Large fins vs. Medium fins for medium sized surfers...@ 130lbs Lakey rides size L, Filipe "always" rides size L @ 155lbs

Bob Dobbalina

Miki Dora status
Feb 23, 2016
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I liked the biolos fins a lot. Felt like I could push the board really hard and still maintain complete control.
I had a set and I have no idea what happened to them.

Most of my sets are on the larger end.

Roberts
TP

I have a set of Tokoro's somewhere.

daily drivers are AM2s
 

rgruber

Miki Dora status
May 30, 2004
3,617
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Not surprisingly different boards require different fins.

I weight around 160.

My old Lost Min Driver worked best as a thruster with the Mayhem fins. With smaller fins it lacked drive. The Baby Buggy I had seemed to go best with Accelerators.

My Hypto was pretty stiff with bigger, and/or rakier fins. Works great with K2.1/WCT template or the EA template or Kinetic Phase 3s (all on the small side). I tried the Craig Anderson Blackstix which seems like they should work, it got really stiff even in big surf. Despite Craig Anderson weighting 140 pounds dripping wet, his fins are pretty large.

Basically I don't think you can make one rule for every board. Tail width and rocker seem to play a pretty big part in things. If I had to generalize smaller fins for smaller tail and less rocker.

For me AM templates don't work in anything.
 

Ivanmeister

Michael Peterson status
Dec 16, 2010
2,820
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Cabo, Mexico
I wouldn't take pro's or semi-pro surfers equipment as a measurement, anyone not in the same talent category or training regime will likely never compare to those guys and girls. Featherweights on tour are skinny but powerful, they have to.

Ride what works for you and not what everyone else is on.
 

casa_mugrienta

Duke status
Apr 13, 2008
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Like what? I think there are some Pancho fins that are pretty big.
I think he was alluding to the fact there are no XL fins, on L fins.

So you can only move up in size if you're midweight or smaller.

He's making a good point.

Aside from the wide tail thing where you actually need a bigger fin... I think this is more about learning to ride large fins and the level of skill the rider has to do a deep bottom turn.

Too me, bigger fins feel tracky in real waves and can be downright scary in cooking hollow waves where you're trying for the barrel. Per GG's posts I would imagine fin placements are adjusted for this.

I also think you can see an obvious difference between how tight Lakey's surfing looks vs how loose Filipe's looks. And considering Filipe has 25 lbs on Lakey, and they're both riding large fins...
 

surfysurfy1476

Nep status
Jan 27, 2018
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I think he was alluding to the fact there are no XL fins, on L fins.

So you can only move up in size if you're midweight or smaller.

He's making a good point.

Aside from the wide tail thing where you actually need a bigger fin... I think this is more about learning to ride large fins. I would imagine fin placements are adjusted as well.

I also think you can see an obvious difference between how tight Lakey's board looks vs how loose Filipe's looks. And considering Filipe has 25 lbs on Lakey...
I always thought it was kinda funny that someone is going to use the same size fin on their 5'11" that I use on my 6'6"
 

bird.LA

Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Jul 14, 2002
8,110
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LA
I think he was alluding to the fact there are no XL fins, on L fins.
Yep, partially alluding to that, but also partially asking for real.

I know there are several people here who use fins outside of the templates available on FCS or Futures websites, and I'm wondering if any larger surfers who can either confirm or deny that there's validity to what the smaller guys who like L size fins are feeling.

It seems kind of insane that I'd ride the same size fins as someone like Noel Salas who'd fit in my pocket. Then again, I like large AMs, Fannings, and Accelerators, so I'm mostly going to the larger, driver, hold-ier end of the large fin spectrum and I think the only of those templates that smaller guys are using with regularity is the AM. Maybe there'd be benefit to me getting on an XL AM if such a thing existed :shrug:
 
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Aruka

Tom Curren status
Feb 23, 2010
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Do any larger surfers use XL fins?
Yep, partially alluding to that, but also partially asking for real.

I know there are several people here who use fins outside of the templates available on FCS or Futures websites, and I'm wondering if any larger surfers who can either confirm or deny that there's validity to what the smaller guys who like L size fins are feeling.

It seems kind of insane that I'd ride the same size fins as someone like Noel Salas who'd fit in my pocket. Then again, I like large AMs, Fannings, and Accelerators, so I'm mostly going to the larger, driver, hold-ier end of the large fin spectrum and I think the only of those templates that smaller guys are using with regularity is the AM. Maybe there'd be benefit to me getting on an XL AM if such a thing existed :shrug:
He's riding like 5-7's so a bit less rail line than us bigger guys which I think is a factor but it is kind of interesting that there isn't many larger than AM2 thruster sets.
 
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Duffy LaCoronilla

Duke status
Apr 27, 2016
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I think he was alluding to the fact there are no XL fins, on L fins.

So you can only move up in size if you're midweight or smaller.

He's making a good point.

Aside from the wide tail thing where you actually need a bigger fin... I think this is more about learning to ride large fins and the level of skill the rider has to do a deep bottom turn.

Too me, bigger fins feel tracky in real waves and can be downright scary in cooking hollow waves where you're trying for the barrel. Per GG's posts I would imagine fin placements are adjusted for this.

I also think you can see an obvious difference between how tight Lakey's surfing looks vs how loose Filipe's looks. And considering Filipe has 25 lbs on Lakey, and they're both riding large fins...

Also TA‘s Merrick large are a bit bigger than AM2s.