Dusty Payne fins from Kinetik Racing

Yssssss, the new Dusty Payne fins from Kinetik Racing are just the coolest looking fins ever. When Carpark John first saw them all he could say (repeatedly) was "These are the siiiiiiiickest fins I've ever seen!"

No doubting they look as cool as polar bears, but fins are about function first - so how do these guys ride? Turns out they work as good as they look. Lekker.

I got them just before heading over to Indo for a month, so their first test run was in some super sucky rights. Sucky as in the bottom just fell away underneath you and if you blew the take-off (or any part of your ride actually) you were going to be paying reef tax. The extra stiffness created by the extended carbon base - which comes to about halfway up the leading edge of the fin - means plenty of hold in the wave face when you're flying along. Great for the bigger/hollower stuff when you want your fins to be as grippy as hell.

The Dusty's did equally as well on long whackable walls. Plenty of drive available from the carbotune set-up to get you around the sections. There's a good mix of hex material and fibreglass in the upper half of the fin body, with lots of glass on the trailing edge to add to the stiffness. Drive. Lots of it.

They have a decent rake - which is the amount of the fin outline that is curved backwards. Basically the angle created between the back of the fin base and the offset of the tip of the fin. Fin rake is one of the aspects affecting the turning ability of the board. More rake means nicer, more drawn out turns. Less rake equals snappy, more pivoty turns. This slightly bigger rake angle is also what helps to add additional drive to the Dusty fin set.

The foil looks like a pretty traditional flat foil set-up to me. Again, good for the more hollow or bigger stuff. Less foil helps control speed. More foil generates it.

So taking into account all the afore-mentioned components, what you have is a really good all-round fin that is going to thrive in hollower/bigger surf, giving you lotsa drive, and plenty of stability and control. The Dusty's are a set you could leave in your board and know they're going to work in pretty much everything you surf, and shine when the surf is pumping.

And of course they look frigging rad....

So should you grab a pair of Dusty Payne Kinetik Racing fins?

Yah, I reckon. Specially if you're someone who surfs the Wildside, JBay or Seals regularly - which is when you're wanting a fin set-up that has plenty of grip and drive. 

PS...what's surprising is how much fun they were in absolutely crap conditions too. Had gone out for a paddle at basically flat Millers just to get a few GoPro shots of them cos conditions were beaut (weather that is, not surf), and managed to hook some unexpected turns on the odd 6-incher that came through thanks to being able to get some oomph outta the fins. Definitely the most drivey fin set of all my boards right now.

Available for both FCS and Future fin plug systems.