Stand Up Paddle Board Fins at Wet Feet Hawaii Video
Jeff leads us to Wet Feet’s fin center and showcases their various types of fins, fin setups, materials (fiberglass and plastic) and manufacturers. Notice the variety of fin designs for different purposes. He also mentions a butterfly type fin that is currently in production and will be out soon.
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Jeff: We have all kinds of fins. We have a zillion kind of fins to suit any kind of need or want or whatever you thought you ever wanted in a fin.
Evan Leong: Is FCS fin and Future fin the same or what?
Jeff: No.
Evan Leong: Are they different companies?
Jeff: Yeah, totally different. FCS has a different base than Future. These are the Future fins right here. These are the short board fins. We put them on the stand ups too but you see the base is solid. And FCS has the one that has two stubs coming out of the bottom. Yeah, and it’s cruising from the side, the FCS. This is the Future Fin demo center and what you can do is you can take out any of these fins and try.
Evan Leong: Most of those look like side biters or something, huh?
Jeff: Yeah, they would be side biters. These are short board fins. We have some long board fins you can demo too.
Evan Leong: Do you use the Future fins on the side, you just change them out for your side biters and then you’re using a different kind of fin – but this kind of fin is still…
Jeff: Yeah, they’re two plus one. You have a big one on the center and these on the side. Our quads we use actually these short board fins.
Evan Leong: Do you know what is the big difference between the fiberglass fins and the plastic ones?
Jeff: Yeah, fiberglass definitely feels better; more high-perforJeffce. The plastic ones are a little flexier. These are the Vector 2s, which we use inside of the stand up quads.
Evan Leong: How come you use those ones? How big are they?
Jeff: These are I think 4 1/2 . But you notice in the back, there’s a little curve in the fin so it gives a little squirt out of the fin. We use these on our quads. Let’s go through the quads first. So this is the quad set up that we usually do.
Evan Leong: Oh these are specially pre-made things or something for quads?
Jeff: This is a standard actually quad set but they are a little bigger so they work on the stand up pretty good. So we put these two in the front and these two in the back of the board.
Evan Leong: So you actually put bigger fins in the front and then smaller fins in the back?
Jeff: yep, that’s the whole quad idea so the board gets more positive turn in the front and the back doesn’t make it so stiff.
Evan Leong: You’re riding a quad?
Jeff: Yep.
Evan Leong: What’s the different between quad and then the three fins?
Jeff: The quad is faster down the line. It’s a little more snappy off the top – works really good on a stand up. And then if the waves are big what we do – actually we make them five fins, our custom stand ups. So in the fifth fin box in the back, we put one of these trailers in.
Evan Leong: Does it make a difference?
Jeff: Yeah. It helps it hold a little better. So we have those vectors in the quad set up and then we put this in the fifth box.
Evan Leong: So if it holds, does it make the tail stiff?
Jeff: Yeah, it’s makes it stiffer but if the waves are bigger you got a little more holding power. You can see the big variety of fins we have. We have all kinds.
Evan Leong: Which is the more popular for stand ups?
Jeff: Probably something like this. We put – because most of the stand ups are either two plus one or single so… if it’s two plus one we put a smaller main fin.
Evan Leong: What is that, like 7”?
Jeff: We go between 7 and 9 for the main fin and then of course it has the side bites.
Evan Leong: What about these funky looking ones down below? For single fin kind of stuff or what?
Jeff: This is a Shane Hurran fin. If you’re around in the 80s this is his idea.
Evan Leong: Is it any good?
Jeff: This actually gives some lift in it. It actually works pretty good on a race board. We’re trying them on the race board and it provides lift. It’s an interesting idea. There’s another one that has a foil on it.
Evan Leong: That blue one right? How do you like that one?
Jeff: No, I haven’t tried this one. Again, this one provides a little lift. Then we have another one that we’re having Jeffufactured that is a butterfly fin. It works really good on the long boards. It’s actually two fins like this. But we’re sold out this year.
Evan Leong: Oh, it’s kind of like the (____) ones or something like that?
Jeff: Yeah, similar. So these are all our fins. These are probably the main ones that we sell with the stand ups that are single fins or two plus one piece, right here. Between 8 and 10 we put on a stand up board. There are more exotic right here. If you want to get specialized. This is a pretty funky one right here.
Evan Leong: How is that? Do you ever use that thing?
Jeff: If that’s what you’re looking for, we have it.
Evan Leong: How about this Turbo Tunnel thing?
Jeff: Yeah, that’s another one. That’s supposed to be good for nose riding. Haven’t tried that one yet. But we sell a lot of those. Actually the guys at Tahiti like this one for some reason. Hey Doug.
Doug: Hey Jeff. How is it going?
Jeff: So yeah, here’s the Turbo Tunnel, good for nose riding. Ok, that’s the fins. That’s all our fins.
Evan Leong: These are the ones that are for demo, right?
Jeff: Right, yeah.
Evan Leong: So what’s the process to demo?
Jeff: Just say you want to try this fin and we just stick your name down and you just take it out for how long you want to try it.
Evan Leong: Oh yeah.
Jeff: …and just bring it back when you’re done.
Evan Leong: Can you take it for like a month?
Jeff: Well, three or four days just to give you an idea whether you like it or not.
Evan Leong: Pretty cool.
Stand Up Paddle Board Fins at Wet Feet Hawaii [5:55m]: Download
Stand Up Paddle Board Fins at Wet Feet Hawaii [5:57m]: Download
Good informative piece Evan, thanks. It looks like Wet Feet has a large and comprehensive selection of fins…also very cool that you can try them out!
I’m still learning about fins. I’m seeing guys riding larger side fins and a small center fin. I’m going to try that on the quad Infinity I just got. The setup can be quad, 5 fin or 3 fin. I’m going to try the 3 fin cluster which is 5.5″ sides and 4″ center which is moved up close to improve turning. I would take it to the North Shore but it’s 8-10′ Hawaiian scale so I’m scared of that and the South Shore has been really small.
I’m surfing a Stretch quad shortboard. The local surf shop considers Stretch to be “the man” regarding quads and has special fin placement. My board has Vector II 4 5/8 front fins, with 3 1/2 rear fins. The rear fins are farther foward than the standard center fin found on tri fin setups. I am very impressed with quads in smaller surf where you need to rip quick fast turns. I would love the option to surf my SUP quad on small days and 2+1 on large days.
I’m trying to see the difference the tri fin vs quad makes but haven’t gotten to try the tri fin setup yet. We’ll see soon.
[..YouTube..] SUPers unite! : ) great vids thank you