In the surfboard building industry, innovation and evolution of materials are necessary to keep up with the progression of the sport. As surfers push the limits of what they're able to pull off in (or above) the water, they also push the limits of what a surfboard is capable of achieving. This often leads to the need for surfboard building materials that are stronger, lighter, greener, and of course, cheaper. 

One company at the head of such innovation is Futures Fins, located in Huntington Beach, California. At the forefront of their cutting edge line is their recently released Alpha Fins, made on-site in their factory in their own custom fin molds. The Alpha Fin molds are injected with a one-of-a-kind proprietary material called  Compound 6, which is a carbon fiber and air infused blend. In short Compound 6 was developed to have all of the resilience and flex characteristics of carbon-fiber, while maintaining an unbelievably lightweight feel due to the microscopic air pockets in the material. The fin also features various subtle surface textures that are designed to more efficiently direct water flow and reduce "fin hum" in the water. 
These fins are 100% produced in the U.S.A.

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We recently had the opportunity to try out a set of the F6 Alpha Fins and were quite impressed with the subtle yet noticeable difference between these fins and other similar fins. In the hand, the fin has a light airy feel to them, almost as though they were made of plastic (the key exception being that they are more flexible than plastic fins are, similar to Futures Honeycomb Technology). 

In the water these fins have an incredibly balanced feel to them. Because of their lightweight build, they are easy to push around and control under your weight while working down a wave or entering into a turn. Where these fins especially excel is that they have a somewhat reserved flex/spring to them. This means that they don't unload too much energy, too soon in the build up to a maneuver.  Some of Futures' more speed-generating fins can have this issue if a turn is improperly timed. 

One of our shop testers who has been known to switch out fins nearly every session (depending on the conditions), found that these Alpha Fins had the most reliable all around performance of any fin he had tried. Once the fins were on his board, they stayed on his board - perhaps the most telling finding of all!
 

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