Hey there,

I am planing to begin learning some freestyle moves...however I have a board issue.
I have a 113L Fanatic Eagle(L:246cm, W: 66cm).

I know it's a freeride/freemove board, but the budget doesn't allow me to buy a FS board at the moment (selling it is also not an option, due to light wind freeride possibility).

As checking the measurements, it would be suitable to start learning some moves, eventualy I realize it wouldn't be sufficient. Allthough the rocker line, the rails and the max width position is different from a freestyle board, I would really like to know whether anyone has any experience if a FS fin would make it work to learn a trick as for example air jibe...and effect on riding itself...
I can pop about 1.5 or maybe 2 feet on almost flat water (maybe 20cm chop max, created by other surfers)...
The airtime itself isn't my biggest fear, or not being able to rotate while airborne, but the issue is, how the board would work with a fin like that.

Cellphone shot of a fin that I made www6.mypicx.com/?tdfs=1&kw=Photo+Gallery+Software&showDomain=1

Thanks in advance for any useful tips.

your fin looks no worse than anything i've tried to make

as far as a board goes, there's freestyle and there's freestyle. the older helitacks and monkey gybe stuff can be done on anything, but for the newer sliding & board spinning stuff i think you'll find it much more pleasant and rewarding trying to learn on something that has a ducked tail, soft rails and very central foot straps. Is it possible to put your front & rear footstraps in the very centre on the eagle?

Cheers

thx for reply

Well not to the very center, but very close (front straps), back footstrap can be positioned in the centre... as I said, I can pop on flat water for about 50cm above water...to clear a 39cm fin (the fin on the pic isn't finished yet....some sanding is still needed), just need to know what would it mean for doing a vulcan (spock is going to come with a freestyle board which I'm buying if I learn some tricks )

and the effect on riding with a 20cm fin of course...

yw

with the 20cm fin i think you'll notice a substantial lack of early planing and upwind ability. I learnt to vulcan and loop with a 28cm freeride fin. I went from that to a 17cm and now back to about 23cm, which i now find is a nice compromise between all factors. Where I live, anything much smaller than 23 just gets frustrating for me.

at the end of the day you'll learn anything on almost any type of gear if you are prepared to keep trying at it.

Yeah I noticed the difference between 30cm and 40cm fin...as I understand the weight should move forward as using smaller fin, but, what about the mast foot...should I bring it more to the back or more to the front?

only my 2 cents worth - just stick anything that can go in the middle, in the middle, and go and enjoy yourself don't get too anal over the technicalities. i always rig everything the same each time, and the only thing i only touch is my outhaul if the wind changes

cheers

Haircut is right. If you want you can learn on anything if you put your mind to it. But a freestyle board will make it a huge amount easier and faster. Fin wise I would recommend using the smallest fin you can stay up wind on. I used a 18cm as my first freestyle fin which was perfect now i have a 15cm


As for simple vulcan technique watch a continentseven.com video a few times to see what you want to be doing but my instructions are:
Bear away a little bit maybe 20 degrees
pop and remove your back hand
cross your back hand over to the new side of the boom (don't leave it flailing in the air) and look back in the direction you came from this will make you spin
remove your front hand and put in on the new side
sheet in gently and sail away.

Thanks for the advice guys.