Table of Contents
Fin Choice: Main Features and Functional Quality
The basic objective of this article is to provide an overview of the multiple features of surfboard fins and their influence on surfboard performance.
Responsibilities of Fins
Driving Force
In laypeople terms, fins are used to gather the surfboard speed as you turn shifting your weight in the right direction.
As the surfboard moves onwards, the flippers act as a decelerator. When making a turn, the stream dashes against a stabilizer making the surfboard pick up speed.
This is called a driving force. For a better understanding make a comparison to an athlete heading towards a sidewall of a swimming bath and getting ready to push off from the wall to rush on backward.
Pushing off the sidewall can be likened to entering a turn and leaning heavily upon the flippers. The one and the other movement will advance the performer on a turn.
This is characterized as a driving force.
Uplift
Placing pressure on the fin features the more upright position of a surfboard.
The flipper bevel intensifies its updraft. The bigger uplift is translated, the tighter clutch of a paddle with the water surface will feature itself.
Clutch
The fin clutch helps the surfboard to avoid slipping out when making turns.
Main Features Of Fins
Size
A flipper surface is measured in two directions (in mm2).
The portlier riders require a greater fin size to get a sufficient clutch. Alternatively, a smaller size will lead to an easier hold.
It is a sound practice to try things out applying different sizes and picking out the one that will have both features – a tight clutch on the water and quite an easy hold contributing to your surfboard maneuverability.
Footing
This feature means the area where the fin base contacts with the surfboard. The stabilizer footing impacts surfboard performance.
With a lengthier footing, a rider has a larger space to thrust through the water generating an active driving force.
If a paddle does not have a large footing, the surfboard will feature smaller turning maneuvers.
Sinkage
This feature indicates the depth of the fin submersion into the water. Sinkage affects a clutch and driving force.
If a flipper has a shallower sinkage, a surfer gets an easier glide. The deeper the surfboard fin submerges, the tighter clutch you have.
It is particularly applicable for flippers placed in the center.
Bend
This feature defines how much the fin sweeps towards the rear.
The curve is deemed starting from an upright plumbline stretching out from the center of the paddle footing to the trace line joining the middle of the footing and the stabilizer tip.
A high-angle bend enables surfing the surfboard in a smoother arch whereas a slighter angle makes it possible to perform turning maneuvers.
Flexibility
This feature is about how much a fin can diverge from its upright state.
The greater flexibility a flipper has, the freer and lighter the surfboard rides. A harder stabilizer is more responsive and gathers pace faster.
A combination of a hard surfboard footing and a more pliant end makes the fin perfect.
Pattern
This feature deals with the fin design and properties of its form. It takes account of such features as the sinkage, size, footing, and band of the surfboard.
Hydrofoil Surface
This features the fin contour when viewing from its base. There are foils that are fully reversed and their internal face and external face are absolutely identical.
There are also hydrofoils that are irregular in their form and features, with two faces that differ in the configuration.
Hydrofoil directly impacts the uplift and the trail of a paddle in the same way as an airfoil contributes to the take-off of an aircraft.
Convergence angle
This feature is about how sideward fins are placed with regard to the position of a stringer.
Deflection
This feature determines the level of the flipper deviation from a perfect plumbline with regard to the surfboard bottom face.
Think of a stabilizer tilting in the direction of an external rail or in the direction of the surfboard midpoint.
Flow Angle
This features a fin position in regard to the seas surging up along the way.
