It is no secret that we have been putting our new MiniEPIC fins through their paces these past few weeks and I wanted to give a little feedback on the blog as we have been receiving a lot requests for info on the new fins. With so many possible options we test everything we can think of to work out the optimal combinations and to learn how to advise our riders more effectively. What I love about multi-fin boards is that there is no right answer, every combination can be tuned to your size, sailing style, location, board and more. Adding the new MiniEPIC was aimed at increasing the options available and we have been really pleased with the results. Optimized for faster waves and more powerful turns the feedback is that if you push your fins hard and really crank your turns then you will well rewarded when riding the MiniEPIC which can be used as back fins for your Quad, Thruster or paired for a Twin.

So far my favorite combination has been on my Quad 77 where I have been using 2 x 14.5 MiniEPIC at the back with Thruster 9s at the front, this has really improved my cutbacks and loosened up the tail of the board. On the 85 Thruster I have been loving the 16.5 MiniEPIC together with the 10cm Thrusters at the front. Other riders have been using a more balanced thruster set up with the 15.5 MiniEPIC at the back with 11 and 12 WaveMULTIs at the front to great effect, as I mentioned every set up is slightly different with variables such as toe, cant, rocker, vee etc. all helping to determine what will work best for you. The MiniEPIC has more rake and more flex when compared to our extremely popular WaveMULTI.

The first image shows a MiniEPIC 15.5cm at the rear with 2 x 12cm WaveMULTI at the front on this 85ltr Quatro thruster, this has been working well for 4.7 through 5.3 in medium to plus sized surf when you need more grip, to loosen this up I would swap the 12s for 10s or 11s. One day last week we tested this board as a single, twin, thruster and quad using a combinations of WaveSINGLE, EPICwave, MiniEPIC, WaveMULTI and Thrusters and it was amazing to feel how the board changed with each combination.

To complete all this testing we need a lot of fins, this means that you can benefit from our experience and while we encourage you to find what works for you we do not want you to have to buy too many fins and can advise you according to your specifics.

More speed as you crank your turns means more explosive action off the top, this was a really fun wave and thanks goes to Jimmie Hepp for his hard work on the hill to capture the split second moments and making them last a lifetime!

We will be releasing more images of the MiniEPIC and finalizing the webpage in the coming days. The MiniEPIC is currently available 17.5, 16.5, 15.5, 14.5 and will soon be available in smaller sizes so that they can be used as fronts in a thruster set up.

Aloha,

Chris Freeman | Black Project Fins