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colas said..
FYI, I just saw that the M fiberglass (orange) fins in FCS system are currently on sale at 115AUD the thruster set. But not the other models.

Cheers for the heads up, that was just the push I needed to order a set!!!

Running thruster with larger size on sides and smaller in center, love it. Going to surf more powerful waves this week, maybe 2-3 ft overhead @12s if I venture to biggest spot. Think I should change setup at all? Like all small or all big? Thanks

The bigger rear should make the board a little more stable in challenging conditions at the expense of turning, but I doubt you would see any problems just due to the greater push of medium sized surf. You might also want to play with a true smaller trailer more like 3.75 inches to really loosen it up. I like the quobba mediums I tried but I have serious doubts about the weird base design making a sup "faster" or being very noticeable vs fins of a similar size and foil. Sups gather so much momentum from the wave its hard for me to believe the small amount of drag difference between fins can make the board actually go faster in a straight line. I think we are mostly feeling differences in lateral resistance and turning when we use different fins.

Thanks SLS!

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slsurf said..
I have serious doubts about the weird base design making a sup "faster" or being very noticeable vs fins of a similar size and foil.

I definitely felt the difference. It is not noticeable on weak or mushy waves, but on fast sections, or more generally, if you properly try to generate speed by using as much as possible the wave power in the upper third, you will feel noticeable less drag than with standard fins, and this effect is more present the faster you go.

The theory is that most of the drag induced by fins actually occurs close to the hull, not at the tip. And generating proper vortexes near the base to avoid building resisting pressure helps much more that it would seem. It is possible that due to the complex interactions taking place with the hull, a modest fin effect may be amplified noticeably. And this reduction of extra pressure on the fin make it hold better, as it can tolerate more push on it before stalling.

On the setup, I use L fronts + M rear(s) on all my performance boards. Thruster setup on narrow tails, quad setup on wider tails. Putting a L in rear will stiffen a bit more the board, add a tad more drag, but make it a bit more safe in power. I guess it depends on your surfing style: you will not need a bigger fin if you use the rail and have your rear foot back enough. But you way want to switch to a quad setup if you are afraid to have a wider tail not hold in bigger surf.

All M will give you more speed, but if you are heavy, or use a board with thick rails, you may spin out or feel some wasted power (fins will drift a bit) on heavy turns. I used all M even at 100kg for 1 year before the L were available, and I enjoyed the extra speed, then all L was quite secure, and I settled on L+M for what I feel is a nice personal compromise.

Thanks Colas! M/L combo felt great this morning, need to try all M one of these days.

An interesting "100% OZ" independent review of the Sunova Acid + Quobba L

You can see at 5:37 the exact condition where the Quobba will blow your mind the first time you encounter it: a fast section, trying to gain as much speed as possible on the upper third of the wave... For me, this was love at first feel.Then, once you experimented the feeling, you are able to reproduce it on weaker waves, because you know the speed reserve is there, and you can go tap it in places where you would get stuck with other fins.

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colas said..
An interesting "100% OZ" independent review of the Sunova Acid + Quobba L

You can see at 5:37 the exact condition where the Quobba will blow your mind the first time you encounter it: a fast section, trying to gain as much speed as possible on the upper third of the wave... For me, this was love at first feel.Then, once you experimented the feeling, you are able to reproduce it on weaker waves, because you know the speed reserve is there, and you can go tap it in places where you would get stuck with other fins.

Ha! Close Colas but Al is 100% Kiwi bro :) I have the medium quobbas and concur, great smooth speed with freaky hold. I don't notice so much of a difference in less grunty swell but when the waves light up so do these fins. Agree Colas, it's a nice challenge to try to get that speed effect in the weaker stuff.

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t457118 said..
Ha! Close Colas but Al is 100% Kiwi bro :)

Oops, sorry for the mistake! :-)

Ordered a set of oranges on special (pretty hard to resist fins on special).

And then watching the waterflow animation and thinking about stories of how they need speed to get the vortex thing happening thus mitigating the drag.

We have quite powerless waves at the best of times. So I wonder if ever would go fast enough to make them click into fast mode?

