Kelly Slater Releases Endorfins
Sustainable duds, surfboards, fake waves, energy drinks, matching pillowcase and sheet sets, and today Kelly Slater extends his business portfolio with Endorfins, his very own fin company.
Slater has dropped a few hints, such as a video from the Mexico CT where he mentioned a fin set "he's been working on".
At present, there's just one shape, the KS 1, however it comes in various sizes: grom, medium, and large, with three and five fin options for medium and large.
There's little divergence from the standard tuna fin shape, however the construction is worth talking about with carbon wrapped around an aerated recycled PET core. This ticks the enviro box, though most notably it allows the fins to float should they get knocked out.
The first surfboard fin to float..? I can't think of any other.
EDIT: Not the first floating fin!
Each set comes compatible to both Futures and FCS II, though the latter will come with grub screws to fix into place.
Unsurprisingly, Endorfins sit at the upper/middle end of the market with three fin sets around $160 and five fin sets around $260.
Comments
scarfini:
https://scarfini.com/blogs/news/the-air-fin
good quality fins from the safas
sorry forgot to provide context for the above.
scarfini air fins are claimed to float and have been around a while/year or so now.
Not sure about the fins - but I do like the name :)
Yeah agree, great name. Hard to find gaps in the market these days.
And ill take any pun, any day, any time.
But alas, slats has alot of lattice to climb to win back my favour!
Totally - Slater lost me many moons ago, and I won't be buying these, ever.
I just think whoever is doing his branding, is doing okay :)
I literally laughed out loud at how bad it is.
Can't put my finger on it, but I thought of Ewoks surfing
Ewoks need fins too. Wonder what the waves are like there...
Probably lots of small barrels. Slightly off topic: do you think wookies would ride longboards?
I could imagine a wookie on a SUP. Probably best to keep all that hair dry...
I recall Raptor fins were positive buoyancy also. Don't think they are around anymore though. Vince Lauder used to distribute them.
These Fins from Kelly look good. Interested what the feedback is like.
Edit: just googled em, South Coast foam sell them still.
Geez Raptors are cheap - under $100 - no mention of them able to float.
Im a Kelly lover, but not really all that much to get excited about here and even the video doesn't sell them real well, not even any video of him trying to convince us why they are so good.
The fact that they fit both Futures and FCS2 boxes (albeit + screws) will make them quite appealing for a lot of people
Looking at how long they take to surface through the water column, looks like they could be under water for a three wave hold down before popping up..
be well and truly gone by then, at least around here.
Despite days and days and days scouring rocks at low tide, I've never ever got a missing fin back.
Found plenty of others though.
Pulled one out of a mates head once.
Fuck pro model fins
I just want milk that tastes like real milk.
Fins have got to be the biggest marketing gimmick in surfing. Up the glass ins and up the knock off brands.
thats what im talking about
Fins are the last frontier on surfboard performance. Every possible rocker ,rails ,thickness distribution,
tail and nose lift god knows what else has been done redone and rehashed again. But the right fins make a major improvement in a modern short boards performance from a pig to amazing and every
thing in between anybody who dosent think that simply cant surf. On a side note what fins may excel
in one board certainly dosent automatically work in other boards just dosent work like that.
There's definitely some truth to what your saying but I still think there is an element of placebo and a high degree of marketing involved. I just don't reckon the average punter will notice the difference between the John John Florence alpha pro fin or the John John Tech Flex pro Fin.
I also believe a lot of people get sucked into surf consumerism blaming there equipment etc and thinking if they buy the new DHD (Dick Head Designs) or CI with pro model fins they will surf better. If you surf well you should be able to surf well on anything and make any old board of gumtree work for you.
