trayson
12-24-2014, 12:38 PM
I saw this post today on Doomswell's facebook page. I thought it was interesting and relevant so I'm sharing it here:
More fin stuff explained.
I figured I would explain a little more about fins during this holiday break so we could help you decide on your next purchase as far as fins.
Let's start off with point number one which is template.
A template basically is 3 parts. How big of a base of the fin do you need, how much rake is in a fin and the height.
The BASE of the fin ,which is the closest part of the fin to the board, is going to determine how much drive essentially you will have. When coming out of a turn, a bigger base will give you more drive, which is also relative to a persons weight. Think about it like an Indy car vs your car tire. When accelerating out of a turn with a wide Indy car tire, you can get more drive or accelerate more out of a turn with the added surface area of that tire as opposed to your mothers van which has much less surface area and will skid out of that turn. So a wider base will help if you need more drive out of turns.
The height of the fin, will be determined by how big a person is. A fins height is like a T-Shirt. The bigger the person, the more surface area they will need. So a little bit more fin height will help a bigger person.
Next is RAKE. Rake is how much the fin actually sweeps backwards. The more the fin sweeps backwards, the more round your turns will be. The less rake or more vertical a fin is, the more you will be able to pivot your board quickly.
Next is the FOIL of the fin.
The foil is essentially the same as an airplane wing.
As the water flows on the outside of the fin, it creates low pressure, and the water on the inside of the fin (closest to the center of the board) creates high pressure. So the water on the inside of the fin pushes against the fin to the area of low pressure which the outside of the fin. That's what helps you to stay close to the wave face, and also what helps a plane stay in the air. The water on the inside of the fin pushes to the area of low pressure on the outside of the fin. MAKE SENSE!?
ALSO, the amount that the inside of your fin is "cupped" is a big factor as well.
You will notice some fins are flat on the inside and some are concave or cupped.
The flatter inside foil will help you control speed but not really help on generating speed as much as a foiled fin.
The more foiled a fin is, it will help generate more speed in smaller, weaker waves.
So in a nut shell, a bigger wave already creates speed for you which means you don't need as much foil and the smaller a wave is, the more foil you will need to generate more speed, and it will help you from rail to rail.
Lastly is flex. Flex is the movement of the fin laterally. On bigger waves you need more hold to stay in the face of the wave so you don't need much flex as flex would cause less hold in that situation.. You need more flex in smaller waves so that when you actually turn, the fins will flex then snap back to its natural position giving you a "spring" like effect, giving you more power out of the turn, helping you to get back into the wave faster.
We hoped this helped and have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-N2eONnOXLLc/VJrrdbN4oCI/AAAAAAAAXLQ/YueuplgEyPo/s800/Fins.jpg
More fin stuff explained.
I figured I would explain a little more about fins during this holiday break so we could help you decide on your next purchase as far as fins.
Let's start off with point number one which is template.
A template basically is 3 parts. How big of a base of the fin do you need, how much rake is in a fin and the height.
The BASE of the fin ,which is the closest part of the fin to the board, is going to determine how much drive essentially you will have. When coming out of a turn, a bigger base will give you more drive, which is also relative to a persons weight. Think about it like an Indy car vs your car tire. When accelerating out of a turn with a wide Indy car tire, you can get more drive or accelerate more out of a turn with the added surface area of that tire as opposed to your mothers van which has much less surface area and will skid out of that turn. So a wider base will help if you need more drive out of turns.
The height of the fin, will be determined by how big a person is. A fins height is like a T-Shirt. The bigger the person, the more surface area they will need. So a little bit more fin height will help a bigger person.
Next is RAKE. Rake is how much the fin actually sweeps backwards. The more the fin sweeps backwards, the more round your turns will be. The less rake or more vertical a fin is, the more you will be able to pivot your board quickly.
Next is the FOIL of the fin.
The foil is essentially the same as an airplane wing.
As the water flows on the outside of the fin, it creates low pressure, and the water on the inside of the fin (closest to the center of the board) creates high pressure. So the water on the inside of the fin pushes against the fin to the area of low pressure which the outside of the fin. That's what helps you to stay close to the wave face, and also what helps a plane stay in the air. The water on the inside of the fin pushes to the area of low pressure on the outside of the fin. MAKE SENSE!?
ALSO, the amount that the inside of your fin is "cupped" is a big factor as well.
You will notice some fins are flat on the inside and some are concave or cupped.
The flatter inside foil will help you control speed but not really help on generating speed as much as a foiled fin.
The more foiled a fin is, it will help generate more speed in smaller, weaker waves.
So in a nut shell, a bigger wave already creates speed for you which means you don't need as much foil and the smaller a wave is, the more foil you will need to generate more speed, and it will help you from rail to rail.
Lastly is flex. Flex is the movement of the fin laterally. On bigger waves you need more hold to stay in the face of the wave so you don't need much flex as flex would cause less hold in that situation.. You need more flex in smaller waves so that when you actually turn, the fins will flex then snap back to its natural position giving you a "spring" like effect, giving you more power out of the turn, helping you to get back into the wave faster.
We hoped this helped and have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-N2eONnOXLLc/VJrrdbN4oCI/AAAAAAAAXLQ/YueuplgEyPo/s800/Fins.jpg