A Quick Tutorial on Fins & Placement

Fins provide lots of potential to change surfboard performance and evolution. The increased use of removeable fin systems like FCS and Futures has lead to a lot of the innovation in fin design. With these systems, fins can be easily swapped in and out with a screw or snap allowing surfers to try lots of different fin combinations whereas traditionally you would have to reglass the fins on the board. Fin configurations have an effect on the ways your surfboards perform. The following are some of the more common fin configurations.

Single Fin: The single fin was the original fin configuration for surfboards. Based on the idea of the sailboat keel. Single fins are added stabilization and control on the powerful, larger waves, although lack maneuverability.

Twin Fins are great for small waves, being fast and maneuverable, but when put into tight spots on larger waves, they become hard to control. Popular with Fish surfboards.

Thruster / Tri-Fin: Widely recognized as the standard fin configuration, the thruster answers the shortcomings of the single fin and the twin fins configurations. The thrusters give you stabilization, control and maneuverability in all types of surfing conditions. This concept was the brainchild of Australia's Simon Anderson.

Quads: With four fins in the water, Quads boasts an extraordinary amount of holding power in larger surf. You may think that having four fins would sacrifice speed by creating more drag, but this is not the case. The both sets of fins are working together on the rail, which makers believe they creates less drag than a board with a center fin. The maneuverability isn't sacrificed either, with fins directly under your back foot, the quads are very responsive.

Keel: Similar setup to the Twin Fin, although smaller (low profile) fins are generally placed wider (closer to the rails) on the surfboard. Popular with Fish and Egg / Retro surfboards.

2+1: Popular with Longboards, the fin set up utilizing a single center fin is complimented with two small fins.

Twin with trailer: Basically a Twin fin configuration with an added small center trailer fin, this adds more stability than the standard Twin fin configuration.

Twinzer: Generally has two larger fins at the back (middle) and two toed (set on an angle) smaller fin placed outside and further from the tail of the board. Like the Quads, Twinzer is much looser than a thruster yet maintains speed. Popular with Hybrid surfboards.

Bonzer / C5: The 5-fin configuration is similar to the Twinzer but with the addition of a center trailing fin in the back. The two front fins are typically small and oval shaped, designed to direct the water through the larger side fins, thus allowing more drive from your board. Like the Twinzer, Bonzers are popular with the Hybrid boards.