3. Multi-fins have really increased the range of freewave boards recently. Why are we not seeing them in freeride boards? Surely they could have potential advantages, such as shorter fins for beach starting, better manoeuvrability and increased high-wind control?
SW. The multi fins for the Freewaves are mainly used for Waveriding…unless you want to take your freerider to the waves – which can be done, a small Gecko can be ridden in the waves – I do not see too much sense here. A single fin will still give you the best performance overall.
OH. Hi-Fly did it a few years ago, and from what I heard those boards worked well. Kite race boards are multifin too. I’m not totally negative to the idea, but I don’t think the advantages will be the same as with wave boards. For example, with freeride boards, a lot of the stability and control actually come from the leverage of the fin stabilizing the board.
TY. FreeWave boards use smaller fins and smaller sails, they prioritize maneuverability and grip. With larger fins and larger sails, and when you prioritize efficiency, speed and acceleration, the overall mix means that you lean towards single fins as the preferred solution. In terms of high wind control, you can also simply fit a smaller fin as the wind picks up.
FG. Yes, we are really happy about this. We made a few Custom Freeride boards for some customers that sail on a shallow lagoon that also has weeds and along with the raked back custom twin fins we provided them with, they were super stoked, so yes, it is all coming around.
WG. Bigger Freeride boards need the lift of the fin to achieve their performance, especially early planing and in marginal conditions we need to go upwind since we always loose height once not planning. For school situations like learning beach start, short and wide fins are used by the centres anyway. Everyone still has the option to use a slightly smaller fin for better control and better manoeuvrability but multi fins would be a bit much for this segment if you do not want to lose the performance in the range the boards are designed for.
FV. No point it will just be more expansive, more heavy and for no advantage except maybe shallow water. I think it’s the same for Freewave as soon a sailor have the level to see the advantage of multifin in wave he don’t buy anymore freewave he buy a onshore wave board like our pocket because he feel he is a “wave rider”. On the wave spot where I sail I have almost never see any guy who can make a front side bottom turn with a freewave board from any brand. It’s just a marketing trick to try to sell this customer a multifin freewave board.
