Single Fin v Thruster? shapers?

thanks, not my board though. found it via the google.

 

very appealing.
in a way like a centerfold....

 

+1
Same question here.

 

i think fin set up and board design are interconnected. It seems to me single fins of all types that i been on tend to use all the speed of the wave you're surfing. if your surfing a slow mushy beach break wave you get slow mushy surfing and that leads to less turns and the ability to create your own speed. where is a quad or a twin can be freed up to wiggle around, move side ways, and create more speed to make something out of a nothing wave.
the original post was about single vs thrusters in mushy waves. I'd say thrusters are better than singles. but I'd also say a wider tailed quad with tiny back fins works the best in the slop.

 

There seems to be a lot of speculation going on with this topic by folks who have either never tried a single fin, or whose experiences are limited to the crude designs of the 70's.

So I'll offer my opinion on a few points.

1) Cheyne Horan still rides single fins. He's part of the design conversation over at Swaylocks among some of the most respected shapers in the world, many of whom advocate the single fin. Singles failed in competition to thrusters in the early 80's when the money people decided to start scheduling contests on Sundays regardless of conditions so that they could be broadcast on live TV like football. Consequently, most contests were held in crap conditions. You can get more hacks in on a crap wave with a thruster, so thrusters won those contests. You're probably not going to win any modern contests riding single fins. This is because points aren't dished out for smooth, relaxed surfing. So if your goal is to win surfing contests, your better of riding a thruster like everyone else.

2) Single fins don't respond well when ridden like thrusters. You need to use a more neutral stance and drive off your front foot; plan your turns and respond to what the wave is doing. Think more Chandler than less Lance Burkhart. ;-)

3) Single Fins do work in east coast surf. I have been riding my 6'3" modern single in everything from chest high to overhead barrels for the past 4 years. I surf all winter in New Jersey, Long Island and Outer Banks. I've been surfing for near 20 years but I'm not some old geezer or retrofile. I don't do airs. My single fin surfing these days is focused on slowing down; waiting for the wave to develop; connecting clean turns and pulling into barrels when they open up. There are loads of guys where I surf that can hack, punt, blow out the fins, and generally surf better than I can, but I've found that the single fin suits my intentions better than a thruster.

4) There have been days in NJ when it's so critical, draining and fast that I've wished I had two little side fins in the mix. The problem with the single fin in those conditions is that the wave is so steep, and everything has to happen so fast that you want a little more grip under your feet. So the next board I shape for myself will have two side fin boxes for those days. All things considered though, the single works very well whenever the surf looks good (but not deadly) from the beach.

I hope this info helps someone out there to make an informed decision on fin choice. I suggest if you really want to know, go to swaylocks and use the search function. There are some of the the best shapers in the world on there talking single fins.

 

^^^ Quality post right here, thanks for sharing

 

If you are considering a sgl. fin short board for waist high mush on the east coast you might as well paddle out on an ironing board. They are cheaper and don't ding easily. Seriously, can't understand handicapping yourself with nostalgia. I started on sgl fins and when I surfed my first twin fin I knew I couldn't go back. Did not love thrusters either as I don't get to surf 23' Belmar or super steep lines that often. I have found quads to be the most versitile for waist to chest high east coast slop. Just my .02

 

so b/c singles don't work for you, they must not work for anyone. is that about the gist of it?

 

One thing I know for sure is that if you feel like you are ripping and having a blast then you are whether you are on a single, 5 or anything in between. But to pump through sections, get shacked in the best part of the wave, get the most out of a bottom turn and not slip into the flats, put that TAIL back up into the lip, and generally make the most out of any wave large or small then nothing beats 3 fins pointing at the nose IMHO. Dudes were not getting airs in the single fin days because they were not pumping up enough speed, now it is commonplace on thruster styled cues. Even the best quad surfing looks to be just modified thruster fin positioning (splitting up the trailer keels). The best surfing to watch still seems to be the dude shredding a nicely sized thruster. Turning hard off the top on the back foot with chunks over the back. This single fin on a thruster hull is a novelty, seen several Rusty Bali singles on the used rack w/ low mileage already. Bonzers are a great conversation piece but ungainly and cumbersome, not responsive with long arcs built into them sometimes not fitting the wave unless it is perfect for a high trim sections - again IMHO. I have had 2 in the past, the most frustrating boards in average surf I have ever owned. Gimme a thruster please, the best bang for the buck. 3 under the back foot. Thanks Simon A.

