Surfboard performance is greatly affected by fins. I began learning this after I started working at Morey-Pope. They were once the main supplier of fins to the surf industry and in the mid to late sixties a major portion of the industry used the Morey-Pope fin system.

They were Polypropylene molded fins secured in the boards laminated fin cavity via the wonder bolt. My friend Peter Robinson prepared and package the fins in an area behind the sales room at the old Front St. shop.

I can’t remember all the fin shapes, but I do remember the Greenough stage one, the Yater fin and the Weber Hatchet. I’d experiment with these fins in my boards back in the day. They were easy to change out so when I got the urge after surfing for an hour or so I’d run in and swap out my fin, then go back out and surf again to see how the different fin would work in my board.

We weren’t able to change the fin location… forward or backward… which can make a big difference in performance as well but, just changing fins was enough at the time. I didn’t really like the hatchet so I reshaped one into a long sweeping curve. The fin was quite long and because the end was pretty tapered it would flex a lot. Turning on a wave with some juice would get somewhat mushy feeling and when driving in white water the board would drift as the fin flexed and then the board would jerk and bounce as the fin would return. Interesting.

During my Greenough days we worked on fin placement as well as flex. We only did glass on fins and sometimes would grind off our fin and reposition it to get our boards to work in a way we thought would be better. As well fine tuning the flex, sanding a fin until it had just the right flex and snap.

Most recently I’ve been working on quad fin set ups. And very pleased with the results I’ve gotten on my quad long board. I’m now working on the mini tanker 8’0 I’ve got. Originally I was going to make a new board with a quad set up but, changed my mind and retrofitted my 8’0 instead. Today I took it out in some head high surf, first time with four fins. It’s amazing the speed that is generated from these fins.

I made the mini tanker as a tri fin at first. Then started doing 2 plus one set ups. Now… testing how the quad set up will work with the same model. It’s a good all around board and with each fin set up the board works differently.

Get a good outline, put the outline into a good foil, rail line and bottom contour. Add fins to taste.

D.R.