Also, I wonder if these would actually have more drag that normal fins when in slow mode?

Damn brain... now I put the kibosh on my perception.

Oh well, I'll use them keep them for when we can go to G Land.

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finsup said..
We have quite powerless waves at the best of times. So I wonder if ever would go fast enough to make them click into fast mode?

Also, I wonder if these would actually have more drag that normal fins when in slow mode?

I didnt feel any slowdown relative to normal fins in slow waves.

You can go fast enough in slow waves to feel the Quobba effect, you just have to learn how to pump and use the upper third of the wave.
Pumping on a skateboard (especially on the "surfing" ones with loose front truck) help to learn pumping.

Actually, pumping on a wave (the turn-based one, not the Huntington hop) is very similar to pumping a foil:
- you need speed to feel it. Unlike prone surfing, you can use the paddle to get more easily up to this initial speed
- quick, nervous movements with a tight range of motion
- the hard part is getting the feel for the first time. Once it happens, it is unforgettable, and becomes easier to reproduce.

For example, pumping on very weak "waves" (4s period):





This howto is good:



Compare with what not to do on this video, starting at 3:00
- using a long cumbersome board
- not paddling hard enough on take off to generate as much speed as possible
- staying too far from the curl (the breaking point), on the shoulder
- staying on the lower part of the wave (the most important!)
- staying static
- not trying to pump by turning. On the opposite, he attempts a feeble up and down Huntington hop that cannot work with longboards

?t=179

Quobba will not help you much for initiating pumping, but you will have better rewards in being able to reach higher speeds.

There is hope yet! righto onto it. I have a surf skate too will channel that mojo.

BTW Colas you got me looking up Henri Herbert. That dude is a machine. And it's funny I bought a CD on a whim out of a bargain bin years ago (i can't remember why I think I just liked the cover ), Burning Your House Down by The Jim Jones Review. Now that is a great pre-surf record. It's gotta be loud though

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backbeach said..
Hey Jaw Taryn told me they're also trialling and developing a single fin which will be pretty bloody exciting

And apparently, they are working currently on:

The shifter fin
Quads
Longboard fin
SUP centre fin
Twin fin
Windsurf fin

No news when each may end up in production .... if at all. It is a hard time for a small young company to manage survival and perform R&D.

Too bad I do not Windsurf anymore. A Quobba Windsurfing fin would be a killer!

Have been using quobbas for a few weeks now. I don't have a performance SUP anymore, and so have just been using them on my prone surfboards.

Basically, I've never really given much time to thruster setups because they've never felt right to me. I've usually ridden quads or twins, and thrusters would always seem like they had a handbrake on. Reading this thread, I thought I'd give them a go, so got myself a set of the mediums and a set of the large. I usually ride large size fins (I'm 85kg), but due to my previous experiences with thrusters being so pivoty compared to my usual style, I thought I'd try the mediums first.

The speed was immediately apparent. It completely changed the way I thought about thrusters, and now it felt like the handbrake wasn't on and I was holding the speed comparable to my twin and quad setups. I've actually bought another second-hand thruster board to try them with, and am now enjoying riding thruster setups after years of disliking them.

The fin templates are generally smaller compared to the equivalent sizing in other fin manufacturers, but despite this I've never slipped out with the mediums (and we've had some solid conditions the last few weeks in Sydney to test them out with). Granted, that may not be the case with a SUP. Not sure whether to try the large ones or move them on while they're still unused.

Gurus - if you are a beginner/intermediate will quobba fins be wasted? (Asking for a friend). I have a Jimmy Lewis destroyer, will I need an adapter for the US fin box (centre)? Do I need anything for the side fins?
Thanks!

I do not think a beginner will see a difference, but the intermediate friends who tried them in good waves were sold on them instantly.
Good surfers will see a difference even in mush weak waves, because they know how to generate speed and thus make the quobba work. But intermediates will not see a big difference in slow waves.

