Because the thruster has been most surfers’ “go to” board for quite some time, it isn’t uncommon to see hot-dogging shortboarders riding their 5′10 potato chip in all types of wave conditions including 2 foot slop. I always see these shortboarders struggling to catch waves on days like this and when they get lucky enough to catch one, the lack of foam causes their board to bog and after a weak turn their wave is over.

The retro revival has shown many of us how functional and exceptionally fun old throw back boards can be. The twin fin fish is arguably the most popular retro board out in the line-ups and if you watch good surfers on these things, the first thing you’ll notice is how insanely fast they can go in weak and pathetic waves.

While the hot dogging younger crowd is obsessed with riding their Kelly Slater shortie, the smarter surfers are riding twin fins, quad fin fishes, single fins, eggs, and longboards. These surfers are not only catching more waves than surfers riding potato chips, but they’re also learning about lines and curves and different positioning and feel required to surf each type of board.

Take it from Rasta and Rob Machado who both believe that expanding your quiver and riding a variety of different shapes will improve your surfing tremendously. Longboarders will find that learning how to ride shortboards drastically improves their ability to pump and turn those huge planks around and shortboarders will find that riding a longboard for a few sessions will smooth out their surfing and help them draw better lines.

Check out TORE Surfboards if you need help or advice with expanding your quiver.

Quad fins are making a comeback and increasing in popularity. Superstars like Kelly Slater and Bruce Irons are riding quads and there is talk that once someone on tour wins a contest with a quad, all hell will break loose and the quad will see an explosion similar to the abundant fish population.

Four fin quad set-ups first arrived in the early 80’s during the thruster rampage. Back then, quads felt were very similar to twin fins and because of that surfers were looking for something which provide something in between a twin and a single fin. The early thrusters provided a happy medium by providing an excellent balance of drive and turning ability. Thus, the quad died a quick death and was over shadowed by it’s popular thruster cousin.

Many shapers have since dusted off their original quads from the 80’s and have tried to apply quad fin setups to today’s modern day board design, foils, rockers, fin templates, and everything else in between. The modern day quad utilizes today’s board technology in the pursuit of helping surfers achieve that elusive ‘next level’ of surfing.

Why Do Quads Work Better?

Quads are way faster than standard thrusters or even twin fins. Most would think, how can they be faster with an extra fin…wouldn’t that create more drag? Actually, because both sets of fins are working together on the rail, there’s nothing to slow you down like the center fin of a thruster. Quads are a lot more efficient with speed.

Quads are much more responsive than twin fins or thrusters. The reason is that the fins are set further up the board which essentially puts the fins directly under your back foot. The end result is an ultra responsive board that goes where you want it to go and fast.

Four fins boast an extraordinary amount of holding power in larger surf. A large number of the world’s best big wave surfers use quads in giant surf at Jaws and Mavericks. Many of them claim that a quad fin board has better holding power and speed in giant surf. If it works well at Jaws, imagine what it could do at your local beach break?

Quad fins have a ton of versatility due in large part to the advent of the removable fin system. There are countless combinations of different fin setups you can use in your quad from fin size, cant, rake, angles, fin material, and more. You can basically find a fin setup that will work for your quad and if you have a quad that isn’t performing very well, you should probably check your fins.

Quad Fin Reviews

Kimo Greene Retro Quad Fish

After the fallout of Clark Foam last December, epoxy surfboards were thrust into the spotlight once again. With an extremely limited supply of Clark’s PU foam, the abundance of polystyrene foam (foam used in epoxy boards) looked quite attractive. However, the previously bleak future of traditional foam is looking better than ever with more foam companies producing a larger variety of foam types, densities, plugs, etc. which has brought their popularity back up to the pre-Clark shutdown era. There are many pros and cons to both epoxy and traditional PU surfboards which we’ll examine below.

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