The Fin Man

Hesselgrave develops new, better stabilizers on a wave of 'trial and error'

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 7 December, 2005 : - - Fin makers historically have been among the most eccentric artisans in the surfing world. The legendary Tom Blake, who in 1935 was the first to attach a fin to a surfboard, was a mystic loner. George Greenough, whose flexible, raked-back fins were inspired by the dorsal fins of dolphins, remains a stony recluse in the Australian outback.

Fin box innovator Tom Morey, who renamed himself "Y", is a classic mad scientist. 

One of the current masters of fin design, Carlsbad's Curtis Hesselgrave, has pursued this specialty with both passion and precision. If he has any loose screws, they are well hidden. A self-taught mechanical engineer who also knows a thing or two about physics, Hesselgrave, 59, has approached fin making over the past 30 years as both an art and a science.

His favorite technique? "Trial and error," he said. "It's a powerful sorting process to come up with a good design." Fins are an integral part of any surfboard. "You can't separate boards from fins," he said. "The board is a planing hull. It's skipping like a rock across a pond. Fins give you the character of how a board will ride." "My job is to provide a service to the board builders," he said. "I'm helping them with fins that allow their boards to work better."

He is a walking almanac of knowledge on how fins work. "A surfer on a tri-fin board is using only two of the fins at any given time," he said. "When he's moving across the face of the wave, the outside fin is just along for the ride." ............................

Read the full article by Terry Rodgers at Union-Tribune

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Contributed by Shawn Alladio
K38 Rescue

Safety & Rescue - Surfersvillage