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FCS H4
- Thread starter SharkBoy
- Start date
The H4’s are a neutral fin until rider input is supplied, then the feedback returned is impressive. I would think it’s exactly what’s needed for a softer wave that depends on the surfer to supply some of the energy to get the board to accelerate.
But it looks like you guys in So. Cal. have been scoring drained out low tide sand bar barrels in the community surf journal.
Thank Teeroi! What the volume of the moonfish? I have a futures quiver of fins but want to try H4. Probably going for ordering next board (6'2 stubby about 43L) with FCS 2 for H4. Obviously pretty certain it will be good call but still slightly hesitant to jump out the window!
Thanks, that's useful feedback. I'm in. Shop down the street only had the Larges left, gonna hunt around for the Mediums.
6’0 x 20 x 2 3/4 vol. 37L. Glassed 4oz bottom. Single 4oz s-cloth deck with front and rear tail patches. Whatever blank Wade used is kinda soft compared to my other boards. This boards deck is looking like a skateboard pump track. The mediums work fine but I think I’m using the larges in this board if it’s shoulder high and soft.
That board is very nice and I like the 80's inspired art (Curren band)! Kind of an optical illusion making it look like a SB, bonus shark repelling striped. Thanks!
Been loving them. Some of the younger rippers think they’re too stiff. They’re young legs create enough drive that they like a little more flex in their fins for turns. Me I’m old and like all the help I can get going fast. Speed will loosen up the board too. I use ceramic bearings in my skateboard wheels too. Picked up a set of Mediums to use in my 6’0 Moonfish that has been working great and to use in my step ups. To be determined on the step ups.
Had a real hot/cold debut session with the H4’s (large) yesterday afternoon. They were noticeably heavier than my MF large front/KA medium center set I’ve been riding for over a year in my 5’8” NB2/Varial, which had me a little bummed, feeling the perceived added weight carrying my board down to the water.
I had zero of the expected get up and go in the slightly onshore waist high+ windswell, which is what I typically surf best in. I felt like frontside, I was never getting to where I wanted to be (or as quickly) and was always a split second off from teeing-off on the oncoming sections how I usually would have.
Backside was almost as weird, but in the opposite way, as I felt like I was in an 80’s Bud Pro Tour event in crap (any random beachbreak), but was on a magic board/fin combo that allowed me to go 1:00 on the tiniest of sections at least twice on the super short waves, plus I felt like I was accelerating through the quick little turns. The performance difference for me frontside vs. backside was pronounced, as I felt way off my game going left and on top of it going right.
I surfed for over an hour and a half. I caught more lefts than rights and ultimately felt bummed out that I was so off my game frontside which I can almost 100% attribute to the fins not gelling with how I surf. It was one of those days you know where you’re feeling “on” but just can’t seem to find the right wave or someone is constantly in your way, or in this case board/fin issues.
I know there is an (potentially valid) argument about back-footed vs. front-footed surfing when it comes to generating speed, but I believe it’s a thing ( with my 37 years of exclusively riding performance shortboards/grovelers/step-ups) in my experience. IMHO, the H4’s aren’t a point and shoot type of fin and do their best when you’re engaging the fins with the majority of your weight above them, which I do backside (and probably why the worked so well for me that way), but I’m not sure I can get what I want/expect with the H4’s trying to generate the speed I’m accustomed to frontside with the majority of my weight on my front foot compared to my back.
I went out this morning in almost the exact same conditions (slightly cleaner this am) and rode my normal fins and was definitely surfing back to normal frontside. I did miss the feeling of acceleration the H4’s had through the quick backside top turns, but did prefer the feeling of a little more resistance on backside snaps/hits with my normal fins as I felt I could push into the turns harder.
I’m going to see how they work in my Pyzel Astro Pop that I’m picking up at XTR on Monday. If they don’t make the cut I’ll post them here in the classifieds next week sometime.
I had zero of the expected get up and go in the slightly onshore waist high+ windswell, which is what I typically surf best in. I felt like frontside, I was never getting to where I wanted to be (or as quickly) and was always a split second off from teeing-off on the oncoming sections how I usually would have.
Backside was almost as weird, but in the opposite way, as I felt like I was in an 80’s Bud Pro Tour event in crap (any random beachbreak), but was on a magic board/fin combo that allowed me to go 1:00 on the tiniest of sections at least twice on the super short waves, plus I felt like I was accelerating through the quick little turns. The performance difference for me frontside vs. backside was pronounced, as I felt way off my game going left and on top of it going right.
I surfed for over an hour and a half. I caught more lefts than rights and ultimately felt bummed out that I was so off my game frontside which I can almost 100% attribute to the fins not gelling with how I surf. It was one of those days you know where you’re feeling “on” but just can’t seem to find the right wave or someone is constantly in your way, or in this case board/fin issues.
I know there is an (potentially valid) argument about back-footed vs. front-footed surfing when it comes to generating speed, but I believe it’s a thing ( with my 37 years of exclusively riding performance shortboards/grovelers/step-ups) in my experience. IMHO, the H4’s aren’t a point and shoot type of fin and do their best when you’re engaging the fins with the majority of your weight above them, which I do backside (and probably why the worked so well for me that way), but I’m not sure I can get what I want/expect with the H4’s trying to generate the speed I’m accustomed to frontside with the majority of my weight on my front foot compared to my back.
I went out this morning in almost the exact same conditions (slightly cleaner this am) and rode my normal fins and was definitely surfing back to normal frontside. I did miss the feeling of acceleration the H4’s had through the quick backside top turns, but did prefer the feeling of a little more resistance on backside snaps/hits with my normal fins as I felt I could push into the turns harder.
I’m going to see how they work in my Pyzel Astro Pop that I’m picking up at XTR on Monday. If they don’t make the cut I’ll post them here in the classifieds next week sometime.
Wow, bummer...at first paragraph I thought you may have gone with the wrong size but then it went better backside (I find when I am under finned backside still goes. To my dismay I read this knowing that I am a Futures guy that just ordered a Rocket FCS 2, almost exclusively to try H4 but at 225 size L and that tail I think will be a good matchup. Thanks for the review, if you off off the fins and maybe try the M I may be in on the L's!
They're definitely in demand and I've heard a lot of positive things about them, but I thought it was interesting that in the recent Lost video
I remember when the H2 came out a lot of people were off them but I clicked with them instantly, pretty sure it was the extreme cant that i liked the most. I broke tabs on several and wound up trying the H3 which had, I think normal cant and loved that as well. Question, would you say the h4 has normal or beyond cant compared to MF? One notable feature beyond the futuristic template is that the middle fin is longer than the sides. I remember my friends grom when he was tiny and Linden was shaping his boards suggested a larger middle fin to help him lay over on rail and it worked well, kind of counterintuitive to the 2+1 trend.
Off topic, I am very glad I didn't order my board with light speed tech, I watched that video and those things look too light, they've gone too far. In fact besides moments of brilliance only Crane and Ho really stood out for me(in comparison to all their norm insane ripping) Brother on the 4'9" was pretty sic too.
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