 

Don't mean to piss you off but if you are surfing waist high mush on a sgl. fin you are going to get frustrated quick if you are past the standup and turn phase of surfing. They are great for beginers and you may enjoy the challenge of surfing one when you are experienced but they are very limiting in most east coast surf.

 

I think the answer lies in two areas. The first (and more dominant in my mind), is that as you begin to make your bottom turn (or any turn), you load your fins with potential energy. In short, a thruster does a better job than a single fin of harnessing that energy and projecting you forward on the face with speed - in the process releasing all that built up p.e., and it's able to do so with a tighter/smaller arc or turn radius. Thus a bottom turn with a thruster results in more initial speed. As many others have said, when a thruster is not on a rail, loading and unloading those fins and the resulting drive, a thruster setup has more drag. I can tell a very distinct difference when trimming on my 6 ft SF vs my 6'3" thruster.

The other difference does get into bottom contours. The traditional sf bottom contour is slight to moderate vee throughout (at least that's been the bottom shape of all the sb single's i've ridden), where with a thruster you tend to see a lot of concave with maybe a little vee in the tail, but usually not much. I don't know how discernable a difference that makes in speed and projection, but i'm sure that it does make a difference nonetheless.

All that being said, with the short drops followed by a swift bottom turn we have on typical east coast breaks, I think a thruster lends itself to more speed, at least in the initial part of the ride.

 

you missed my point. surfing is very much a "different strokes for different folks" sort of thing, & certain types of surfboards & fin set ups lend themselves more to one style of surfing or another, & (generally speaking) if you try to force a midlength egg to surf like a chippy hpsb, you're in for a bad time. so when someone says "xxx design or fin set up doesn't work", more often than not it's a case of equipment not suiting the style of the surfer, or of the surfer being unable to adjust his or her approach to wave riding to suit the equipment.
hopping from a thruster to a single to a twin to a quad to a bonzer & back again requires an adjustment in style & approach, an adjustment that (being completely honest) most surfers (myself included) aren't willing to take the time to make. so they try a design a couple times & then write it off b/c "it doesn't work".

 

jesus christ...nope, can't do it, not again. i don't know how the campbell bros. have kept at it for almost 45 years...battling people's ignorance of the bonzer is like tilting at windmills.

 

yup...bonzers only do long arcs...definitely.

 

Hey man, why u getting all worked up? I, personally, can't wait till my board is gonna be complete... Gonna have a 5 fin setup, with options. First thing I'm gonna do is run it as single, with maybe a 2 or 4 tiny side bites. And not give a flying rats beehive. Will it work? Idk man but it's exciting as hell

 

b/c there are people on this forum who hold onto their ignorance of non-thruster designs in the face of clear evidence to the contrary. it's exhausting trying to open minds that don't wish to be opened.

 

sure, or you could think of the minds that HAVE opened.

 

Another point I've tried to make usually to deaf ears is this:

It helps to be honest with yourself when it comes to selecting a surfboard. We don't all surf like Kelly. In fact none of us do. And most of us don't even surf as aggressively as the local teeniebopper wannabe pro. In regards to single vs. thruster, a good place to start is to consider what the thruster configuration is designed to do. Like others have mentioned, you get a lot more drag while trimming from those side fins because they are toed in pretty drastically. The side fins in a thruster are there to be engaged in turns the whole time - effectively thrusting the board from bottom to top of the wave to gain speed, and then to hack off the top before dropping back in and "whapow"ing again and again. So if your not intending to surf like that, then consider the efficiency of the singular fin. It may turn out that the simplicity of the single will allow you to do the things you are comfortable doing on a wave face, flowing freely and without sacrificing flow for drag.

 

Good discussion. Why not just surf them all and enjoy each for what they are intended to be?

 

Solid advice