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THE FIN FACTOR!

SARAH-QUITA OFFRINGA AND LENNART NEUBAUER

We chat with two world champions, Sarah-Quita Offringa and Lennart Neubauer, about the fins they ride, how they set them up and what makes the difference.

The right fin is one of the most important ingredients in getting the best out of your board. Get it wrong and you’ll know about it. Too big, too small, too much grip, not enough release, and suddenly that magic board can feel like a completely different machine.

So, who better to ask than Sarah-Quita Offringa and Lennart Neubauer, two of the sport’s leading riders who both rely on Maui Ultra Fins? Both claimed Freestyle World Cup victories in Fuerteventura this year, while Sarah-Quita went on to win the 5-Star wave event in Tenerife. Lennart also posted his best-ever wave result there, finishing an impressive fourth.

From finding the perfect freestyle fin to fine-tuning a wave setup, we get the lowdown from two riders who spend a lot of time working out exactly what should be sitting underneath their boards.

Photos: PWA/ Carter // John Carter

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FREESTYLE

How important is it to have the right fin in your board?

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA:

“With freestyle you can do so many different types of manoeuvres and it will definitely help to have the right fin to help with those moves.​ If you’re at the start of your freestyle journey which usually entails more sliding moves, you should get a slightly smaller fin or one that is more sliding orientated like the Taty style. if you’re going for power moves or double moves, then speed and pop is key and you want a fin with more grip and lift. In that case you want to have a look at the Style Pro 2 range.

If you’re already quite an advanced sailor then you can choose between bigger and smaller sizes in the style pro range if you want more or less pop or slide.  The pros are going for bigger more grippy fins at the moment and just need to be more aggressive when they want the board to slide around one more time.”

For Freestyle do you mostly stick to one size fin…or what sizes do you use on different freestyle boards?

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA:

“Over the years I have stuck to the same fin size even though I started to ride bigger and bigger fins. I sailed 18cm for years when the boards were longer and the moves were more sliding dominant.

Then the boards changed to shorter more compact shapes and the power moves became more dominant so then I gradually changed to 19cm and now I’m at 20cm.

I tend to stick to my 93L from 4.0m to 4.8m. For that setup I always keep the 20cm style pro 2.​ I have not sailed 103 and 5.2m lately but then I would definitely go for 21cm to accommodate the wider board and avoid spin outs.”

 

LENNART NEUBAUER

“For freestyle, I pretty much always use a 21 cm Style Pro 03 from Maui Ultra Fins. I only use the 93-litre board, so I also stick to this one fin size. This means I don’t have to get used to a different fin on every board, because the board reacts quite differently even with just one centimetre difference in the fin.

For example, when doing a Spock, I would have to go slightly higher if I used a 22 cm fin. I feel like the Style Pro 03 gives me good speed and a lot of control in choppy and messy conditions, like right now here while training on Sylt.”

Style-Pro-03, 120,00 €

Does the fin size change if it is flat or choppy etc.

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA:

“I don’t change my fin size, but I know that others go bigger in search for more grip.  When I’m dialled in on my freestyle gear, I don’t like to change my fin. Because then I know exactly what to expect on the landing of my moves. Usually when I change to a bigger fin all of a sudden, it requires a different approach to the moves, you either have to jump higher (which means you need to be much quicker with your rig flip on certain moves) or lean into the move much harder to get the slide, and the opposite with a smaller fin. And that for me takes more time to adapt to then just adapting to the conditions and trying to find the right line between the chop.”

If you have a ding in your fin or it has been worn from its perfect shape…can you tell the difference?

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA:

“Yes…I’ll feel the difference. If it’s really bad, I grab some sandpaper to smooth it out.

But again… I tend to adapt. I realized the other day that I could choose between a brand new fin or the fin that I had been sailing with, with a ding in it. And I chose the one with the ding in it ha-ha. It’s just what I am used to in the moment so that’s what I’ll keep riding.”

How much do you take care of your fins.

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA:

“It’s usually in my board and that’s where it stays ha-ha. So, it gets rinsed when my gear gets rinsed and that’s it. I make sure to pack them in a towel or my wetsuits to not get any dents, but overall it’s one of the parts that are the easiest to take care of. Freestyle and wave fins at least.!”

LENNART NEUBAUER

“Regarding damaged fins, I think you will probably get different answers from different riders. Personally, I don’t think a small amount of damage makes a big difference at all. I’ve sailed finals with fins that had touched rocks before and were no longer as good as new.

Obviously, if a proper chunk is missing, that is different. But the classic small ding in a fin is not the end of the world, especially with a G10 fin. Most likely, you won’t feel it. Freestyle and wave fins are also very short, so there isn’t that much leverage. With a slalom fin, I think it would be a different story.”

If you had a really poor fin on your best freestyle board would it stop your from landing moves sailing your best

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA: “I would probably get a bad mood in that session, knowing what I could be capable of with that gear.

