Surfing is a funny little activity, isn’t it? We slide around on rolling lumps of water, formed thousands of miles away by storms that thrash the sea. We stand atop slabs of foam, turning and pumping and trying to do it with “style.” We gab in parking lots about the size and shape of those slabs of foam, taking ourselves oh-so-seriously, nodding and frowning at eighths of inches and liters of volume. “What’re those fins?” we ask each other as though what we’re talking about is important. “How does that go?” And oh, how we love it!
In the end, though, if we’re doing it right, we’re doing it because it’s fun. Fun, of course, is measured differently by everyone. Some have fun competing. Others have fun laughing at those having fun competing. Still others have fun doing stretches in expensive spandex pants on top of giant floating surfboards. And some have fun trying new things, even if those new things would probably be very difficult. Between the thruster and the alaia lies a multitude of different setups. No fins, quad fins, single fins, two fins. Five fins, finlets, two plus ones, and of course, two plus nones. Two plus none, of course, refers to side bites without the center fin. Kyle Kennelly puts it to the test in the video from Jack Coleman and Mollusk that you see above. “Think of something akin to a controlled free fall,” they say. “Steer into the skid!”
2 + NONE from Mollusk Surf Shop on Vimeo.
