Josh Farberow Pro Model

Josh Farberow's pro model of the Farb Flex — a Volan longboard fin with more base and more rake, for noseriding that does not give up the turn.

Volan fiberglass, in 9.0", 9.5" and 10.0". Farberow kept the design features of the original Farb Flex and widened the base and increased the rake, for more drive off the bottom and more stability while on the nose. The tip foil was thinned to add flex, and the Volan panel adds more of it again: laid up and templated so the weave runs the right way, so the fin bends through its body rather than only at the tip. Speed and projection off the bottom, and through turns.

How that reads

A wide base is drive — it holds the line through a bottom turn and keeps pushing instead of washing out — and rake stretches that turn into an arc rather than a pivot. The flex is where the model earns its name: load it and it gives, then hands the energy back as projection down the line. Under the nose, base and rake together are what stop the tail letting go while weight is forward.

Who it suits

Longboards ridden both ways, walked to the nose and turned off the tail, by surfers who want a fin that answers to pressure rather than sitting stiff underneath them. A rider after a purely planted noserider should look at an upright pivot template; this one deliberately trades some of that hold for drive.