Yesterday, I rode giant waves that were much bigger than the Tsunami.  My estimate from the biggest one that I caught would be double mast high!  Conditions were very difficult with the wind blowing nearly straight offshore, and most of the waves were closing out across the reef.  I was lucky to get out and catch a few before I got cleaned up by a big set.  I had  a long swim for my gear while I ducked mast high white water.  Fortunately when I tracked my gear down, it was unscathed.  I was pretty tired, but I wanted to catch one more.  I tried and tried for about 30 minutes to get back out doing chicken jibe after chicken jibe, when the waves finally opened up to let me through. 

Giampaolo stopped by and took a couple pictures of my efforts.  You can check out all of his shots on his blog at www.mauisurfreport.blogspot.com.  Check ‘em out and see the size waves we were out in.  I was glad to return to the beach without any broken pieces, myself or my gear.  Not everyone was so lucky.  My friend Art broke a mast and tore his sail, but he made it back in safely.  That was one crazy session.

Thanks again Giampaolo for taking these shots.

After time spent testing on Maui, we had a chance to ride the Quad Fin 75 in a good sized swell.  Our big wave expectations were confirmed.  The board rips with superior holding power in large choppy waves, without being penalized from excess fin drag.  “We wanted to make sure that this design would not be over-finned.”  Our Twin Fins have performed well, so we wanted to try a Quad with a similar amount of fin area.  The desire to add control in choppy conditions, without losing the surf-style of the Twin, is where the quad design came about.  We felt there was room for a wave board that was not as loose as a Twin Fin.  The Quad offers amazing holding power, but still offers great top to bottom turning.

The Quad has evolved out of the design experience from the Twin Fin.   The Twin Fin design offered a radical surf-style with greater holding power compared to the Single Fin.  The fins are closer to the rail allowing them to engage harder into the wave face.  We felt we could enhance this ability, by adding two small  finely foiled fins in front of our standard twin fin setup.

Through our development and testing, we discovered small front fins are the optimal choice in quad design.  We feel that the majority of Quad Fin boards available to the market right now are over-finned.  Our Twin Fin designs are working great, so we didn’t want to add much more in fin area and drag.  We have kept a thin foil large rear set, and matched it with a small thin foil front set.  This combination added more drive and control, allowing sharper more vertical turns.  It also added wave-riding confidence on choppy large wave faces, without the fear of the fins letting go.

The Quad’s holding power offers a great balance between front foot and back foot wave sailing.  This gives a wide range of sailing styles more confidence to attack the wave face.  Our Quad design will help you reach your goals in wave-sailing quicker.