As a wake surfer, all you want to do is ride, right? That’s what we want too! And while most wake surfers tend to focus on the board size and core material, wakesurf board and wake fin design are absolutely essential---whether it's for riding big waves and pulling off aerial tricks, going for speeds and jumps, or skimming off the wave's surface for spin tricks. 

Your wake surf fins are important parts of your board's design and performance, and in this blog, we are going to talk about the kind of wake fins that helps you do 360’s, spins, and shuvits while giving you perfect control of your board: your skim wake surf fins.

Source: Mesle Watersports

Design Matters: What are Skim Wake Fins?

Skim wake fins are part of a type of wakesurf board design called the skim wakesurf board. This wakesurf board style is shorter, with a symmetrical shape that has a thinner profile, and with little to no channeling (no way for water to move through it and make you follow its flow). This smaller profile gives the skim wakesurf board lesser surface area and better responsiveness to your body’s movement and direction. It gives you more freedom to play around on top of the wave. 

To give the skim wakesurf style its characteristic glide and control, wakesurf board designers have created the skim wake fin. This wake fin type is very similar to how the board is designed: it's shorter with smaller profiles, i.e., smaller bases, shorter fin heights, and shallower rakes. This profile is designed for a more gliding ride over the wave (hence, "skimming"). Both the skim wakesurf board and fins are designed to be very light and are often created from compressed fiberglass or even carbon fiber.

Your Skim Wakesurf Fin Setup

Riders know that the right wakesurf fin setup can make the difference between a great ride, or a flop into the water. For skim wakesurf riders who like spin tricks and variations of them, the single fin setup is probably best for you. It is the most common fin setup for most skim wakesurf boards because having a single fin allows you to quickly maneuver over the wave to perform surface spins and shuvits. 

Compared to surf-style wakesurf boards which have multiple fin setups (and steeper or vertical fin designs) to allow them to move with the wave and give riders more control and stability, single skim wake surf fins are not designed for stability. Rather, they are designed so you can be more playful on top of the wave.

Source: Actionrideco.com

A skim wake fin option that you may want to add is the nose fin. Nose fins aren’t that common but they are designed for skim wakesurf boards.  Like skim wake surf fins, nose fins have smaller profiles, with shorter bases and heights, with the aim of giving you more control when you're performing a shuvit or a tight 180-degree spin. 

Smaller Means More Tricks

A skim wake surf board's small symmetrical shape and single fin setup lets you perform more spin variations, both tight and wide 360's, and shuvits. If your riding style is a little more playful, requiring more room as well as long, narrow waves with very low grade or inclines to perform spins and shuvits, and other water and air tricks, then the skim wakesurf board with a single wake fin setup may be the right one for you. Have fun and ride hard!