How is the ride different from a thruster? The thruster is the most similar fin system to SurfTrux, with the same fin sizes and positions. On a turn, the board with Trux is slightly looser with similar or slightly better thrust, and noticeably better release in the second half of the turn. These changes occur because the outside rail fin toes out. When you are in between turns, if your weight is very far back it feels identical to a thruster. If you lean forward when you are not turning hard, the board will accelerate quite noticeably.

Is it hard to install? The installation follows one surf industry standard method. Position the box with a template. Route a hole. Cast the box in the hole with resin. Glass over the top of the box. Standard glass shop tools are all that is required.

Can I get other fins made for SurfTrux? We can offer fins from Rainbow's catalog through Rainbow, the turnaround is not fast and they are somewhat costly. In the future we may offer a few different templates. But the standard template is in stock and almost everyone is happy with it.

Can you ship to [insert foreign surfing country here] We accept payment by check or Paypal and will ship to any USA location. Hopefully we will open international markets soon but not yet.

You seem to be advertising a better fin system performance than the other fin companies. If it works so well why didn't they come up with it? Imagine a surfer who is also a PhD engineer with the mechanical skills of a machinist and full access to a machine shop. He builds a rotating single fin in early 2004. Breaks it. Re-designs it. Builds another. Too heavy. Builds another. It is light enough and doesn't break. Goes through several dozen fin template and foils. Tests it. His competition friends tell him there are yet further things to fix. He fixes it and gives them more designs to ride. They no longer have any consistent negative feedback. The beta tests go out, and more, mostly minor, tweaks in the design are incorporated. After all that, the three fin tests come out in early 2005. It is different. The three fin system needs a rotating lockout so fins cannot toe out too much. The rear fin needs to be fixed. The best fin templates are different. Every detail needs to be dialed in, all over again. Then, it works well. That gets us to where we are today. This is NOT an idea birthed from the surf industry. It is a radically different approach to how fins and surfboards interact.

Isn't this just a glorified flex fin? SurfTrux operate by holding the fins at the best positions when you turn, and letting them rotate to reduce drag at other times. There is no storage of energy and release like you get in a flex fin. Qualitatitvely it does not feel like a flex fin.

Why isn't [name your favorite pro] riding them? The best surfers who have ridden SurfTrux have all noticed the performance benefits it provides. More will ride it with time. We are in no hurry and are in fact confident than SurfTrux will win the support of all surfers who ride it long enough to get through its learning curve. It is particularly tough for a very good surfer to put their weight forward between turns to speed the board up - because all their years of training tell them that doing that on a thruster will slow it down!

Where should I position the fins for SurfTrux? Use standard thruster positions.

I don't feel like the thruster has a lot of drag! Every surfer who rides a thruster knows that if the waves are too small, a thruster is not the best tool. To make it work well, the rider's weight must be far enough rearward. On small waves, this means you need to keep the nose up to make the fins work. However, nose-down is lower in drag. This combination makes thrusters bog in small waves. SurfTrux will fly through the same conditions if the surfer rides nose-down in between turns. On bigger waves there is enough wave energy to allow the rider to keep his weight rearward more of the time, and the advantages of SurfTrux diminish. On waves head high or smaller, the advantage is substantial, but it often takes more than 10 sessions to get fully accustomed to the surfing style that will take advantage of SurfTrux.

Can I feel the fins moving? No. We engineered the boxes so that you cannot feel where the fins are at any time, you can only notice the changes in drag and drive.

It must weigh a lot! Installed, the weight is comparable to other fin systems. Our fin tab is smaller, which reduces weight. Our box is slightly heavier, which makes it back up. The box is 2.25" long by 1.45" by 0.71" deep. Standard finboxes are over 4 inches long and 0.75" deep or deeper, and somewhat less wide. The fins are standard glass fins. Our installation also minimizes the use of resin which further keeps the overall weight down after install.

I bet you need to route a hole too deep for the rails on a competition board The finboxes are less deep than the two most common finboxes used in competition. Our method of holding the fin in the box lets us use a shorter fin tab without compromising fin strength. The hole is only 0.71" deep, which is not even as deep at the fins of competitors much less the boxes!

It is probably only good for kooks. SurfTrux complements vert surfing better than any other fin system bar none. It provides all the advantages of a thruster, and then some.

What do the fins and boxes look like?