C - Drive Fins

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Cpt.Caveman
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Re: C - Drive Fins

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Wed Feb 01, 2012 2:28 pm

Interesting comments...

I tried mine in a quad with a pretty good double concave which lots of lift from a hard blocky rail and I liked them quite a lot. They did take a bit of figuring out though and I never totally got the hang of them before changing back to the normal M3/G1000 for some juicy waves.

There were many moments of pure buttery smooth brilliance with turns I could only imagine would be similar to snowboarding in powder snow (not that I ever have), but other moments of strange tracking and stiffness. I hadn't really got the feel for how to tilt and pressure the board to choose when to have each effect. I'm guessing that was all due to the long base engaging and disengaging. It was in a quad that has only ever been prone to tracking in really solid waves when I get my feet off the sweet-spot, so I don't think you can put it down to being a quad solely.

Have you found something similar NC? Any thoughts or experience of the base engaging and disengaging? Maybe a fin better suited to the turn dynamics in a thruster?
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Nick Carroll
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Re: C - Drive Fins

Post by Nick Carroll » Thu Feb 02, 2012 10:55 am

^^^yeah I have felt the bases engaging and disengaging but haven't found it to be a problem, more an enhancement -- can easily be used to your advantage from what I've felt.

Part of that increase in water feel.

My sense re four fins is that they're complex enough as it is and the fins' effects would probably be magnified. But haven't tried 'em and doubt I would.

One thing I have noticed is that if you try to use the Cs in combination with another fin template, ie a normal back fin and C front fins, it pretty much sucks. The responses are too different to work well together.

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Re: C - Drive Fins

Post by SharkBoy » Wed May 23, 2012 5:59 am

Nick Carroll wrote:OK. This is just me. I am sure fcs would say differently.

The H3 template and foil, like the H2 before it, is a "slippery" fin -- ie it lets water move past it very easily. This is great and all but it does mean that the fin set doesn't feel to me like it provides a whole lot of lift in turns.

Thus it feels to me like it suits a board whose bottom shape generates a heap of lift. Such a board doesn't need much in the way of lift from the fins.

Lifty bottoms: deep concaves, flat exit rockers, six channels, short wide-tails.

Those flat H3 outlines don't seem to give you a lot of feel for water movement. I'm actually wondering if one reason the Cs seem to be so wonderful in the MC deep concaves is because the fins sport so many different curves in their outlines and thus let you feel a lot of what's happening in turns.

Hey Nick! Just wondering if this sentiment still stands. I saw the review on the Board Bible and that the board was sporting the Large H-3's "http://www.surfinglife.com.au/boardbible/maurice-cole/"

but then again, this might have been written before you rode the C-drives.

At any rate, that board looks interesting

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Re: C - Drive Fins

Post by ajohnsen » Sat Aug 17, 2013 5:07 pm

Just tried a set of C-Drives in my 5'8" Misfit. I usually run K2.1s but thought I'd give the C-Drives a go. Now, I can't really give a fair and balanced opinion based on one surf in 1-2ft waves on a rising, ravenous tide but I given my opinion on much weightier matters with much less direct experience/knowledge.

I reckon they tighten my board up too much. They definitely release easily off the top, but I struggled with coming off the bottom and flowing rail-to-rail. Granted, the waves weren't much, but given my time in the water is hard won, I might shelve them until I can afford the time to experiment.

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Re: C - Drive Fins

Post by marauding mullet » Mon Jul 21, 2014 10:16 am

Everyone has had a bit of time with these fins now, has anyone firmed their opinion? more thoughts?
Haven't tried them myself.
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steve shearer
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Re: C - Drive Fins

Post by steve shearer » Mon Jul 21, 2014 10:18 am

I hardly see them anymore.
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Re: C - Drive Fins

Post by Cpt.Caveman » Mon Jul 21, 2014 3:09 pm

I was using the quad set for a while and wasn't fully sold on them.

There was plenty of drive which could feel tracky at times, and then it could release quickly and unpredictably at times too. It was also hard to tell if that drive was purely because I was going from composite fins to fibreglass too.

NC seems to really like them in thrusters though, and I haven't tried them in a thruster yet.

Seems worth a try if you can trial a pair, but I don't know if they can be considered an advancement on the traditional fin shape. The right board will probably suit them.
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Re: C - Drive Fins

Post by JET01 » Fri Oct 31, 2014 9:11 pm

I've only ever used the cdrives in a thruster setup once. At soldiers up on the central coast. Best day of beach break surf I've ever had. I rode my 6'4 quadfather as a thruster for the first time. To this day, and I think it was about 6 years ago, some of the smoothest turns I've ever done.
I'm not sure how much of it had to do with wave quality vs equipment. I tried the cdrives as a quad the next day when the waves weren't as good, and have tried them in a few different boards since and I reckon they stiffen boards up too.
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