Hey everyone!
Leif and Jamin from NVS here.
We were recently made aware of this thread and had to wait a little while to have our account request approved by the forum admins before being able to chime in. We’re going to make an attempt to respond to all of the questions/points brought up here, in a consolidated manner; which we're hoping will be easier to follow. Both of us will be going through in the coming days to be sure we answer any questions or comments we may have missed. Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful feedback and chance to participate in this conversation!
If you have more details questions and/or want to contact us directly; please don't hesitate to email us at:
info@surfnvs.com.
We're also always stoked to help customers dial in their fin set-ups, so don't hesitate to reach out with any questions on that front!
Regarding the video featuring portions of our conversation with Noel of Surf 'n Show... it's not nearly as comprehensive as we would have liked to see either. Noel likes to keep his video reviews, etc in the 10 minute range; we recorded more than 45 minutes when we sat down so quite a bit of detail was lost in the editing. Fortunately we can always record more video clips to expand on things we thought were missed and to address questions people have. This is something we've actually had in the works, and are hoping to begin rolling out sooner than later. The idea will be to share as much information as possible about our fins with interested customers. Noel has said he intends to release more Vlogs diving deeper into details re our fins. We've actually made him a few prototypes of fins he's wanted to design for a while so will be looking forward to his feedback on those!
@jkb @ANIMA @waxfoot
Regarding weight; G10 is heavier per unit volume than standard (GFK or Volan) fiberglass but given that it yields stronger material with significantly greater tensile strength; we're able to apply more refined foils which in turn reduces the overall weight of the fins. As
@Aruka pointed out after he compared our Apex fins to a set of comparable standard fiberglass fins; ours were slightly lighter. RTM (Resin Transfer Molding) fins will be lighter than standard fiberglass and G10 fins but there are significant manufacturing constraints with the RTM process. In general (we feel) the resulting fins cannot achieve the same high performance foiling or flex patterns we're interested in. There are a number of reasons for this; namely the core material (often Soric), and the resin to fiberglass ratio needed to give RTM fins sufficient structural integrity. You can do some cool things with RTM fins and we've been making them for over a decade, but have come to feel strongly that solid fiberglass fins offer superior performance and qualitty across the board
@silentbutdeadly @teeroi
@ChaseTMP If all things were equal save weight, then we agree that lighter is generally better. We feel that the benefits from the higher performance foiling and ideal flex patterning through the top half of our Apex fins outweigh the potential downsides associated with the slightly increased weight from using G10 fiberglass. Since every surfer has a different preference this won’t be the case for everyone but we feel the large majority of surfers will prefer Apex fins over RTM.
We've had a lot of conversations with shapers, pro surfers and customers about the weight of fins. Ultimately, for most surfers the weight difference is not going to be noticeable. We recently released some signature fins that we designed with Taylor Knox (who happens to be one of the more humble, genuine, kind professional surfers we've met. Seriously rad human!) He's said he prefers solid fiberglass fins to RTM hands down! It's amazing how much weight can be saved by waxing our boards a little less. One joke we've made for years is; if you're worried about the extra 0.3-0.8oz, take one or two fewer bites of your burrito before paddling out ; )
@ANIMA Noel has a pretty solid selection our fins to play around with. He started with the large C-Drives which he felt were a little too big for him on that board and will continue to experiment with quite a few other templates and sizes. We’re looking forward to seeing how he likes the mediums and twins once he’s had some more time to play with them. Maurice Cole (and Carlos) are actually who turned us onto the C-drives a while back. We would love to do a quick video overview with him; it's great listening to him share his stoke re those fins!
@silentbutdeadly As a smaller company we're in a relatively limited number of shops throughout the US (and world) so checking the fins in person before purchasing can be challenging. However, we stand by our fins and are confident you'll appreciate the value we offer re performance, quality, durability and precision.
@oneula C-Drive is an Australian company. We license the design and patent from Troy Clutton to produce the C-Drives. If you’re in Australia or New Zealand you can order them direct from Troy (
http://www.cdrivefins.com/)
@Retropete We’re aware there is a company making knockoffs and listing them in AliExpress/eBay. Troy is working on getting the sale of these shut down.
@waxfoot When FCS released the FCS2 fins they patented the fin box
AND the fin base, as opposed to just the fin box when they released the twin tab fins.
@teeroi
@sdsurfrat Our fins are manufactured in China at this time. We’re constantly looking for ways to bring this back stateside. Right now, given the cost of raw materials and to CNC fins in the US it unfortunately isn't cost effective to manufacture them here. Again, this is something we have been working to address since day one, and we will continue to pursue ways to bring an increasing amount of production back.
@feralseppo We actually have hand foiled out quite a few fins ourselves. We certainly haven't hand foiled as many fins as folks like Chuck, Greg, Mark, or Marlin, etc... who we consider to be master fin foilers. It's an art, and a skill that we continue to develop with more experience.
All wooden (glass on) fins that our customers purchase are hand foiled. All fin design is done in house, by us. This includes the template design and application of the nuanced foiling that we've worked hard to develop over the course of the past decade. At last count (about 3 months ago) we’ve put in production or made a prototype of over 150 unique fin templates.
We also want to note that do sell single replacement fins to customers who need them. We also are happy to help people build up custom sets/configurations based on any of the fins we currently offer via our site. This way you're able to experiment without having to break the bank.
It's been long, sometimes arduous, though ultimately fun/rewarding process to get to where we are now. That being said, the hustle to improve will never end... for us, complacency is not an option. Working with a wide range of experienced, and in some cases legendary, shapers has helped us tremendously. They've been gracious enough to share with us their wealth of knowledge and in the process of making fins for these folks we've deepened our understanding of the myriad factors that play into making high quality, high performance fins. Again, we have a lot to learn and will never cease striving to improve on all fronts.
Thanks again everyone! There's zero doubt in our minds that engaging in this conversation with all of you will help us continue to improve our processes and resulting products; and for that, we want to express our gratitude to all of you for taking the time an energy to share your questions, thoughts and insight.
No doubt we've missed some points here. Again, both of us will be going through in the coming days to be sure we answer questions or comments that haven't been fully addressed.
Our best to all of you and your loved ones, especially during these challenging times!
Jamin and Leif
Co-founders of NVS
info@surfnvs.com
www.surfnvs.com
www.instagram.com/nakedvikingsurf
www.cdrivefins.com
