Fin lacerations are nasty, painful, and can take up to several months to completely heal. Photo: SurfCoHawaii
I never quite understood when people said that they were sick to their stomachs. That is, until my brother Tyler suffered a horrific injury while surfing a few years ago. “I was going up for an air and the offshore winds flipped my board upside down,” my brother explained. “When the board flipped, the nose of the board stuck in the sand at a forty-five degree angle, exposing the fins and I just sat right on top of them.” Tyler’s gash was a gory, gaping hole that spewed blood and fat like something you would see out of a Sci-fi movie. His wound remains the only thing that made me nauseous simply by seeing. “It was centimeters from my femoral artery and an inch away from my ball sack. I’m lucky to be alive today and have a son.”
Dr. Clayton Everline is a sports physician based on the North Shore of Oahu who has served as the Contest Doctor at numerous World Tour events. During his lecture Surfing Injuries, Everline said, “For those of you worried about marine animal bites, the biggest teeth in the ocean are the fins on your board.” He estimated that 67% of all surfing injuries are inflicted by surfboards; 60% of those injuries are from fins.
Fin cuts are nasty, painful, and depending on the severity, take up to several months to completely heal. But getting injured is something we have come to accept – a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things. Most injuries are out of our control and often caused by other surfers. However, we can mitigate those injuries while keeping others and ourselves safe by using Pro Teck Fins instead of conventional hard edge fins.
Dave Wassel going over the handle bars at Pipe. Photo: Shutterstock
Pro Teck Fins have flexible leading and trailing edges designed to enhance board performance and reduce fin lacerations. The flexible trailing edge allows the water to flow smoother with less turbulence off the fin. It creates a rudder action as the water pressure bends the edge, creating tighter and more fluid turns, similar to the fins of dolphins and sharks. They are designed with state-of-the-art, computer-aided software and produced with the finest materials that do not shrink or warp. This creates fins with perfect foils that flow through the water smoothly and naturally. They are the only fins that have streamlined or sharp trailing edges that are soft and flexible, which, in turn, greatly reduce the possibility of fin cuts. Pro Teck Fins are available in a variety of models for all levels of surfing, including: the extra rigid Carbon core, rigid core Performance, medium core Powerflex, and flexible Superflex.
Check out SurfCoHawaii or visit your local surf shop to get your very own pair of Pro Teck Fins.
