FIN DOCTOR’S RADICAL TOOL TO END SURF STRESS
YOU can finally ditch the shoes, dude.
A Gold Coast inventor has come up with a tool to stop the need to knock out FCS II surfboard fins with shoes.
Despite their widespread popularity, interchangeable FCS II fins are a hassle to remove and boardriders have had to come up with a range of solutions over the years, including ripping them out by using shoes, towels, leg ropes and gardening gloves.
There are even a range of tutorials online about how best to get rid of the fins.
Currumbin’s Kris O’Brien said his new “Finsout” invention made swapping FCS II fins out of surfboards a lot easier.
Mr O’Brien said he came up with the idea for his tool after spending years desperately bashing the fins on overseas surf boat charters. “There was a day where I tried to pull a fin out of my board (and) I pulled so hard it flew out over the deck of the boat. I dived off the top deck to get it. A set of fins cost about $200.
“The next trip, there were about 10 of us trying to pack our surfboard bags and everyone was passing a thong around to bash their fins out.
“I thought ‘there must be a better way to do this’.”
After the second boat trip, Mr O’Brien said his idea for a tool came to him in the middle of the night.
“I was buzzing, jumped up immediately and drew down two different concepts.”
Mr O’Brien is preparing to release the tool internationally at the end on the month.
“You just place it over the fin and pop it out. I haven’t designed the tool based on any problems. It just makes it easier.”
He said he planned to distribute the tool to professional surfers free of charge to promote it.
“Then you look at the pros, the World Surf League surfers, who will travel with five or more boards each. When they’re packing the boards away, they need to pull the fins out so they all fit flat on top of each other.
“We’re about to gift every one of those surfers a Finsout system.”