Off The Lip

I bought a single fin mal for that reason. Single fins are meant to be surfed traditionally, big sweeping pivoted turns, take a walk up front, toes on the nose, then all the weight on the back to bring it back into the curl.

Having the side fins allows you to be more aggresive with your turns, for the modern "progressive" style longboarding, as seen in the competitions.

Personally, if I want to be doing aggresive turns, I'll take my thruster out.

I don't think you can beat the traditional style surfing.

Each to their own.

Yawn. So much hot air Mr Flack.

Just finished reading kev's article on "the fin". I have to say, the article seemed ok but I must totally disagree with his comments on side fins for longboards.

He stated "In fact, many longboard side fins seem to be a fashion accessory and do nothing to improve the performance of the board that a larger centre fin wouldn't do."

No offence intended Kev but just thought that statment was way out.

Quoted message from Malrider

I love disagreement mate, absolutely no offence taken.

I don’t think you got the gist of that quote, and may have taken it out of context. What I say and mean is that, if the set up is right i.e. toe in accurate and the three fins of the right proportions and tri fin set up is great. I ride a 9’2” progressive mal shaped by Mark Phipps and it flies because the centre fin is no significantly bigger than the side fins so as not to create too much total fin area, as a result the board is very loose and very fast. Mart “the mal hater” will agree, I think, as he has ridden “Naomi” and enjoyed the experience. If, however, the set up is wrong i.e. too big a centre fin or the side fins not toed in properly then that will wreck a board’s potential performance. My “fashion accessory” statement was focused on this as I have seen shocking placement on some of the cheap imported boards which have obviously been made for looks only and I have seen traditional retro longboard fins on a tri fin set up and that’s just pointless.

Only about riding "Naomi", there are more than witness here to you saying you enjoyed her. As for anything else, I expect very little of you.

I replaced the single 9" fin on my old Roger Cooper 9'2 mal with a 10" squirrel fin as I thought it would give me more hold and consequently more time up front. I can't really explain it but after many sessions I switched back to the smaller traditional fin. The back end does skip out more but it just feels easier to turn.

Think the 2 + 1 setup would suit more hollow faster waves where quick turns are required and the side fins held keep the rail in the curl.

Need to ask a question re the small glassed in tri fins on my old Neil Perrow 7'4 but I'll have to measure them first. Just seem so small after riding my mal. Seem to do the trick but its hard to tell due to my lack of ability and style. But, get a feeling that a slightly larger rear fin would suit if I get a slightly wider version of the board made for me next spring.

The 2+1 design is used for "progressive" style longboard surfing, Look at a board with a 2+1 setup and you'll see it has lots of rocker & hard rails ( at least at the back of the board ). Look at a single fin longboard and generally they'll have less rocker & soft ( rounded) rails. Each type is ridden differently.. Some people want to hit the lip and do helicopters on their mal and some people want to noseride and drop knee turn..

I agree with Nick, don;t stick to one type of board ride the right one for the conditions..
I've got a 9"2' progressive mal, a 6"6' JP egg and a 6"10' Channel Islands rounded pintail for the bigger days ( that never gets used anymore!!)plus I'm lusting after a 9"6' traditional single fin!!

I have a eight and a half foot 2+1 with a pintail and really sharp rails thru the tail.

It has a massive nose rocker and I've dropped into some overhead surf on it with no problem. It turns pretty good off the rails and is a nice board.

Then my nineplus is the board you're lusting after mate... It's a beauty!
9'4" single fin "don" , 50/50 rails all the way, slightly pinched at the tail, no edges in sight. big deep fin at the back, with a little tail lift and a slight nose concave.

My thruster is a corking board. Mayhem, 6'4" with a nice wide tail, but razor like rails going to pretty full thru the mid, then a good rocker up front. Ultra light glass and it screams when the waves are clean!

The 2+1 design is used for "progressive" style longboard surfing, Look at a board with a 2+1 setup and you'll see it has lots of rocker & hard rails ( at least at the back of the board ). Look at a single fin longboard and generally they'll have less rocker & soft ( rounded) rails. Each type is ridden differently.. Some people want to hit the lip and do helicopters on their mal and some people want to noseride and drop knee turn..

I agree with Nick, don;t stick to one type of board ride the right one for the conditions..
I've got a 9"2' progressive mal, a 6"6' JP egg and a 6"10' Channel Islands rounded pintail for the bigger days ( that never gets used anymore!!)plus I'm lusting after a 9"6' traditional single fin!!

Quoted message from yellowmal