For the destroyer you need to ask for a custom order:
- Future base for sides
- FCS base for central
+ buy a FCS/US Box adapter (and I recommend a Finjak)

Note that you can make a Future / US Box adapter yourself, but the FCS adapter is the simplest solution.

got myself a set of quobbas .yesterday .gotta see what the who ha is all about ,trying this arvo on my 8'7 placid ,large fronts and medium rears ,note i don't really like the c-drive fins as they keep me going straight and found the time laps coming off the lip a bit of a drag ..so hope these quobbas are going to speed the placid up a little and still give me the looseness i want ,such nicely presented package ,nice little bags and stickers too ...Thanks for the speedy post to Quobba ,reporting back soon .

Well I tried the Quobbas in pretty average on shore surf today on the 8,7 Sunova placid ,i just had to try them ,the curiosity was killing me ,it was maybe 2-4 foot sharp cruiser waves ,but what has been said already about these fins i felt on the second wave ...i wondered where my fins where ...you just don't feel them ,light and very loose feel ,had a few good wave face appeared ..and i gave it my all ,up the tail and really throwing it around ,nice top to bottom turns with no friction .and good release on turns ...it was weird ..just simply total looseness with no hard fin feeling ..I'm putting these on my flow ,.. I had large fronts ,medium rears ,(quad) thought the rears might be too big ,but no ,perfect sizing .for my weight and board size
looking forward to more sessions ,but so far Like them .. I just kept smiling and turning my board over to see if I had fins in ...friction free quobbas Yeow .

Bit the bullet and ordered a set of large carbon, will be used in both custom sup currently being glassed and kneeboards which I have dialled so will be interesting to see!

Please report back Kovert. I must confess that I am a cynic (if they are so good why aren't pros using them?), but reviews like Tardy's are hard to dismiss.

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Ishie said..
if they are so good why aren't pros using them?)

Well, pro are sponsored, so they use what they get paid for... and your reaction shows that the money spent by the sponsors works :-)

Also, pros are notoriously reluctant to try new things, as any change will require them to re-adapt to it. Plus a pro may not need a "better" (less drag more hold) fin: they honed their skills for years with fins having drag, and this drag may be now essential to their surfing. FCS found it with the inner foil fins: they were more efficient, but pros did not like them because they missed the drag of the edge to the flat side on the edge, that they became used to for control and relied on.

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Tardy said..
Well I tried the Quobbas in pretty average on shore surf today on the 8,7 Sunova placid ,i just had to try them ,the curiosity was killing me ,it was maybe 2-4 foot sharp cruiser waves ,but what has been said already about these fins i felt on the second wave ...i wondered where my fins where ...you just don't feel them ,light and very loose feel ,had a few good wave face appeared ..and i gave it my all ,up the tail and really throwing it around ,nice top to bottom turns with no friction .and good release on turns ...it was weird ..just simply total looseness with no hard fin feeling ..I'm putting these on my flow ,.. I had large fronts ,medium rears ,(quad) thought the rears might be too big ,but no ,perfect sizing .for my weight and board size
looking forward to more sessions ,but so far Like them .. I just kept smiling and turning my board over to see if I had fins in ...friction free quobbas Yeow .

Like you my interest is quite piqued. Been waiting for quads but you seem to use the thruster fin to run a quad?

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surfinJ said..

Tardy said..
Well I tried the Quobbas in pretty average on shore surf today on the 8,7 Sunova placid ,i just had to try them ,the curiosity was killing me ,it was maybe 2-4 foot sharp cruiser waves ,but what has been said already about these fins i felt on the second wave ...i wondered where my fins where ...you just don't feel them ,light and very loose feel ,had a few good wave face appeared ..and i gave it my all ,up the tail and really throwing it around ,nice top to bottom turns with no friction .and good release on turns ...it was weird ..just simply total looseness with no hard fin feeling ..I'm putting these on my flow ,.. I had large fronts ,medium rears ,(quad) thought the rears might be too big ,but no ,perfect sizing .for my weight and board size
looking forward to more sessions ,but so far Like them .. I just kept smiling and turning my board over to see if I had fins in ...friction free quobbas Yeow .

