He has a great point. If you were to make a board for a particular set of fins, why wouldn't you glass them on? After all, beyond travel function, aren't we using fin systems to enable us to switch out fins for changing conditions?
When a board is designed, there focus is on what type of waves we will be surfing; fast and hollow, slow and mushy, ect. Fins are selected for the conditions. When you get your 6'3" rounded pin for juicy surf, and the waves are 4-6' and hollow, you'll pop in a medium size performance fin. At 8-10' and hollow, you'll be stepping up to a larger fin with more drive and hold.
Same with a longboard. Our local break is pretty slow and mushy most of the time, so most of our boards are long, flat and have fairly soft rails. When it's small I see most of the dominant surfers using pivot fins to keep the board loose at low speed. When the swell jumps up a bit, they ride the same board with a fins that has more rake and a wider base.


Rake Fin with a swept back template
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