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Koal Fish fin positions


Kalamazoo

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Have a new Ronix Koal Fish. has two 2.3" fins and one 2.9". really, really like the board & looking to play around with fin positions.

currently have all three in rear position.

any tips? will moving forward 'loosen' the board? remove center fin? do fin positions impact 'speed'?

I know it'll be trial and error, but if you have experience I'd appreciate it.

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I don't have a Koal, and am trying to not be critical of your solicting experiences, but I think you'll learn a lot with your own experiments on your wake on your own...experience that will help you in the future as well.

anyway, Outside fin locations and size affect "drive" and the depth of all fins of course affect how locked in the board feels, with the center being the biggest contributor. I've come to prefer a large outside fin set up on my surf-style board.

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I have a Ronix Carbon Powertail with the same fin setup. I removed the 2.9" center fin and I only run the 2.3" outside fins. I like the slightly looser feel and I think it makes the board faster, especially as you carve up the wave. As you come back down the wave you'll notice the tail has a tendency to "slide out" unless you are really conscious of being on the inside edge, which is a good thing.

In my opinion, removing the center fin will make you a better surfer. In my case, that middle fin was only perpetuating bad habits.

img_0881_zpsqaggxan1.jpg

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First, just so I don't get flamed, let me state I am not an expert, nor even experienced, but I have asked a lot of questions, and I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night!

I have the Ronix Carbon thruster, so it has the 5 fin option as well. I was talking to a couple of the surfers who compete and they explained that if you use the outside fins, keeping the center fin as well is like using training wheels on a bike. It keeps things nice and tight, as well as very stable, but it can help you develope bad habits. Here is the info I have gathered for the fin setups.

The more fins you have in the water, the more speed your able to generate. The fins act like the wings on an airplane, except they provide thrust instead of lift. The bigger the fins, also equals more thrust. However, the more fins you have, the slower the turn. It allows for more heavy reactions instead of the light subtle reactions of shifting your weight to steer. Again, bigger fins and more fins are good for beginners while they learn to balance correctly. Example given was without the extra fins, its like surfing on butter, (slippery), so your balance has to be more dialed in. When you look at a skim board, they have 1 or maybe 2 fins, (one front and one back), and they are generally small. This allows the board to not catch the fin when your trying 360's, or even 720's, or shuvs... basically tricks where you want the board to spin sideways quickly.

One of the setups that is catching on quickly is called a twinzer setup, This generally has two smaller outside fins, (which on your board would be the two outside holes farthest forward), and then two slightly larger fins towards the back. This setup allows the surfer to generate alot of speed for big air and grabs, but still has it loose enough to where they can do 360's. Its a little bit of both worlds between the skim and the surf. I don't know where exactly to put that second set of fins on the thruster, (there are 3 slots in a row so it can go forward and be directly behind the first set, or farther back and an extra notch towards the rear of the board), but most of the twinzer setups I have seen pictures of have the front of the second set of fins starting where the back of the first set ends.

There is also a bigger issue with the shape of the board, the skim boards have a wide almost oval type shape, which helps them compensate for the lack of fins by getting more surface area of the edge into the wave, which changes the mechanics of how you ride or carve and also how much or how long your able to keep the board in the wave when you are going for air. The more traditional surf shape will keep the edge in the wave longer, so you can get more speed and as a result, get more air. Having that long edge makes it more difficult to spin though. Think of it this way, if the boards were simply circles, it would spin all day long, but be very difficult to steer, hence the oval shape.

Almost everyone is going to say that you need to play with the setup and find what suits you. I am a bigger guy, (and a complete newb), so I go surf style with quad fins. I need as much thrust as possible to move from the back of the wave, as I have not learned how to pump very well yet. The first trick I am working towards is an air grab, so thrust is what I want. I also want to try a 360, so I don't want to just focus on thrust. My kids and I just started to surf this year, so we are all learning together, and we just got to the point where we are all mostly ropeless. I would suggest that when your able to go ropeless and move forward and backward in the wave, that you remove that center fin so you can get your body used to the balance without "the training wheels". or leave the only the center fin in. I just took the center fin off for all the kids, and while they complained and had some issues, they adapted over the weekend. My oldest neice has been on a skim board since she started, and while she struggles a bit more than the other 3 younger ones, its easy to see her skill set is improving much faster than everyone elses because she has had to learn the balance without the fins. Her boards back fin is 1/2" at most, maybe even shorter than that.

I hope that helps

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However, the more fins you have, the slower the turn. It allows for more heavy reactions instead of the light subtle reactions of shifting your weight to steer. Again, bigger fins and more fins are good for beginners while they learn to balance correctly.

Larger fins will actually make the board react faster rail to rail and will do tighter turns (not spins). Big fins will react to even subtle movements. Thats why Flyboys or Zombie Pros might be tough for beginners. The board reacts before they are ready.

The rest of your post was great info!

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