Mind you I have an extreme personal bias in this view as boards of gumtree with whatever fins are in it etc are what I exclusively ride as that is what my financial situation dictates. I can never justify (especially when you consider how much a set would cost to mass produce) or afford new fins so I tell myself fins are a massive wank ;)
Not sure. Guess we are all different. I'm very middle and really notice the difference in fins, particularly on a twinnie. I just put a new set on that jim banks suggested and I feel the board is going 20% better and I'm really enjoying it at another level. I'm a bigger guy in the tall 95kg range so maybe that's a factor. I found the ks3 such a good fin for me in my normal boards and these new ones look the same shape
Yeah I don't know about that. I haven't tried either JJF Alpha or JJF Tech Flex, so can't comment on those exactly, but I definitely notice the difference in shape and size. And I've come to realise it's maybe more personal taste than wave type, even though the marketing suggests it's wave type. For me, I like throwing a board around like a skateboard, possibly because I grew up on a skatey, not a surfboard, so much prefer the upright style fins, as they are much looser. I've tried all kinds on all kinds of waves, and the upright fins are it for me no matter what. So either the Reactors, or CI's, and can totally notice that even though they are very similar, the Reactors are slightly looser, and the CI's have slightly more drive. I've found I prefer the CI's in bigger, critical surf, where I really want the little bit of extra control and surety; and in small surf where I need to drive harder to create speed. And prefer the Reactors in medium surf where I have both good speed and power, so don't need to drive as hard, and have the freedom to really throw the board around, so want maximum looseness.
Same with size. I absolutely prefer mediums in all size surf. I've tried smalls and larges in all wave sizes, but none of them work properly except mediums for me. Smalls spin out too easy, and large has too much bite, and won't let me dig a rail properly. Vector maths says you should go smaller in bigger surf, contrary to popular opinion, and I can feel that, and would actually love to be able to go smaller in bigger surf, but damn, you'd need some super smooth application of drive to pull that off, and I find it's just nasty easy to spin out. Instead I buy boards with a slightly thinner rail, especially the bigger the wave the board is for, and that seems to compensate ok.
I haven't really played with different materials, since I've already spent enough experimenting w shape and size thank you kindly, so have just gone with what the marketing recommends. I'd love to test it though, maybe one day.
So true, I remember watching a young lad rip 8ft barrels on a old 9ft+ single fin that he cut about 3ft of the tail off, making a 6ft board with a solid brick of a square tail and just glassed the big old fin back on. Loads of foam, shredding, not a care in the world just glad to have a board for the day!
Agreed. They say only a bad tradesman blames their tools and I reckon only a bad surfer blames their equipment for having a bad surf. Nothing better than seeing some cobba pack the wave of the day on a ducked taped yellow old board made the last millennia.
I reckon the mainstream surf community just needs to have a fat dose of she'll be, forget about the WSL (World Shitcunt League) and stop worrying about having the latest model dick head design (DHD) and high tech space age military grade fins made out of recycled fishing line and just get out there and learn to have fun on any old board.
At the same time pretty much every aspect of fin design has already been tried too.
Hard to see any major improvements in surfboards, i think materials are the last frontier especially with traditional materials being petroleum based.
agreed ID
Yeh agree there Indo, I've been looking into building my own board soon; mushroom foam with basalt cloth. I just can't seem to get away from epoxy resin though...
Floating fins will not save the planet, I do think that every small step in the right direction is worth taking, but the big game changer is definitely going to be materials.
I remember rasta cruising around on some weird contraption made out of aluminium at one point, that thing would be borderline indestructible which even though it may cost the earth and the wallet, if it doesn't need to be thrown in the bin every time you do a floater then that IMO is also a step in the right direction.
Indo........lots of different shapes and foils have been tried....but very little on positioning where the fins go......and how to cluster the fins.
Not sure if you know about G 10....60 layers of 2oz , compressed in epoxy as opposed to standard Glass fins which have about 32 layers of 4oz before being foiled. With G10 you have superior flex , better foiled fins as they can be thinner in the tip of the fin.....cost more ...last longer and are far superior to anything else on the market!
Surfboard design is booming for some of us....it's just the CT where there seems to be very little design going on, whereas the main part of the market now is Hybrids.....so much new good stuff happening , I think we are on the tip of a renaissance in design and for the first time in Surfboard history....not being done by the Pros but more with good surfer shapers who work with really good surfers !
Has anyone tried to produce exchangeable tail blocks? Exchange a pin for a square block on you favorite pop out model board for those mushy days?