Like you my interest is quite piqued. Been waiting for quads but you seem to use the thruster fin to run a quad?

good news is a quad set is being tested and will be released in a couple of months ,Taryn tells me .but running 4 flat sided fins
seems to work just fine with the quobbas .using the smaller medium size rears ,I really can't notice the difference due to the no drag syndrome, and the looseness is still there ...very much so ..even done a couple of controlled tail slides .
I'm hoping to get sponsored by Quobba ,but haven't talk to them about it yet .

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colas said..
I found my ultimate fin setup: Quobba Fins Large in front, and Quobba Fins Small in the rear. An explosive combo: Speed, Hold and Looseness...

OTOH I tried a quad setup with 2 quobba rear fins, and it was definitely too stiff for me, I am used to very small rears in quads.

also found the 2 medium rears too big for my flow, quad set up ,with large front ,even though it was very fast ,couldn't turn it very well
without dumping off the speed ,so will put 2 FCS smaller rear fins on ..might try your ultimate set up colas .

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Tardy said..
also found the 2 medium rears too big for my flow, quad set up ,with large front ,even though it was very fast ,couldn't turn it very well
without dumping off the speed ,so will put 2 FCS smaller rear fins on ..might try your ultimate set up colas .

Actually, I am now using M Quobba as rear quads, as I got used to them. I just needed to be sure my rear foot was a bit more aft.

On my 8'4" Karmen, first from left, 2 symmetrical ones (centers), for added flow, this is the board I use for max carving.
On my 6'10" One (second from right), 2 asymmetrical ones (sides), for added squirt in turns to generate speed, this is my board for micro waves. At the time of this picture I had also a nubster, but not anymore, I do not need it in small waves.

These are my two boards dedicated to Horizontal surfing.



I also now use a L sides + M center carbon Quobba thruster setup on my 3 boards for vertical surfing: Alleys and Fatal (from the left: 2nd, 3rd, 4th). The extra stiffness help a bit for precision. But for horizontal surfing, I like the extra flex of the glass series to help smooth the turns.

yes ,i was thinking i should buy another medium centre thruster fin .my flow has a wide tail ,where the placid narrow ,
placid felt ok with the mediums ,
I'm keen to try the carbon fins too ,

I have a 2022 Starboard Hypernut 7'2 x 28 coming in a month or two and was thinking about getting some Quobba fins for it. Some changes coming with this new model, very rounded almost longboard style nose and slightly more volume this year 114L (bugger!) - that seems absolutely huge for my 64kg and slightly bizarre that this is the smallest board in the range, anyway, I'm hoping the rails are fine enough that I will get away with a board that size. Starboard seem to have lately been increasing volume but refining and thinning the rails - fingers crossed! Quad only fin boxes so the question is fin size, will a pair of large Quobba front fins and medium rear be too much? I'll mainly be using it in a beach break and it's generally not super fast or powerful. Hoping the HyperNut will spice things up a little and this model is the new 3 in 1 so also has foil tracks. Hopefully in the blue carbon it will still be pretty light.
Guess the other option is medium Quobba fronts and another smaller pair of rear fins. Would welcome some advice - thanks all.

Jonathan

Hi Jonathan ,When you buy fins from FCS or wet fins ,and punch in a search ,it usually is done by your weight .
I am 90-100 kgs ,so my search each time comes up with large ,or medium or small rears ...if quad ,
So i am using large Quobba front and medium at present ,so at 64 kgs I would say yes you would be a medium fin size
and possibly smaller rears ,hope that helped .

114L for 65kg seems really huge.... You will be paying a steep price in added weight and high volume rails, especially on a stable design: the stabler it is, the harder it resists to pilot inputs...

I also think that Quobba M front would be the better option. Then Quobba M in the rear, or smnaller conventional fins... but slower? I dont know.

Thanks guys, appreciate the input. I already have a medium thruster Quobba set so I can experiment with those as front fins. I've had a long term desire to own a Hypernut and the long foil fin boxes coming in this model tipped me over the line. The main reason for purchase was to learn sup surf foiling and experiment with some sup downwind foiling. Also as a longer intro wing board for family so regular sup surfing was a bonus. Hopefully balanced over all those needs/wants it turns put to be a good 'do it all' board - knowing of course that 3 in 1 boards rarely truly work!