What's the difference between rockers and fins?

I was wondering if someone can tell me what the difference between a continuous and 3 stage rocker is and what the pros and cons of each are.

Also, can someone tell me what the difference is among the different types of fins available and what the pros and cons of each fin are.

Thanks!

continuous is a smooth curve along the board and 3 stage is curved in stages, like a skateboard but not as drastic. A 3 stage rocker will give you more hight accross the wake but may be a little slower than a continuous rocker. The continuouse rocker should take you further in the air but not as high, and should be a little easier to control.

Well 3-stage will give you more up and down pop, going w2w more. Where Cont' will give you more up and out pop. You can get equal height with either, it just personal preferance. A 3-stage board can be a slower than a cont' but a 3 inch cont' rocker would be slow, so it depends.

Fins, there's alot of them.
More surface area, more hold. A deeper fin will release later than a shallow fin. A shorter base fin will give less hold than a longer base fin. So if we take a look at the older fins, they often were very deep with short bases. Then shallower Longer bases started being made giving you the hold of a deeper fin but with a quicker release. Again its all personal preferance. Eg. if you like the release of a 1 inch fin but want more or less hold when cutting, you buy fins with either longer or shorter bases.
Now shape: take a look at the fin, you could probably guess how it would react. Rounded fins will be a little looser with quicker release off the wake. Cleaver style fins will give more hold and the knifey release. Cutaway fins are the fastest releasers, but still offer good hold. Surf style, well no one uses those anymore. A-tac, kinda like a rounded fin but with a little more grip (don't see those much anymore). Thats the jist of it. Oh and cupped fins, lots of hold (due to increased surface area) on a really shallow fin, offering a loose ride when flat but great hold on edge.

Its all personal preferance, you gotta go out there try everything you can and see what you like

(Message edited by kristian on April 28, 2004)

Check out the link below. . . There is some great information on fins!

http://www.cdifins.com/Engineering2004.html