Butterfly Fin

While some basic surfboard design principles have proven to survive over time, personal preference along with the difficulties and expense of proper scientific testing of boards means there has also been seemingly endless experimentation. The 1960s and ‘70s was a particularly creative period as many surfers pursued greater manoeuvrability. Fin boxes, allowing different fins to be swapped in and out or removed for travel, gained fairly widespread use in the late ‘60s and consequently led to greater variety in fin shapes. The idea of a split fin was first seen on Tom Blake boards in the 1930s and fellow American Dale Velzy pushed it again in the early ‘50s, but neither incarnation endured. Then the moulded plastic Butterfly Fin appeared in ‘77 as an alternative to more traditional box-based fin designs available at the time. With a promise of greater speed and hold from the people behind the ‘70s version, the Butterfly Fin ultimately turned out not to be the breakthrough its proponents believed and it too disappeared from the market.