Like this ?
https://www.swellnet.com/news/design-outline/2018/05/03/shapeshifter-int...
Bit of a fin fan here. I surf Byrning Spears channels quite a bit and once I tried AB's 1 & 2's there was no way I was putting anything else in a thruster with deep channels. They take a great board and make it unbelievable. Very upright, very sharp, narrow base. The latest set I got was from Justin (@dustydemon) who makes them by hand on the Gold Coast. Amazingly tight layup in the panel and his precision is far better than anything I've seen produced by a factory big brand.
100% agree with that comment dude
Spot on Evo.
make your own
Why - When u can buy Quality New Thruster sets under $100....or $50 and under for a Good Second Hand set .
Yeah and pretty sure FCS changed the old Slater fin with the circle on it (same as this photo) to just their everyday all rounder model which probably has the same shape as this. Sick fin but think after Kelly left they had to take his name off and now it’s one of their cheapest fins.
It’s funny that Kelly is so well off and want everyone paying top dollar for his products, he should be hooking us up with good deals.
Rigorously tested by Mr Joe Turpel and Strider for an arvo at the Ranch while the goat stroked his cat and laughed manically
Clearly they were inspired by dol-fins or blue- fins or even thread-fins
Wonder if they will be in Grif-fins boards ?
And no doubt a few other ragamuf-fins as well
Hope they don't end up in too many cof-fins ...
he he ... :)
Larfin'
hehe - well said ;))))
Money for ... golfin .
Bah dum . Tish ?
Weren't Banksies speeed fins ment to be positively boyant?
That may have been the intention but I can attest to them sinking like stones. Thank jebus for back up boards (with a different fin system)
EDIT: Hard to believe that was their intention as those fins felt like they were made from ceramic. Stiff as hell, made an odd high-pitched twang when knocked together, and relatively heavy.
no plans of fading into obscurity for Slats...
i remember that pic of Kelly at king island wearing a beanie pretenting to smoke a ciggy.. not promoting smoking - but thats one of my fave pics of Kelly
I have a thruster set of Scarfini Medium Airs and they do float. I had them nearly 2 years.
I remember way back I had two sets of identical fins one set was the plastic type
the other were composite of some sort anyway the plastic ones were perfect up to
about 4ft beachy nice and lose the composite over 4ft plus solid waves had greater
drive and speed with no slide probably because they were stiffer big difference though
this was in the same surfboard. Companies also recycle fins under different names such
as G8 was also Occy and Sunny Garcia fins different colours but the same fins also there
is some today out there but I cant remember the models names to be accurate.
Like a race car its all in the fine tuning for maximum performance.
So, there's a heap of Slater shit-talk on here.
The thing to remember is that he's the greatest surfer/athlete to walk the planet. If he's been working on fin-design (probably sub-consciously) his entire career, he may be worth listening to. Yes they may not work for everyone but neither do any finds out there on the market. I'd much rather buy into his line of surf hardware than the overpriced patagucci clothing he's pushing.
I'm not a Kelly fan-boy but, he has been top of the game for longer than anyone else. Credit where credit is due.
Greatest surfer yes, greatest athlete…never.
Yes the whole any sport = athlete is really annoying. Why aren't great surfers just that? Why aren't great footy players that? Why does everybody who is any good a great athlete? Next they will be saying golfers and darts players are great athletes. Yeah sure.
Hot off the press, the latest KS interview and possibly the most revealing yet.
Some interesting thoughts on where his wavepools at, his legacy, his travel aspirations. Skip the first section about fighting if it's not your thing, the rest of the interview is pretty insightful.
I'm still a frothing fan!
https://www.theinertia.com/surf/kelly-slater-covid-19-surf-ranch-retirem...
Enjoyed that interview, thanks for link.
The GOAT is definitely a thoughtful interesting human. ..
Imagine if kelly started riding twin keel fishes or single fins .
And what kinda design tangents would arrise out of his mind to apply there .
Could start a whole new thing .
He might invent the Thruster!
What are fins so expensive?
Serious question.
Because everyone needs fins. Everyone uses fin systems. High profit margins are to be had for a few pieces of plastic made in China (or somewhere similar).
