Vanguard- FCS or Futures?

[dylan*]

I'm not a fan of futures for the simple reason that the little piece that holds the fin in is very easy to snap off. I haven't tried FCS though.

[longwhitecloud]

surftrips are a consideration - u snap a couple of fins futures are less popular overall and harder to get hold of - the other thingi is use the same fins as all your mates so when you go on trips you dont need to take so many spare..

theplastic glass reinforced fcs fins really are a big risk with kiting as they blow out so easy... in that material futures and fcs2 smoke them...

another good point is that with fcs2 u are more likely to try different fins - a lot of people talk about quad vs thruster - small medium large - cant, toe... but very few have actually have much experience with it - partly because good fin sets are not cheap tho!

[TommyDuotone]

Get a tri setup, and a size smaller than you would when paddle surf

Do not size down, there is no reason to do that.


When you say pivot do you want to turn direction faster? Or actually have the feeling of pivoting more off the tail of the board.

More pivot off the tail. The board screams upwind with the different quad sets I tried but I still haven't found that performance I was hoping for. My smallest quads are "Stretch Quads" and still might try those. I also have a small trailer fin I can throw in as well. But, I think the next experiment will be with my smallest tri set-up and work my way up from there.

[mede]

Get a tri setup, and a size smaller than you would when paddle surf

Do not size down, there is no reason to do that.

There is a very good reason to do that actually.
When surfing with a kite, you don't need the additional drive of bigger fins, as you are always planning.

The VG has also ways enough bite given its outline and rail shape, so you won't feel too loose because of smaller fins.

Smaller fins == less resistance == faster and more efficient.

[longwhitecloud]

Like surfing - thruster fin size has a lot to do with not sliding out in very steep fast waves - I guess not at all what the Vanguard shapes was designed for!! - i would think such a wide tail needs bigger fins though not to slide out?

[flying doctor]

Just my 2c:
Started last year with a thruster set up on my VG 5'2" and later switched to a very simple F4 Quad Thermotech setup (50 euros for a 5 fin set).
This totally transformed the board for me!
From a very capable board, but not much better than my former North pro series, it is now so much more agile and still very much planted. Hard to describe but on the wave I get the feeling I can point it anywhere without losing control.
Added bonus is more upwind capability.

For my weight (around 75kg) it certainly paid of to go quad but especially downsize the fins (F4 is pretty small)
My thruster setup was a fancy All Merrick's but the simple thermotech quad does the job better for me...

[topmick]

Both Futures & FCS2 are great fins, what have found is that with Futures - fins don't break but if you hit something hard enough the fin box breaks....also can be hard to remove fins
FCS2 - fins break & fin box is usually OK but you may break fins more often than with Futures depending on what you hit....easy to remove fins.