Tappy MOD

The MOD is an upright single fin drawn for True Ames by Japanese shaper Tappy Yoshikawa — quick to pivot, with hold held in the tip.

Solid fiberglass, for a single or longboard box, in two sizes and two colours. The template is upright, with a medium base and a fuller tip area, a combination that shortens the turn without giving away hold once the fin is loaded. Takuya "Tappy" Yoshikawa shaped his first board at 17, came back to shaping at 30 after a decade away, and started his own brand, TRANSISTOR, in 2014; he says he tries not "to be constrained by the traditional standards of the surfboard field, but rather explore and push the boundaries of surfboard design."

How that reads

Upright means the tip stays over the base instead of trailing behind it, so the board turns around a point rather than sweeping through a long arc. The medium base still feeds drive down the line, and the extra area up in the tip is what keeps the tail from letting go halfway through. The result is a single fin that pivots quickly and holds through the turn rather than trading one for the other.

Who it suits

Single-fin boards and mid-lengths ridden off the tail — surfers who want to pull a turn tight in the pocket rather than draw it out. Skip Frye's shaping was an influence on Yoshikawa, and the fin has some of that lineage in it. The smaller size keeps the board loose; the taller one adds hold for bigger, faster waves.