Whether you use your SUP for touring, racing or surfing, the fin you use actually plays a big part in optimising the performance of your board. The right fin can make really make paddling, manoeuvring and staying on top on your board easier. There are different boards available for these different disciplines within stand up paddleboarding, and we touched on these in our essential SUP guide article last month. In this article we are looking at SUP fins more in depth, and how their shape and size make them better suited for carving waves, winning races or long paddle adventures.
SUP Fins for Stability
For long trips down rivers, across lakes or downwind runs on the open ocean, ensuring your SUP fin provides you with enough stability and helps to keep you travelling in a straight line is essential. As a general rule, the more area a SUP fin has the more stability it provides, but also the height of the fin plays a part too. So longer and all-round larger fins are more stable, but to the determent of speed and agility. Speed might not be an issue if you are not racing, and quick turns are generally only needed when surfing waves. So for recreational SUP touring using a fin that provides stability is usually the best choice, and also highly recommended for beginners who are still finding their balance sweet spot. The Futures Fins Triangle Cutaway is a great choice for touring, and comes in two different sizes, small and medium. The medium provides more stability over its smaller sibling, which sacrifices a little stability for some extra manoeuvrability.
SUP Fins for Speed
For experienced paddlers who have got their balance down and love to power through the strokes and really notch up some speed on their boards then there are fins that can help with this. Also if you compete in SUP races then you will appreciate all the extra help available to get one over your competitors. A SUP fin with a swept back leading edge helps to reduce drag and shed kelp caught while paddling. A low surface area is also important, but this can be a problem when paddling in water with chop or side currents. In fact, the best SUP fin for speed depends on the conditions you want to use it in. For flat water smooth conditions and little current a short, light fin with low surface area will be the fastest, like the Futures Fins Flat Water Keel.
If currents get stronger a fin with larger surface area will help, but also a fin with larger height will help, but drag will increase. For rough conditions you can use a fin with low surface area but a larger height, which helps to keep the board stable in chop and whitecaps while still being fast. The Futures Fins California Downwind and Hawaii Downwind are both fast fins for paddling through bumpy water.
SUP Fins for Agility
If wave riding is what you use your stand up paddle board for then you need a fin, or fins, that provide you with enough agility to carve and turn on a wave quickly. Depending on your board you could have a single fin box, a thruster setup or even a quad. Sticking with the single fin, what is important here is a low surface area to reduce resistance in the water and responsiveness in the fin. Flex and a low volume in the tip of the fin allow for quick turns and agility on a wave. The Futures Fins JM B.O.P is a great fin for a balance between agility and stability, and you can also get Jamie Mitchell signature model thruster and quad fin setups from Futures.
Choosing the right fin for the job will help you to get the most out of your stand up paddle boarding sessions. While sometimes things can get a too little technical perhaps, remember the golden rule. Go for a fin with lots of stability when you are learning, and gradually move to a faster, more agile fin as your ability progresses.