How to Choose Fins - by Blue Planet Surf

Operations Manager Kevin Fung, walks us through the basics of SUP and surfboard fin selection. Namely, how many fins you need, why fins are important, and how fins are constructed.

With most Blue Planet boards, there are five fin set ups you can use. We've listed them in order of popularity in Hawaii:
#1 2+1 or thruster
#2 Single fin
#3 Quad Fin.
#4 Twin Fin
#5 Five Fin (Guitar Pick Center Fin)

In this video, Kevin explains which set up you'd want to use for certain conditions.

He also dives deep into the five basics to fin design.
#1 Base
#2 Height
#3 Rake
#4 Template
#5 Construction

Some of the other features we didn't have time to cover in the video are:

Fin Thickness: In general, thinner fins have less drag and are faster, but are not as forgiving as thicker fins.

Fin Profile/Foil: The main thing to quickly comment about fin foil is that it is there and you should be aware of it. The foil is the face contour of the fin. There are so many different designs for fin foil that if you have any questions, you should reach out to your local surf shop experts.

Using this knowledge, you will have all the resources you need to prepare your board for its next water adventure.

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Honolulu, Hi 96814
Tel [phone]
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Find Paradise

Aloha!

[wayneclarke]

Mahalo Kevin! You know your stuff about fins. Great breakdown...Aloha!

[dallaspullen]

Very good commentary and very informative

[paulbyrnedublin]

Awesome video guys. Great information.

[barclaysauers]

Scandinavian basketball team = 5 Fin set up!

[tomservo]

Hoping maybe you can help me out on a fin related question. I recently picked up a Redline 11 longboard and I'm looking for proper fins for it. I am running it as a single for now, but I want to run a 2+1. My go-to breaks are NorCal point breaks and what I'm really after is fins that would enable me to make powerful, projecting bottom turns, pump down the line for speed, make big carves out on the face, but I would still be able to sneak cheater 5s in on the right wave. I'm a big fan of burying the rail and digging into a strong carve.

Is there such a 2+1 combo that would be able to help? If I understand correctly, I would want a center fin that has a wide base, maybe decent rake. But I'm still having trouble understanding flex and how that relates to drive/projection/speed.

Great video, though, thanks for this! I didn't realize how difficult it would be to find resources on how fin design influences the surfing style. Even on fin websites, their descriptions are vague. I get that I just need to try it, but I want to have at least some place to start.

Thanks again!

[miroribeiro]

Hello, a doubt about the stabilizing fins, do they have the main function of assisting in the direction of the stroke or more as the lateral stability improving the balance of the rower? I ask about paddling not thank you and congratulations for the work.

[dansinton]

I’m new to surfing, and I have a 6’3 board but I need to buy fins. It had a 3 fun set up, but I don’t know what size to do for the fins. So I assume I can do a 2 + 1 or a thruster? But what length of fins

[christophegautier]

Can you tell us where we can get 'Nubster Fins' for the single inbox, they seem to be very illusive

[Murt]

but if you already chose em its too late