$ $ $
https://www.mauricecole.com/fins
Remember the Keel keel? Winged keel? Slot fins? Curved fins? The reverse fins? The fins with the extra foil in the back? The airplane wing fins? The snake oil is out there looking for you.
Floating fin story: found a fin washed up on the rocks locally. It must have had positive buoyancy, despite being a glass fin. How did it defy physics? It was still attached to the two small round FCS1 plugs which must have been ripped clear of the board. The plugs provided the buoyancy.
Interesting. I've got an old set of Raptor FCS compatible fins. Tried them in the laundry sink and they Hovered then sank.
Then I cut the FCS tabs off the fins and the fins floated.
So the fins must be close to neutral buoyancy, but the density of the tabs sends them down, but the plugs makes fins positive again.
Agree with others in how I cant see how this can impact or affect surfing performance, just interesting scientific nerd crap many on here are into!!!
I doubt a shark or dolphin has floating fins haha!!
Put your fins in opposite, flat facing out. It works.
Or try them backwards, do the backward fin boogie. Be original. (not tried this yet)
Made some s-shaped fins once, they worked
Put dimples like a golf ball on fins, cut down that drag.
dimples don't reduce drag in a liquid
https://3dfins.com.au/pages/dimple-technology
Don't let marketing get in the way ...
https://www.swaylocks.com/forum/60806/dimples-surfboard
https://forum.surfer.com/index.php?threads/dimples-and-texture-on-surfbo...
Agree Dimples are Wank
But 3D fins are good $ value { if you can stand the Graphics ] and with no reports of making you go Slower..
If it's a choice between the end or fins, I'll take the fins.
The video on his site does nothing to help separate his fins from any other on the market, but.... the ability to swap between FCS11 and Futures boxes is a really good idea. It's frustrating/expensive having to have sets of both.
Swap between FCS and Futures ?
Yep but na, unfortunately it doesn't work that way, I misunderstood the "Each set is built with a base that is compatible with either FCSII or Futures boxes"
You're onto it Udo
Brutus - that was a quick price drop on a set of your Fins
$40 a set .
The ones on your site are the copys of Tom Currens original 1990s fins ?
udo.....yeah i have the original TC's.....and a lot more......but they are not $40 a set.....$75 per fin, if ya buy a board $50 a fin.......
I am a bit of a fin freak .....but still use and love the C-drives , have double foiled small 4 1/4 " ones , but they go with a bit of a new thing i am doing...still doing a lot of testing!
Brutus your site had them yesterday at $280 per set
Today they are $240- which is why i said price drop of $40 per set
For copies of Tom Currens 1990s fins ..
hmm interesting....I don't do my website....always thought they were $240....
Nothing beats Soar fins.
A simple way to improve any board's performance, with no cost, no new fin or mucking around, is to move your back foot a few inches or more further back onto the sweet spot(s). Always a surprise when you do it.
Sage advice. Not enough people are aware of this simple fact. Couldn't agree more.
EgoFins would be a more appropriate name, no one in the surfing fraternity has one bigger than KS. I laugh at all the comments about how thoughtful and caring they think this guy is. You can be whatever you need to be on the day . Smiling assassin really, if you look into his commercial side of life.
Got you all conned.
This comment would hold alot of validity if you know him personally and if that's using your real name? otherwise, it's character assasination and that shit stinks.
Agreed but he hasn't got me conned comrade. I agree whole heartily. He is a virtue signalling green washing narcissistic seppo wanker. I would love to go to his resource guzzling wave pool one day but only to take a big old aquabog in it.
pretty sure plywood fins would float
Yes but are they eco?
yes when I make them out of my old skateboard deck
Brutus ..just curious was i correct on the Fin Price bring dropped by $40 ?
Why not try the local fins.
Quobba, departure from the normal and they're great started using in my unstrapped kite boards and now use them in my surfboards as well.
go fins i think they are called are only $50 a set. Made in china but look good, fibreglass not plastic.
Groundy they would be Garbage
Just like these are
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/margaret-river/surfing/c-drive-fcs-surfb...
