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Imagine traveling with 12 surfboards, all of them with fins glassed onto the bottom. At one point in his storied career that's what Mick Fanning lugged around the world. Not to date White Lighting, but the man got on the ASP World Tour in 2002 and retired 16 years later.
All of which is to say Mick’s been around the block and back. In addition to bridging eras of surfing, he's been on the front lines of the transition from glass-ons to removable fin systems and has steered their expansion and development.
Amid the overflow of trophies and DHD boards in Mick’s “man shed,” Mick and FCS Brand Ambassador Richie Lovett (and a cameo from Mick’s longtime shaper) dive into the nuances of all things fins. In this episode of FCS’s “Beneath The Surface,” Mick rovers a range of fin-related topics, from the glass-ons in his 2007 world title board, transiting to the FCS system in 2009, swapping fins with Joel Parkinson, using different materials and the irresistible draw of twin fins.
There’s a bit of history and nostalgia mixed in with a reminder that Mick still has plenty of gas in the tank. There’s even a little easter egg of him on a Ryan Purch pickle fork asymmetrical twin. “I’m like, alright, I’m going to steal some ideas off him,” Mick said. “When I rode the Burch, it was super concaved-out. It was crazy. It changed my whole perception of twin fins in the sense twins don’t have to be a fat wave board.”
The conversation ends with a nod to the company’s latest product, a new fin made cut from layers of fiberglass designed to hold when pedal is pushed to metal.
“I just feel when you make it out of fiberglass or resin, yeah they can be a little bit stiffer, but they have beautiful twang back to its original state,” offers Darren Handley, who hopped in for a cameo. “So the more you load up the quicker it’s going to come back to its original state, which is going to give you more speed.”
If nothing else, this is a reminder that even a surfer as experienced and accomplished as Mick Fanning can be downright when trying new things in the water. Also, his form should live on in textbooks forever.
More must-reads:
- Brewers' Jacob Misiorowski continues to set radar gun on fire at unprecedented rate
- WNBA All-Star Game ratings paint a troubling picture
- The 'NBA all-time 50-point game leaders' quiz
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