My Experience with new fins from Chaos
There has been a lot of talk lately about upgraded fins. This got me interested in the difference so I contacted Nick at Chaos Surf Co (I landed there from googling wakesurf fins). After a few helpful and educating emails with Nick I decided to purchase some fins to try on my Doomswell Neo. When I told Nick I was going to place my order he offered to send me 2 styles of fins to try and I could send him back the ones I decided not to keep. I thought that was a really awesome offer which I definitely accepted.
I would say I am an average surfer, definitely nothing special so I was curious if an "average" surfer could tell a difference in new fins. Well I am here to confirm that you definitely will be able to tell a difference. It was not an earth shattering/slap you in face difference but even to my average abilities I could tell a difference in speed and handling immediately.
Nick from Chaos sent me 2 sets fins to try. The Chaos Medium Wakesurf, and the Vectored Foil for a quad set up. I first installed the Vectored set in the quad set up. I immediately noticed a good bit of increased speed and increased acceleration. This increase of speed was apparent in straight line and while carving. When accelerating in a straight line by weighting the nose it almost felt like a turbo. I would weight the front of the board while back in the wave, there would be a short delay then you could actually feel the board accelerate. It was actually pretty cool feeling. As intended the board felt faster in general. Definitely could tell more speed was being generated while turning also. I addition to speed the board handled better while turning. The board felt about the same as far as tracking and being locked into the water as with the OE Future F3 fins.
Impressed and excited to try the next setup I installed the Medium Wakesurf Foil and immediately liked it more. It had the same basic speed characteristics the Vectored foil had but felt more lively to me. I also didn't notice the "turbo" feel from this fin. Not to say this fin wasn't fast, it was, but felt more linear (maybe that's the right way to describe it) to me. After riding a few times with this set up I removed the rear fins and ran the Wakesurf Foil set up with just the 2 main fins. This ended up being my favorite set up. It felt like I might have lost a very minimal amount of speed and the board felt less planted in the water. The little bit of speed I arguably might have lost I didn't miss, and I really liked how alive the board felt. It was definitely easier to spin (not that I have mastered the 360) and cut hard at the top of the wave. The board would slide down the wave a little if I was not on edge which it would not do with any of the quad fin set ups. To me the 2 main fin set up was the most fun and felt like the best compromise for me.
In the end I would tell anyone thinking about getting new fins to definitely take the plunge. It is a relatively cheap upgrade to your board and I definitely will not have another board with stock fins. The other opinion I have concreted from this experience is to try a few different fins and set ups if at all possible. I 100% believe that the right fin setup will be a personal decision based on how and what you surf. I would like to give a HUGE thanks to Nick at Chaos for offering to send me both styles. It was a fun and eye opening experience to be able to switch out the fins and try them in real time. My recommendation would be to find a way to try a few different styles and brands to find the right one for you. But you definitely owe it to yourself to upgrade if you like doing more than just cruising behind the boat in the "pocket". Without a doubt this upgrade will make my surfing more fun and allow me to progress my surfing.
I don't want to turn this into a brand debate as I have no obligation or affiliation with any company. I am sure there are other companies that make great fins. I just happened to end up talking with Nick at Chaos and my experience with their product, and more importantly their service was great. Go out and get some new fins. You will not be disappointed with the right ones and it almost seems a disservice to a non mass produced board to run stock fins.
http://chaossurfco.com/wakesurffins/...are-fin-medium
http://chaossurfco.com/wakesurffins/...-vectored-foil
Enjoy
Foster Lee
