Quad Fins
Four fins. Speed with hold.
Quads give you the speed of a twin with the hold of a thruster. No center fin means less drag, while four rail fins keep the board locked in — 8.5 inches of fin base on each rail. As one Swaylocks rider put it: "faster and looser than a standard thruster, yet more hold on steep faces and in barrels."
A keel, split in two
Rich Pavel's Speed Dialer is a traditional keel deconstructed and rebuilt as four fins. Its rears are as large as its fronts — nothing else here is remotely like that — which is why it drives like a keel and turns like it doesn't. Troy Elmore reached the same place from the other side, taking his own keel and cutting the back off it.
See the Speed DialerPerformance(3)
Responsive fins for quick direction changes and vertical surfing.
Smooth & Drivey(3)
Hold a line and generate speed through turns.
Flow & Cruise(1)
Relaxed, forgiving fins for smooth lines and easy speed.
All-Arounders(10)
Balanced fins that adapt to different conditions and styles.
How quad fins work
Four fins — two larger fronts, two smaller rears — sit near the rails with an open channel down the center. Water flows freely through the middle, generating speed like a twin, while the rear fins add the hold and control that twins lack. Unlike twins, quads let you push harder into critical sections without sliding out.
The relationship between front and rear fins matters. Larger rears add drive and stability (more thruster-like feel). Smaller rears keep the board loose and fast (more twin-like feel). Fin placement is extremely sensitive — wider placement adds stability; tighter placement increases responsiveness. As Swaylocks debates endlessly: "if you carve you appreciate a thruster and if you skate around you probably prefer a quad."
Modern quad design uses staggered fin sizes (larger fronts, smaller rears) rather than four identical fins. Quads require less pumping to generate speed, making them ideal for hollow waves, bowly beach breaks, and bigger surf where the wave provides the energy. Many pro big-wave surfers ride quads at Pipeline and Teahupo'o.
The designers
Most of these templates started as one person's answer to a problem with their own surfing. A few started as another fin entirely.
Pavel's Speed Dialer is the original conversion: a traditional keel, deconstructed, split in two and turned into a quad. True Ames describe it as a template that has stayed relevant for decades. His later Pavel Quad — the "Dialed In" — is his own departure from it, double-foiled front and rear to trade some straight-line drive for a turn you can finish in the pocket.
The Re-Dialer takes the curve off Elmore's own keel template and cuts the back of the fin away. It keeps a keel's long-based drive and loses the part that fights a turn — the same conversion instinct as Pavel's Speed Dialer, arriving somewhere different.
Ericson rode George Greenough's Power Glide long enough that its short base and club-like tip became the shape he thought in, then rebuilt that single-fin head as a quad. The inside face is concave — an older idea he revived, on the reasoning that a flat inside face is just a shearing surface, while a concave holds flow against both sides of the fin and makes lift.
Still not sure?
We carry the full quad fins selection at 4051 Judah St in the Outer Sunset. Bring your board.
Get in touch ›34 quad fin sets from True Ames. Four-fin setups for speed, drive, and hold in powerful surf. Multiple rake and size options for different board types. FCS and Futures compatible.
Related: All Fins · Twin Fins · Thruster Fins · True Ames