Fins or No Fins?

I'm new to riding, I cant clear the wake or anything. I noticed that most people here seem to ride with No Fins on their board. I just bought a 07 Absolute, I'm wondering if i should learn to ride it with the center Fin and remove it as i get better. or just remove the center fin from the get go. Would it benefit me in the future to just learn to ride without the center fin from the start?

I would say to try both. When you first learn it's hard to balance so the center fin should help with that. Most people ride finless because of a quicker release off the wake and easier surface tricks. If I were in your position I would until you can get up and learn a progressive edge into the wake. If you don't know what a proggressive edge is I'm sure there's someone here that could tell you.

theres an old thread posted awhile back about this, some great information in it..im sure someone will know where its at..

if you're new, keep the center fins in. taking it out will just slow your progression. once you get your fundamentals down, take 'em off and try it.

Take'em out, you really learn and feel your edges. Just like snowboarding. You didnt leave the fins in your snowboard did you? Cause i did for the first couple runs but they kept snagging on the chair lifts. If you leave them in you'll right off the bat start learining bad habits. and dont commit yourself to one stance either ( reg. or goofy.) start with both and get comfertable with both, youll be much happier (and better) by the end of the season.

is this you? with or without fins?

im not sure if your asking if that pic is me, but no its not, if you are. Basically my skills consist of being able to get up every time and cross the wake both ways without falling. i pretty much only fall when i try to jump the wake. i guess i have yet to find my "edge" as i tend to steer with my front foot. i have nobody teaching me so im pretty much trying to learn on my own, i guess my only trick so far would be what you would call an ollie when skateboarding. i can get about a foot or so of Air. also im goofy foot i know this from years of skateboarding, but i can ride both ways pretty well, thanks for the info guys.

Riding with no fins makes you really commit to your edge so it gives you better board control. I prefer no fins but everyone has there preference.

joe's just giving jimmy a hard time, point taken. now where did I put those fins?

Hey Joe, That is me with fins...early last year. Look at the board and look at my profile again. Thats an 05 pure, (with some sick old school bright orange highbacks i might add). And now I ride an 07 Marius - finless, because of advice from some much more experienced riders for the reasons i stated above. I do wish I started riding w/o fins sooner and more switch when I started. Cause having to really feel an edge now, versus letting my fins do all the stabilizing, its like kinda learning to ride again. Also now if I make a run and I fall, the next run is switch until I fall (which isnt very long..yet). But with those principles I am hoping to relearn my muscle memory to these new techniques... just my two cents.

i dont ride with fins
alot of times fins help teach bad body position

you ride the marius finless? did you shave down the molded-in fins? that's the only way it would be finless.

good call Joe.

Just about all boards have molded fins, so saying you ride finless implies no removable fins. I never have any problem riding with or without fins, and I can do all surface tricks both ways. As for riding switch, I wish I would have done that earlier.

No --- CENTER --- fin on the marius joe... damn.

C'mon fellas we all know fulltilt429 means NO CENTER FIN sheeezz!
Anyhow I have been riding finless since a little after I started riding, and I must say IMO I ride better, and edging is a lot easier for me, just my 2 cents. However everyone is different.

Garret, I am as new to wakeboarding as you are, can't do many tricks, fall when trying to jump etc,. I noticed that the board is a bit more loose feeling without the fins so I put them back on. worked great if I wanted to just ride. Blah who wants to do that. So I took the fins off, and the board is alot looser and seems alot easier to manipulate on the water. Take the fins off you wont regret it if you give it a chance.

Molded fins should give enough hold when edging but enough of a loose feel when practicing your surface 180s or 360s or ollie 180s without the dreaded fin catching, edge catching face plant. OUCH!

I can honestly say that I ride finless much of the time, I ride a roam. Actually now I have a covenant but it should be the same. If you want to really learn proper edging technique ride a flexboard. With absoulutly no bottom features to assist you it's all about using those edges. Ive had friends that took a couple rides on the roam and when they went back to a wakeboard thier edging was much more solid and they just looked all around more comfortable riding. I think everybody should ride a roam/covenant at least once, it helps.

I like my fins.