5 Steps to your perfect SUP Fin

SUP Fin Guide – Step 4: Fin Choice for Different Disciplines & Boards

By changing your SUP fin, you can significantly enhance and fine-tune the performance of your SUP race board, touring board or iSUP for different races and paddling conditions.

Best Fin for Touring, Flatwater or Long Distance Paddling

For flatwater paddling and distance paddling, it is important to have good tracking with increased glide between each stroke. Both factors enable you to paddle with a lower and more sustainable cadence, keeping your heart rate down and energy levels up. A larger fin with a fuller foil will generate great tracking and increased glide. A bigger fin will also help with stability as your body starts to suffer from fatigue.

Beginner to Intermediate

A bigger fin with a thicker foil will help improve tracking and stability, which is ideal for those learning to SUP. Remember that you're not fast if you're falling off or veering off line. Staying upright, level and on course will have you paddling faster and expending less energy.
Best Bet: RAY at 24cm (9.45 inches) – our biggest fin with the thickest foil, designed to increase stability and tracking, especially in choppy water.

Advanced to Professional

Paddlers who are stable on their boards and paddle with a higher cadence will benefit from a smaller fin with a thinner foil. Used correctly, these fin types are extremely efficient and will help you reach higher peak-speeds and faster course times. Smaller fins are also better for buoy turns, which are often a feature of flatwater racing.
Best Bet: TIGER

Best Fin for Technical SUP Racing

Technical races are shorter and feature lots of buoy turns. It is important to accelerate quickly and turn on a dime. A more upright fin helps with turning and a smaller (but not too small) fin design helps with speed. Going too small may make it hard to accelerate when digging deep with your paddle. There are flatwater technical races (e.g. Gorge Paddle Challenge) and surf technical races (e.g. Pacific Paddle Games), which influence how you want your board to behave. For flatwater technical races, tracking and speed are key. For surf-style technical races, control and flow are more important as you need to surf your way to each buoy.

Beginner to Intermediate

With many paddlers in a small confined area, the water can get quite choppy – even on flat days. The effect of this chop should not be underestimated. Fast buoy turns are important, but staying on your board is more important.
Best Bet: RAY – This fin provides great tracking and stability, while its relatively upright profile helps with buoy turns. As your experience grows, consider trying the smaller TIGER.

Advanced to Professional

In flatwater technical races, you need a fin with fast acceleration and quick buoy turn potential. For races held in surf conditions, a fin with increased feel and flow on the wave is critical.
Best Bet (flat water): TIGER or CONDOR
Best Bet (surf zone): SONIC or CONDOR

Best Fin for SUP Downwinding

Downwinding varies greatly depending on ability and location. On Maui’s north shore, the water is very rough and the course is an arc, compared to Hood River which is a straighter course with smaller bumps. Expert athletes surf their way down a course, linking bump after bump, while less experienced paddlers will paddle more and need help catching and staying in glides or battling side winds in choppy seas. These factors heavily influence fin choice.

Beginner to Intermediate

Stability and glide are crucial. A bigger fin helps with stability and with fighting side winds (e.g. coming out of Maliko Gulch). A thicker foil also helps extend the length of the glide, giving you both a rest from paddling and more time to find the next bump.
Best Bet: MALIKO v3 – This popular fin performs well in high winds and rough water on Maui and in lighter wind conditions at the Gorge. It helps you glide and stay upright in rough seas.

Advanced to Professional

You love to surf, right? A fin that helps you maneuver between swells to glide down the coast with minimal paddling is your best bet. A smaller, more curved fin with a thinner foil offers the most surf ability for the experienced paddler.
Best Bet: SONIC – This fin offers excellent maneuverability and is designed to help you surf downwind and link more bumps.

Best Fin for Sprint Racing

Sprint racing is a relatively small discipline in SUP, but one with a lot of potential. Over such short distances, acceleration and tracking are the most important design aspects.

Intermediate to Professional

Best Bet: TIGER – With proven success at the Fastest Paddler on Earth at Lost Mills, ISA Worlds and more, this fin is ideal for short sprints as it offers an excellent balance of tracking, acceleration and top-end speed.

Best Fin for Weed or Shallow Water

If you are dealing with weeds, trash or obstacles in the water, you need a fin that will shed them. The fastest fin is useless if it collects weeds or plastic bags as you paddle. A fin with a rake of 45° will allow you to paddle without collecting debris. If paddling in shallow water, it is also important to have a strong fin for accidental bottom contact. There are fin savers on the market that are designed to break on impact and save your fin when accidents happen.

Beginner to Intermediate

Best Bet: MALIKO v3 – This fin has an aggressive rake designed to shed weeds. At only 21cm (8.3 inches) deep, it is suitable for relatively shallow water.

Advanced to Professional

Best Bet: SONIC – With a high and progressive rake, this fin cuts through weeds and enables you to paddle in very shallow water thanks to its 18cm (7 inch) depth.

Fins for Flat-Water Touring & Racing

These fins are designed for flat-water touring and racing, from cruising your local lake to sprinting over 200 meters. Finding the right balance of tracking, stability, speed and maneuverability will optimize your performance on the water.

Fins for Downwind & Ocean Racing

In conditions where the fastest line depends on wind, waves and current, these fins enhance the surfing characteristics of your race board so you can maintain better flow and speed while successfully catching and riding swells.