When you are the reigning world champ the industry is your oyster, and its an all you can eat buffet. So when Mick Fanning decided to sign with FCS, we had to know why. Unfortunately we don't have the means to get an interview ourselves, so we were fortunate to find an interview conducted by Tracks Magazine in Australia where they engage Mick on the subject of fins. Here's a cut from the interview:
"Firstly Mick, when signing a new sponsorship agreement, is it the money or the product itself that you consider most – fins surely has to be performance-based decision?
What happened was I went and tried different fin systems, cause I was riding glass on fins and I was so set on them I couldn’t ride any other fin system. I eventually became sick of carrying 12 boards with glass ons. What I did was I got a couple of different fin systems put on a quiver of boards and took them all on the Red Bull boat in Indonesia last year and tried all the different ones together – and the FCS ones felt the best.
So you were one of the last guys on tour lugging around boards with set fins?
Yeah, it was heavy.
Literally.
Yeah.
Mick winds-up and then releases at home at Duranbah Beach, NSW. Pic: Simon Muirhead
So, after your little test – FCS won. Why them?
It just felt like the FCS fin system had an extra bit of zing. We’d copied my favourite fin exactly (that I was using in glass ons) so I was using that as well and they felt great.
Would you consider yourself a fin expert? Or are you a bit of a novice?
It’s one of those things where the slightest little change in your fin affects the board’s performance so much. And then it keeps evolving. Put it this way, I know what I like. I have been working on a new fin by throwing around ideas and that, but it’s hard to find the exact right things.
Bit scary to get too far away from what you know and love. You might never find your way back?
That’s the thing. I guess that’s what happens when you have a board and you put the wrong fins in it – if it goes bad it can really put you off. But then you put a different fin set in that fits it perfect – and it goes completely different. Changing what initially felt like a bad board, into a good board. That’s what I like now – the options.
With all your boards Mick, and all these fins, you could rattle yourself at an event with too many options?
I tend to use the same fin for all my short boards then change up for my guns. On my guns the fin I use is a little smaller and pivoty.
So, it’s not the bigger the board, the bigger fin? But more rakie?
My bigger board fin has got a good base with a bit more rake and more sort of bend through the back. Allows you to still have the drive, but if you wanna turn it – it will turn on a dime.
Is this fin that you had set in all your boards previously going to become your signature fin?
We were going to do a signature fin but we’re still working on which one to go with. It’s like I said before, you think have something, then something else comes along, and then that feels better, then something else comes along and then that feels better – or worse – and you go backwards. It’s forever evolving. We’ll have a signature fin out by next year and that will be the fin that I ride 95% of the time. And then we’ll have something else out after that. Something more diverse I’d imagine.
That makes sense. A smaller fin that allows you to turn a big board in big waves and a bigger fin that gives you drive in an already lose small board.
That’s what we do. I have a fin now that is nice and even through the whole way. At places like Trestles you want that drive but when you throw the fins you don’t want it to be out of control. You want it to grab when it hits the deck again. And you also want to be able to draw out your turns and mix it right up."
If he doesn't have credibility on how a fin feel, then no one does. Here's a clip of Mick surfing back in home at D Bah, showing the rest of us how it's done.
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