So I went in to look at boards around town on the weekend and took my LOST shortboard as a comparison.  The LOST board came with the standard fins included when I bought it. Right away the salesman says you could really improve this board's ride with better fins. I'm like sure he's just selling. But then he pushes against the fin and says see how much it bends- your losing drive when that bends. I had never put pressure on my fins before.

He takes me over to the FCS fins and I push against them and their like a rock in comparison with no or little flex. I think he has a point and I should look at new fins to improve my boards performance. Let first say I'm kinda disappointed in LOST for providing such shit fins in the first place but I'll move on from that.

So now I'm looking at fins that range in price from like $50 up to $130 all kinds of colors, shapes and materials. My head is spinning with all the choices.

What kinds of fins are most popular for good Florida surf on a standard shortboard thruster? I have boards with FCS and Futures so I'd be interested on feedback on both.

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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean

I know I never gave much thought to fins, just always rocked some plastic deedle-dads, always thought the different materials and design variations were to be worried about by guys like JJ and Fanning. But I was down in Nica over the summer and this German guy we wound up traveling with let me borrow his FCS AM-2s for a few weeks, describing a similar story with the bendiness and what not. Moral of the story, things felt a lot firmer driving and turning, like the board had more grip or something. I couldn't tell you the differences between the rakes and depths and all but I am convinced it's a slightly better existance. If you have a buddy that has some high dollar ones, might throw those for a session or two before you drop $100 or so.

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'Out of step' - Ian Mackaye

I go through fin phases. Most of the time those phases always lead me back to my old faithfuls futures wcts or fcs k2.1s.

But definitely. Even just changing the rear or side fins can be a big difference (if the fin your changing to is different enough)

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I type on fone 99% of time. Let the typos slyde. Thanks

And there's always handy-dandy Surfline for some educational but drab literature to help make your own choice.

http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/fin-week-whats-happening-here-anyway_118297/

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'Out of step' - Ian Mackaye

Someone told me that I should use the largest fins i can find in small and med. gutless waves. They say it creates more drive. And then as the surf improves and gets steeper go with smaller fins. Other than that i have a few sets(Futures) and like the F4's(any material) for most of my boards. I need to get a bigger set(biggest I can find) and try out my buddies advice.

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RUSS-D'S PHOTOGRAPHY

You can also find a FIN program or fin tree in surf shops and try out pairs of different fins to see what works and buy a good set up fins.  You can tell the difference over the standard plastic fins.

If your lost is a traditional "hpsb", I would recommend the AM template fins..  They work well in performance shapes and really shine once there's a little power in the water. As far as the fancy construction, stiffer fins are indeed better but probably not as much as we think. I really like true ames fins.. Good selection and performance at a lower price than fcs 

more flex is not always a bad thing

IK have a set of FCS G AM they are large with lots of drive and release.
They are like new 50.00 still in the box.

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Proteck fins save skin.

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"The truth is incontrovertible.
malice may attack it,
ignorance may deride it,
but in the end,
there it is." -Sir Winston Churchill

Are the futures AM2 the same template as the FCS AM2 (except for the base of course)?

I just looked at the measurements and it doesn't look like they are the same.

Thanks but I need the medium.

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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean

Edited: 10/28/2014 at 11:39 AM by daner

I hear you man.

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Life is a garden*Dig it!

The FCS and the Futures are same templates but different sizes. The fcs Gam and the Future Am2 are both bigger fins but the futures is bigger. They both have smaller templates the futures is a green fin and the fcs is an orange one

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Thanks man that helps alot.

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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean