for others advice.
I thought the saying on that side of the ditch was "until the sheep come home......"

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GizzieNZ said..
isn't it more to do with the rocker of the board?.....thought boards good for nose riding have a very flat rocker line.....

Flat rocker in front, but lots of rocker in the tail to "lock" the board close to the curl. And different shapes for different speeds..

But fins make a lot of difference.

Brenno, your second fin seem nice.

The Hatchet won't like to carve turns, it is more geared to pivot turns: run aft, break speed, pivot on the tail, then run back front to regain speed.
For a combo noserides + carving, I guess a 2+1 will be nice, and you could try a deep (10") fin with a small curved tip for control in turns. Or I read good things of the "rabbit ears" ones: basically they combine curves for carving and total area and depth for noseriding







Or all the derivatives of the Greenough 4A: wide base for hold, flex raked tip for carving (I like these, but I am not a longboard specialist)

if noseriding is your thing then I would say there are better fins than the two you have....both are really surfing orientated fins....less surface area towards the tip. A good hatchet fin will make it easier but you lose the ability to carve.....you tend to pivot the board with good noseriding fins. Saying that, good noseriding folks can do it on most fins!

I have a quad 8 ft 8 surf sup and it does cheater fives better than most of the other boards I have .....go figure!

Good thread.... I'm learning.... Thanks!

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supthecreek said..
Good thread.... I'm learning.... Thanks!

Yeah....as if you've never been on a longboard Hee heee!

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Brenno said..

GizzieNZ said...
isn't it more to do with the rocker of the board?.....thought boards good for nose riding have a very flat rocker line......especially up front. Maybe unless your board has a shape ideal for nose riding you can change fins until the cows come home without making much difference ?

It has a nice flat rocker and a generous concave. Fins have already proven to make a difference, that's why I asked for others advice.
I thought the saying on that side of the ditch was "until the sheep come home......"

we have cows

we tend to not encourage our goats to sup though

Had a couple of sessions using this Midget Farrelly 10", definitely makes a difference

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Slab said..

supthecreek said..
Good thread.... I'm learning.... Thanks!

Yeah....as if you've never been on a longboard Hee heee!

Yeah, Longboarding make understand how the single fin works (or whatever fin is too)
It depends of where the water pressure is applied .
For example during a bottom turn while applying weight on tail to get water reaction to get drive and speed, water pressure come cross the base of the fin so to be efficient fin need a wide base.
During a nose riding weight is applying on the nose far away from tail and therefore water pressure release around tail area and base fin , water running and releasing along the base fin.
So to avoid to spin out and loose control and drive provided by the total of the rail length, fin have to get further back the tail as possible the longer tip of fin has possible to keep the board going nose first . And said before depend of total rocker of board : more rocker deeper is that fin.
Brenno I would choose the first fin you've been pictured above here because she has a vertical rake for pivot turning and as much of far back bending curve at tip for nose riding

I haven't known all the ins and outs of "Why" fins work
I just learned what I like during the past 52 years....
MY preference has evolved to Big single fin, in the back of the box
Long stiff, big base fins provide drive for snappy tight turns and hard carving bottom turns... and seem to work best during a noseride.

Now, I have been learning "why" I like them
I prefer longboards with a "rolled up" tail rocker, so apparently that is why fins work better in the back of the box. My fin actually extend behind the tail, which aids in noserides.

Here is a fin I would love to have again 10.5", wide base, stiff and raked, Naish Nalu 10'6 fin

When I think of a hatchet fin, I think of Greenough's Stage 6, some people like them, some people don't, but they seem to work pretty good for nose riding.



Also some of the old football fins from windsurfing work really well for nose riding, but they can be hard to find. I've got one, and it's a hoot to use just for that.

Thanks for the feedback and pics, very interesting and appreciated.

One aspect of nose riding that is universally used is your fin must be all the way back as far as possible in the box.
Brenno you should try all your existing fins all the way back before,buying any of the traditional longboard fins that Colas has shown above.
Nose riding is going to be quite different on a larger sup compared to a traditional longboard,first you have a paddle to help with stalls and catching up to faster wave sections,
Second you have a much larger tail area that will react quite differently if you are caught trying to do pivot top turns in critical areas of the wave.
And finally, when noseriding you will normally not out run the wave as much as you would on a long board so ,fast reactive cutbacks will be much more difficult with the hatchet or D fin.
Just some food for thought.
Cheers,
Rocket.

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rodriguez said..
when noseriding you will normally not out run the wave as much as you would on a long board so ,fast reactive cutbacks will be much more difficult with the hatchet or D fin.

Yes, Hatchet or D fins are for retro boards that do not cutback anyways, just stall or pivot them. And normally, on the nose it should "lock" to the curl and automagically match its speed.
With modern longboards/longSUPs (such as the one I have), you are right, the board can easily outrun the curl, and you have to work to get back in it.

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rodriguez said..
One aspect of nose riding that is universally used is your fin must be all the way back as far as possible in the box.

Cheers Rocket,
This is a good tip that I have seen from a couple of people so far, will definitely take it on board.
I normally have my centre fin as far forward as possible, so interested to discover the difference.
There is an older prone surfer at my local, who talked me through walking to the nose. His name is Paul. Man, can he surf. I owe it to him to being mentally able to "unlock the stance", take two steps forward, then two back, relax, and complete the wave. Practice until confident, then take two more to make it four, return to the tail, and so on.
It's all in your mind, he said, anyone can do it.
He's dead right.

Hi Brenno,
I think it depends more on the board...I ride mine with a normal thruster set of side fins & a 5.5" tail fin & it noserides unreal...I have this set up in my 8'11 Jimmy Lewis Striker but i also had it in my 10' Laird that I previously owned...It allows the board to still performance surf...I spent quite a few years competing on longboards & rode Tolhurst's & had the same setup on there too... It just depends on your board & the waves you surf...

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robg1703 said..
Hi Brenno,
I think it depends more on the board...I ride mine with a normal thruster set of side fins & a 5.5" tail fin & it noserides unreal...I have this set up in my 8'11 Jimmy Lewis Striker but i also had it in my 10' Laird that I previously owned...It allows the board to still performance surf...I spent quite a few years competing on longboards & rode Tolhurst's & had the same setup on there too... It just depends on your board & the waves you surf...

I have a 9 5 Striker - just using the stock JL fin set up. Great wee board......so much fun. It works great longboard cruisy style with a 10 inch single fin too.

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Brenno said..
It's all in your mind, he said, anyone can do it.
He's dead right.

It is also in the practice on land: just cross-step your way around the house... you will definitly look ridiculous, but it will help a lot!