What are fins exactly for?

[Loesjuh89]

Hello,
I was wondering why you need fins for on the surfboard. I need information for my school project so I was wondering if anyone could help me...
Thanx, Loesjuh

[Loesjuh89]

Oh and I forgot...why are they're different shapes of tails?

[EastCoast4Life]

fins come in basically two types....fiberglass non detachable, and fcs detachable, they are used to control the board....a long board has 1 fin...not much control or minuverability....a fun/short will have 3, and fish's will have 2 or 3 depending on the type of board and style of the surfer....in the end it will always come down to preference and style.

tails of surfboards to the best of my knowledge vary from every board type, and its all about water flow. but someone else will know alot more.

[Loesjuh89]

Thnx for your reply!

[deathfrog]

why don't cars just have grocerey cart wheels?

[Broosta]

Generally speaking - without fins a surfboard would spin around and slip and slide all over the place.
Fins keep the front of the board facing forwards.

The different tails are for different types of waves, or for a board to behave/turn differently on the same waves.

[matty_02]

Could different types of fins be more stable and suitable for begginers??

[grub]

Could different types of fins be more stable and suitable for begginers??

Yes I guess so but a beginner generally won’t be able to distinguish between the differences as every wave it self is different... normally a beginner is concentrating on getting up, going straight and/or learning to turn.

Talking FCS the basic G5 profile will suit just about any type of wave a beginner is likely to tackle and a bit more; I feel that they perform well even over head high and beginners usually stick below the upper limit of the G5 profile. If you have others it doesn’t really matter as long as you have something (noting that fin size/profile can dramatically enhance or impair a board’s performance). Once you have progressed you might start to experiment with fins but I feel experience with boards of all shapes and sizes (c/w suitable fin/s ) is more important...
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"Seek first to understand, then to be understood"

[Dopey]

[bluesnowcone]

different tail shapes are all about water flow, pin tails are smoother turning and better for getting barrels, squash tails are well i duno about squash tails and as for fish tails who knows??