Album Quad

Matt Parker's Album Quad — a four-fin set with a wide-based rear, drawn for speed and projection through a long arcing turn rather than a tight one.

Sold as a set of four in solid fiberglass, in black, with a choice of FCS or Futures bases at checkout. The fronts are the taller pair and do most of the holding; the rears are shorter and wide through the base, which is where the push off the bottom comes from. It sits at the drive-biased end of the quad range: a configuration that suits a wide spread of conditions and rewards a committed rail line rather than a loose tail.

How that reads

A quad has no centre fin to steer against, so everything comes from the two fins on the rail working together down the line. This set leans into that deliberately. The wide rear base keeps water attached aft and pushes the board through the arc instead of letting the tail break away at the top, so turns come out long and powerful and the speed keeps building. Ask for release and it will give it, but you have to ask.

Who it suits

Four-plug boards — fish, hybrids, mid-lengths — in surf with some push behind it. Surfers who want a quad for the speed rather than the looseness, and who would rather carry a turn out onto the shoulder than snap it off in the pocket. Also a steadying set for a board that already feels skatey on its stock fins.