C drives are not garbage udo, they are seriously good fins in the right conditions. I put them in an old board a quite few years back in Bali and they transformed the board from average to really drivey and great down the line (which is what you need at Balangan). Still have them and try them on different boards from time to time but those tropical trips seem a thing of the past now.
I think he’s referring to the imitation c-drives being bad quality makes.
Yep - Memla im referring to the Chinese Shit Copy ones that i posted
Word is they Shear off at the FCS Tabs
I love my Genuine C-Drives - Solid Glass Top Quality- Thankyou Troy Clutton.
Geez I didn't pick that up, am getting old but that is particularly blatant. Surely there can't be that much money in ripping off fins why would you bother? The market for C Drives wouldn't be large enough. Buggers rip off anything.
I once surfed balangan on a super low tide at 3-5 foot and it was barrelling off its head no one out..pulled into a tube and went over slammed into the reef with no booties and got about 50 urchins in my feet...last time i surfed there...can be a good wave though.crawled my way back to bingin.
Bought a set of FCS2 fins the guy at the shop said all cool just snap 'em in unless your surfing over shallow Hawaiian reefs. Two popped out going down the mine on a 3ft late drop beachy, gashed my arm so now I screw 'em in just like FCS originals. So what was the point of that radical new tech? how can you justify such ridiculous pricing for a few bits of junk plastic.
The surf industry loves to reinvent the wheel and call it innovative. Like any other industry the majority of the surf industry is all about the $$$ not innovation and new tech.
Jedi I really dont believe Slater will become overly wealthy
with the release of a set of fins. I do believe he is very interested
in improving equipments performance though and if he makes
pocket money out of it good luck to him.
Maybe using his marketing power to build a brand, then sell down his interest.
That would make him money?
Yeah you could be right. But you can't tell me that charging $260 for a five fin set mass produced in a simple mold overseas in Asia with an astronomical mark up is all about 'innovation and performance' and a positive contribution to surfing culture.
He could sell his eco fins for $500 for all I care but its just the pretending like he is saving the world by selling $253 pairs of Outerknown boardshorts and environmentally friendly wave pools that rubs me the wrong way. He can do his thing but but spare us the green washing.
He gave us his surfing for free for a very long time....defined multiple generations....inspired our top turns, our bottom turns, our barrel riding. You don't have to buy his fins. I personally am just thankful for what he's added to my personal surfing experience. I don't care at all about the fins he's selling. Sound cool if you've got the cash, but won't change your experience, nor will it change his place in the stratosphere of surfing. Personal opinion. I could be well off due to glazed over eyes for the great man.
Da fins be just another business venture for Robert to use as his 'reason' for tax deductible travel.
Anyone else find this as an unusual publication to let slip the monetization of his retirement lap? Around the 45min mark ...
No this another conspiracy
https://www.swellnet.com/comment/785353#comment-785353
That was a really interesting video. I had no idea Kelly had argumentative parents and had troubled relationships..i like these inside veiw podcasts..good post. dont agree there is any plan to monetize his retirement though. But i do think kelly charges way too much for his brands.Outer Known clothes look cool though, but way beyond most surfers budgets. Like most surf brands they are a rip off usually.
yeah, I watched that yesterday morning ... I should've just got up and gone fishing, but, anyway, IDK, that whole 'Apple production' re: filming his retirement year, sure sounds like a plan to make some coin?
Bring back vision steetwear!
An hour an' 24 minutes of this Christmas eve or day....
Me watch later...
Anyways... Kelly and John John vs the world as far as I am concerned.
If this an all around marketing ploy that scares the B-Jesus out of those pesky Brazillians than I have no problem with it
Merry Christmas everyone.
There was something very suspicious going on underwater season 2021.
Endorfin?.. or Caffeine?
Whoever said most fin design experiments have been done is really wrong.
Pretty much all fins the same shape. Take a look at birds and fish and see the variety of fins and wings. Then theres multi fins , 5-16 of them arent common. Nearly everyone is on the same fin design worldwide.
I was thinking "sixteen, wtf?"
But it's a typo right? Meant to read 5 to six?
Have you ridden a five or six fin board? I read good feedback about the 'claw' five fin.