Race Fins

I’ve been using race fins made by Larry Allison for over two years now, and I really don’t need to try anything else. They do everything I need a race fin to do; track well, reduce drag and shed weeds.

My first Allison fin was the Eric Terrien Bat Wing. I was amazed at how well it made the board track and how many more strokes per side it allowed me. It made the stock fin look like total junk.

Then, last year I discovered the Gladiator fin, made by Larry with design ideas from fellow SUP racer Casey Gotcher out of Austin Texas. He runs a great SUP site called SUP Gladiator. http://www.supgladiator.com/

Casey and Larry just came out with the new Hybrid Gladiator fin that is a slightly smaller version of the original. I used it for the first time in a race last week and won the race on my 14′ Bark Dominator.

There are some very different designs attributes between the different models, and Larry can explain the advantages to each… he talks like a hydrodynamic/physics engineering doctorate student, but all you really need to know is that any of these fins are probably better than what you use now.

If you live in Washington, you can buy any of these fins at Perfect Wave Surf Shop in Kirkland, or order the Gladiators directly from Casey.

See the rest of the review here at:

http://www.paddlesurfnorthwest.com/2012/01/race-fins.html

Beau goes through some of the different fin designs and the purposes for each.  Well worth the read if you are into SUP Racing.

Casey