I just wanted some feedback on them. Havent heard anything on them yet and wanted to pick up a set but dont know if they are worth the $55. Any info would help thanks.
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FCS F-Series Info
- Thread starter WaitingForIt
- Start date
I would beg to differ. I am not a good surfer, and bought FG-7s 2 weeks ago for a big, fat, wide 7'2" and was bluffed.
I always thought surf fins were crude and primitive (I have been sailboarding for 30 years, so am used to high tech in fins - in long rides on a funboard you have time to finely analyse fin performance, on a surfboard it is much more suggestive), and these fins were the first ones that seem to at last has some sane foil, and more important, flex. (it is difficult to find a lot of brands here in France, so I can only speak of FCS). For instance I used carbon FCS before and they were too stiff - even for my 100kg - , slowing the board.
So, you will like the F-Series if you apply some strength in your turns - if you like to carve turns - , be it on a big or small board, and even in average waves. No need to be a young athlete in the tube on a toothpick to appreciate them!
PS: flex is the most important thing in a fin. If a fin is too stiff, if you push on it, something is gonna give, and if it is not the fin which rotates "open" to "let the pressure go", the water flow will just break and slow you down.
Hi Guys ! I've been playing around with these F-series (FG 3 and FG 5 mostly) for a few weeks doing back-to-back tests in boards with fixed fins - then convert to Speeedfins, and re-test.Also, Speeedfins then convert to FCS, re-test using both traditional FCS and new FG "inner foil" series profiles.All this work is with one board in each case - a board that is thoroughly surfed prior to modifying the fin system - and the placement and angles kept as close to identical with the previous setup, and using fin profiles that are as similar as possible.The aim is to reduce the number of variables being changed that could introduce error in the results ! (Trying to apply a Scientific Methodology !!!) OK, the waves are all unique but thats always going to be the case - but your board stays pretty much the same session to session assuming ya don't damage it, change fins etc.So, any perceived change in the boards performance SHOULD be largely traceable to the changed fin systems dynamics or profiles/foils.To cut a long story short : the Speeedfins system overall surfed better BUT the FG series double foil series brought the FCS-equiped boards the closest in performance to the Speeedfins system!!!I feel that the tests were enough for me to conclude that flat-foiled side fins are now DEAD.Either system is a vast improvement on conventional flat foils, in our opinion.I definately agree with Tubedogs observations - the FG's hold through big moves like a 270 degree top turn in the pocket is an order of magnitude higher than anything they have offered before ! Have a look at the video "DRIVE" on their website showing some cool cavitation tank footage of new foils being tested @ www.fincontrol.com - that is as close to a controlled experiment as it gets !!
Interesting, in theory a double foiled fin will have the water attached more thoroughly and on both sides. This should give a "smoother" ride, or maybe it could be descibed better as a more "controlled" ride. It would make sense that tubedog experienced better results with flatter rockered boards, as they are just faster bottoms overall. But less control also, which is why we go to bigger, more rockered pintails when it gets serious. For the "Average" surfer which in all due respect is who these are being marketed to, they may not be the end all of fins.
Most good surfers could surf them well, especially in good surf(which i'm assuming you have right John! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/monkey.gif" alt="" />
We've tested these types of foils for years with all walks of surfers. The guys that come back and go "man, those things are the bomb", are usually good surfers surfing them in good waves. The average guy usually claims feeling the drag with them as he's still learning to turn really, and is looking for that "pop" off the bottom and thru turns that the flat sided fins give him. From what we hear if you are trying to make speed, stick with the flat ones, and if you have speed to burn, you could try the doubles.
P.S. Howdy John, sorry didn't get back to you, i'll send you a message soon.
Most good surfers could surf them well, especially in good surf(which i'm assuming you have right John! <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/monkey.gif" alt="" />
We've tested these types of foils for years with all walks of surfers. The guys that come back and go "man, those things are the bomb", are usually good surfers surfing them in good waves. The average guy usually claims feeling the drag with them as he's still learning to turn really, and is looking for that "pop" off the bottom and thru turns that the flat sided fins give him. From what we hear if you are trying to make speed, stick with the flat ones, and if you have speed to burn, you could try the doubles.
P.S. Howdy John, sorry didn't get back to you, i'll send you a message soon.
Thanks Tubedog and JJR ! I can't say I've done enough testing of the FG fins / Speeedfins double foil profiles on boards above 6'10" this Southern Hemi. winter as it just hasn't warranted it, but HEAPS of super clean 4'-6' days on a flawless Right-hand sand-bottom point break here have provided the sort of back-to-back quality ya dream of for tweaking subtle stuff like fin setups/profiles/edges etc. on boards 6'0" - 6'6".The boards with these dual foils seem to handle so much more juice that I really can't see much point for a really wide quiver of boards for my needs now - but I'd love to get the FG series into the 7'4" - 8'2" range boards, just to see what happens!!! One board I rode with FG 3 (6'1"x 18 3/4" x 2 1/8" lowish rocker swallow tail single concave ) felt practically the same as compared to G 3000 X carbon FCS profile - though it DRAMATICALLY improved with FG 5. Interesting is the extra toe-in that appears to be in the rear half of the FG 3 profile compared with the fin lines on blank with fin securely screwed in.It makes me wonder if perhaps they need revised angles to work best ie. straighter ahead (6'1" above had 4mm toe-in - maybe 3mm would suit better ? Vs Speeedfins recommend an average b/w 3-4mm for their style of double foil).But heaven help putting FG 3 in a board with 6-8mm toe-in - I can well imagine they'd drag bigtime !Unfortunately I can't comment on systems like Lokbox and Futures as we have a pretty small market here,but obviously you guys know your stuff and based on your feedback it doesn't sound like the potential benefits (hype ?) of double foils warrant the investment! Like ya said JJR, fin tweaking is probably only going to be relevant for a limited market - and yet look how many pros ride glass-ons !? What are they doing with foils ? I'd love to try 3 glass-on center fins with subtle reworking of inside leading edge and maybe even slicing flex grooves from the rear edge back to about mid profile, a la Michael Cundith ( ex California - now Byron Bay (?) Oz).Sorry I aint got a scanner like chipfish1 - Cundith's fins looked pretty wild! They're hard to describe but I'm sure ya seen em.Maybe just 1 or 2 flex joints ? Probably more feasible for a box-style system ( and less final!).Hey, this is just resin-induced rambling, please excuse me... ciao.JK.
Well thanks for the info Fellas... I finally said screw it and bought em' like a day before my trip. Let me just say I used them for 9 days out of 10 on my trip to Nicaragua and I liked them a lot (and that one day i didn't was beacuse one of my freinds wanted to give em' a shot and loved them as well). But they were used over there in perfect surf every day and not one day under head high which is not what they are gonna be used for here in Miami until next years trip. So we'll see how they go in crappy South Beach surf (or atleast until a decent winter north swell)
We had a very well developed discussion of how inside contoured surfaced fins like Vectors and FCS's F series about a week ago at Swaylock's. If you are really interested check out. http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=167328;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread