Ride a 2007 Marius Platinum without center fins. I've only been riding 3 full seasons. I've had my center fins out of both my boards in the past because I like the loose feeling. This past weekend I decided I would just put them back in to see how it felt. It really made coming off the wake toeside so much easier for me. Also, landing w2w 180's were much easier. It seemed I couldn't ollie as well, which didn't make sense to me? Actually fell on an ollie 180 which I haven't done all summer? Also on a w2w heel side jump the handle got out away from me a little on the landing and when trying to pull it back in, next thing I knew I caught my front edge and got ripped out of both bindings. I've had the handle get away from me a bunch of times in the past without center fins in and was able to just pull it back in to me. I'm guessing there was a little more resistence than I was expecting with the center fins in and instead of my board and I getting pulled closer to the boat, I just pulled my body closer to the boat and got too much weight on my front edge and sunk it. Need to do some more riding with the fins in before I decide to take them out or not. Really like how much easier it seems to jump toeside though? I've been told before center fins are a crutch for bad form...do you but that?

Well, considering a lot of the best riders in the business ride with fins, I would disagree that fins are a crutch in general. For some people maybe. For me it's all about tuning the board I am riding for my style. I've ridden most of my boards over the years with no fins, but my current board has a set bolted on. <BR> <BR>I think fins slow the board way down. I know they will expose flaws sometimes...like trying to spin off the wake, or in your case, maybe trying to spin your olie 180 a little too early, maybe? In this case they may help you fix a bad habit.