Postby Matteo V » Fri Jun 22, 2018 5:36 pm
Can't help with pricing.
You may have a hard time with the transition from 4 to 3 fins. My back to back testing of fin config and boards over a few years, gave me more than a "Novel's" worth of info on how 3 vs 4 fin configs. Here is a very brief summary.
1. You can ride a 4-fin with your weight over the top of the board OR hiked out. Hiked out is actually more controllable and the better way to get upwind on a 4-fin, as well as being the best way to maximize performance in the turn. You CAN'T hike out on a 3-fin as the tail will pretty much instantly slide out when sideloaded. So when moving to a 3-fin from a 4-fin, center your stance over the top of the board more and don't side load the fins so much.
2. 4-fin boards travel upwind with fins loaded, but NOT in a direction in-line with the center line of the board. 4-fins "crab" and "track" a bit in the turn if you don't really load up the fins with side pressure (still crab - but that is good for a 4-fin). Crabbing or tracking is typically defined as when you turn the board (point the board in a new direction) but you keep traveling in the same direction as before. This is usually a hurdle to those going from 3-fin to 4-fin, so this may not apply to you. But this principle is important to understanding what you need to change with you approach.
3. On 4-fin boards, you ride the pressure in the fins (sideways AND sideloaded), but you don't need to pay as much attention to where the nose of the board is pointed. Actually, the nose can bounce around as much as you can let it on a 4-fin board without that bouncing (pointing upwind, then downwind) affecting your straight line of travel. On a 3-fin board, you MUST control where the nose is pointed at all times! Think of a 3-fin board as being on rails in line with the center line of the board. If you want to change the direction of the board, you just point the nose in the direction you want to go. And you must do this with your weight over the top (centerline) of the board. Any sideloading from your weight hiked out to one side and you spin out - exactly why it is easier to "break the tail free" of a 3-fin vs a 4-fin.
4. Breaking the tail free on a 3-fin is easy.....too easy, thus you manage to avoid this by standing over the top of the board so that there is less leverage over the fins. When you want a 3-fin to spin out, it happens pretty much instantly with very little effort. Due to the smaller size of the side fins (and only having 2 forward) On a 4-fin, you break the tail free with TONS of pressure. This is because the least hold of a 4-fin is in line with the centerline of the board. As you turn the board (or make it go sideways a few degrees) you INCREASE the push back from the engaged rail's fins. This keeps increasing, especially with speed until you reach a seemingly "upper limit" where it finally "cavitates" one fin, then another for complete spinout. This takes lots of pressure to do instantly, and if you under pressure the fins, they catch and you will not achieve "spin-out" to break the tail free.
To sum it up, approach your upcoming 3-fin experience with a determination to figure out how you need to modify your technique to make that fin configuration work. You will get a benefit from the experience you gain, even if you decide to stick with a quad in the end. Personally I feel that a 3-fin config is overall and all around superior to a 4-fin. But the 4-fin's singular superior ability to instantly change direction without any preplanning means that is all I use now.
Last edited by Matteo V on Sat Jun 23, 2018 8:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.