I think the biggest struggle is when you can’t generate enough speed with a fin. I’ve experienced that in the past. feeling like you get planing slowly, or if you’re going for switch moves and while changing feet you slow down.

I would probably be able to land moves, but it would take much more effort and it would take the fun away!”

WAVE

What fin set ups are you both using for waves…quad, thruster etc

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA:

“I have had mostly thruster boards, so that’s what I’ve been riding pretty much the past 10 years.

Only recently I started rider some quads again in Maui and Chile, so I’m still figuring out what works best for me!”

What size fins do you use for various conditions and what

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA:

“I only tend to change fin size depending on the board.

When the conditions change, I just tend to move the fins a bit for more or less grip.

Also, it really depends on the boards that you’re using. I have been on bigger fins for a long time like 10-11 sides and 18 centre fin (Even on my 78l board) and now I’m down to 9 and 16 or 17.​”

Is there a particular model in The Maui Ultra fins line up you use?

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA:

“At the moment I’m using the Wave DTL centre fin adn X-side fins.

On my smaller boards I use 9 and 16 or 17. and then for 86, I’ll be on 9 and 18.​

I haven’t had a chance to test it completely but I would like to mix the wave DTL with the X-quad fins. I think in general there are so many different fins, and they have their set line but mixing and matching also works for me!”

X-Wave, 99,83 €

X-Side, 44,87 €

LENNART NEUBAUER

“In wave sailing, I also don’t play around too much with my setup. Until this summer, I was using the X-Twin-R 02, but then I changed to the TRI+. That fin has so much grip, and I’m really in love with it. I discovered it this summer in Tenerife, which was also, funnily enough, where I achieved my best-ever wave result.

I use an 18 cm centre fin with 11 cm X-Side fins.”

X-Wave, 99,83 €

X-Side, 44,87 €

How much difference does it make when you move the fins about…

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA:

“It makes a huge difference. I can’t talk too much about quad setups. But for the thruster, I think it’s important to have the right starting point. Which is getting the centre fin right under your back foot.

You can try to have the leading edge right under the middle of your foot.

And from there you place the side fins about 3 or 2 finger widths apart from the centre fin. And then based off how my bottom to top turn feel I will move the centre fin a bit more forward or back (bit further back if the wave is bigger, bit more forward if the waves are smaller and need quicker turning).

That’s how I do it at least. I have seen some setups that I would never consider for myself (Where the centre and side fins are much too close to each other) and then that person is absolutely ripping. So, it’s extremely specific to the rider style and board that they’re using!”

LENNART NEUBAUER

“To be honest, I’m not an expert when it comes to fin positioning. Sometimes I ask SQ for advice myself! It also depends a lot on the board. On my Starboard, I normally position the centre fin around two-thirds of the way back towards the tail, while keeping the side fins more or less centred.”

How do you find the right sweet spot to suite the board in different conditions

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA:

“I never do!  I’m kidding I do. But it seems for me that I find a certain setup for certain conditions and then the conditions change again and then the setup isn’t exactly what I want. I feel like I’m extremely sensitive to my wave fin setup and the conditions. I’m usually the one on the beach with the screwdriver moving and changing my fins around.

I’m searching for this specific feeling of grip and release at the top turn. When I get it right it’s the most satisfying feeling and it’s like I don’t want to compromise on that feeling so I’m always searching for the right setup. ​ So unlike in freestyle, in waves I tend to move and change my setup all the time. It drives me nuts sometimes!”

Have you ever put a new sets of fins in a board or changed a set up with different size fins and it has totally transformed a board?

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA:

“Definitely! I have gone from having too big fins and barely being able to get the board on the rail to having a super lively and playful board.”

If you feel you hit the reef or a rock with your fin and damaged it…would you get a new one or sand the old one down?

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA: “It would be nice to get a brand new one, but that is usually not available straight away. I will sand it down and just get used to how the fin is feeling then!”

How many wave fins and freestyle fins do you generally travel with?

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA:

“For freestyle I just have one and a spare. For wave I usually have a both three to four full fin sets with me!”

LENNART NEUBAUER:

“When competing, I usually travel with three or four freestyle fins and around four or five sets of wave fins. That gives me enough spares in case I smash some on the rocks in places like Pozo or Tenerife.”

What do you like about working with Timm Koepke…do you get to test all the latest Maui Ultra fins designs

SARAH QUITA OFFRINGA:

“Communication with Timm is quick and straightforward. Yes we get to test the fins and give our feedback! There’s a lot of people on the team that are able to test in different conditions and give feedback, so Timm can get a feel for what every rider is feeling from their fins!”

LENNART NEUBAUER

“Working with Timm is really nice and uncomplicated. He is incredibly passionate about what he does, and I genuinely think he does it for the love of the sport. From what I understand, it is also a bit of a one-man show, so it’s very impressive how he manages all the R&D across such a big range of fins for so many different conditions!”

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