Thruster, the easiest setup to get right?

[Beerfan]

Surfed my "old faithful" this morning. 7'10" funshape/nmidlength. I surf this mostly as a thruster, with probox sides, and an 80's thruster centre fin ( fits in the box ). I just line the centre fin so that it's 7 1/2'' apart from the sides. It just F,U.K.K,En works in anything i surf. So dependable, plenty of drive when needed, but when i wanna turn, i can easily bank the 22'' wide x almost 8' board over very easily. It feels a foot shorter, and cutbacks are fast and tight, and on my backhand, i can do as good a backhand reo as a 7'10'' board can do, and not get stuck in the lip ( as i can with a 2+1 setup ), and come down lightning fast. Today i got a few bottom turns where i was so banked over my hand was skimming the face. Faaarken unreal.

I love this board as a 2+1, and also a single, but i find its a little harder/more fickle as to where im standing etc. If im in the right spot, yee haa, especially as a single fin ( groovy babeee!! ) but if im not getting my feet right, it can feel a bit "off". Whereas with the thruster setup, i never seem to have the problem, wherever i am it either just works, or has a bigger "sweet spot".


Thought i'd share with you guys. Thoughts?? here's the board and the centre fin. I now use a set of probox thruster sides. They are fibreglass, and stiff at the base, but flex nicely at the tip. More stiff than flexy though.

[ric_vidal]

Looks like a pretty tight cluster, Beerf. As in the back fin is very forward. Know a few guys who do this with long boards (2+1). More twin fin like with those big Occy fins.

Personally don’t like the feel, may be easy to turn but at the price of forward momentum. Think of it as pivot versus carve.

[Beerfan]

The funny thing is ric, i dont have a problem with forward momentum with this setup, and i dont feel im lacking drive. Best of both worlds. The one downside ( if you could call it that ) is that its unstable when trimming up the front part of the board, but, i'd prefer the manouverability in the face over that any day. For this board anyway.

[ric_vidal]

Guess you have tried it further back?

Consider it a relative feel, yes you will be always moving forward, however...

Not a criticism, just an observation, Beerf

[Jorgo]

Beery - I'm missing the measurement bit here. Do you mean that the middle fin is set 7 and 1/2 up from the tail (and would that be the trailing edge of the middle fin is 7 and 1/2 up) - or the leading edge of the middle fin?
Or ?????

[pridmore]

beerfan surfs quite forward so the forward fin and the pivot works well for him, he also would be getting plenty of forward momentum due to his position further forward on the board....this was learnt via feedback after a Fat-Bat quad he enjoyed more set up a twin, or with 2 bigger fins up front and 2 tiny ones in rear...its a set up which not many others would enjoy but proof that individuals have very different fin needs, let alone board design needs...

[Beerfan]

Ric, i know if,i "spread" the fins out i'll get more drive, but I don't want to lose the manouverability. Pridmore is right, I stand a bit more forward than most I think. Jorgo, 7 1/2" is the distance between the fins rear edges. The rear fin is actually 8' from the tail!!

[Jorgo]

Beery and MP - thanks for the clarification. Interesting - I have an 8' 2'' more pintail than round like yours and usely ride it as a 2 + 1 - but I have a thruster fin too that MP had made for a board he made for me.
In the 8'2'' it goes quite nicely as a 2+1, but I reckon i may give it a go with the thruster set up. I ride somewhat forward too so it will be a good experiment

[pridmore]

have found the KS2.1 fins work well for guys who surf forward too ( as fronts in quads or thrusters, never tried 2 + 1's but should still give a little extra pivot, then just get the centre fin right by a bit if trial and error )...let us know how the fins go Jorgo....

[ric_vidal]

Good explanation fellas...

Beerf, if you stand that far forward, recommend you try a pintail one day. Also good to see someone who is prepared to frig around with fins/positions. Can make ALL the difference. Imagine for one minute you had bought a board with stinking glass-on fins.

Thought it was we older folk like J-Lo and me who just rode a bit more over the front fins.

[Jorgo]

ha ha - yes those of us "more experienced" - read over 50 are def over the front fins kinda guys.
I'm gonna do some tweaking this weekend - but don't know if tweaking will help the weakening swell

[dUg]

have found the KS2.1 fins work well for guys who surf forward too ( as fronts in quads or thrusters, never tried 2 + 1's but should still give a little extra pivot, then just get the centre fin right by a bit if trial and error )...let us know how the fins go Jorgo....

^^ yep... I use 'em in both tri and quad setups. TC Aqualines and the old TC Whitelines are the shiz too for lightweights like me.

[Trev]

ha ha - yes those of us "more experienced" - read over 50 are def over the front fins kinda guys.
I'm gonna do some tweaking this weekend - but don't know if tweaking will help the weakening swell

Reckon that'd be me, too. I do tend to drop my rear foot right back onto the tail if I fade into the curl on a takeoff and pivot quickly back the right way on my forehand, but after that I'm probably a bit further forward than most and use body lean to turn from there.