Tri-fins vs. Quads... the great debate.
Out of 27 years kneeriding and probably some 40 boards or so, I can only remember 3 tri-fins under me.
- Backyard shape (shaped after DP and I surfed a heavy reef in Santa Cruz where he was surfing out of his skull and snapped his board on one of the most critical carves off the top I can remember... funny thing though... his board was a quad and my backyard shape ended up a tri !)
- Knormal Kneeboard (shaped by Albert Whiteman himself back in '85 during my 6 month stay in Aus)
- Parkes 5'10 x 23.5 rounded pin I brought home from the '02 WT's(beautiful board that ended up in Sprocky's quiver... I think he's pretty happy with it!)
So I haven't really given them a fair shot -i.e. I haven't surfed one under familiar conditions and done a side by side comparison. I grew up in HB surfing twin fins in the late '70's and moved over to quads. My surfing style is more rail to rail now rather than surfing off the tail. In no way, shape or form will I say that quads are better than tri's - it just depends on your style, wave conditions, posture on the board, and probably a few other things I'm not aware of
How can so many of the World's top riders be on tri-fins... Do they know something I don't?
I brought home the Parkes tri-fin from the WT's with the intention of surfing it at my home break and expanding my horizons
Upon my return (mid April) we were at the end of our wave season here in Nor Cal and a few of the So Cal Kneeriders expressed an interest in buying the board. I thought I'd sell it and replace it before October... I never replaced that board
October and November were great months here in San Francisco with offshores blowing for weeks on end. As such, I slipped back into my old familiar quad-zone and once again surfed a season without a tri in my quiver!
It's April again and time to order a few more boards... perhaps I'll throw a tri-fin in there...
and the waves are breaking with purpose and intent.
who are also using a couple more inches in length to 1) get into the waves earlier 2) keep up with the currents 3) handle a steeper drop with more confidence.
