New Fin and Weather/Surf update

New Fin
My new K2D2 4.75" fin arrived via UPS just in time for me to surf it during some good waves last week. I put the new fin in the center slot, in place of the Bob Miller Blue Coil (5.5") center I was using.

When I bought the FCS Occy tri-fin set, my idea was to surf the 10-4 Angulo Olohe with a true thruster configuration, i.e. all fins equal in size. I bought the FCS longboard fin box adapter that allows the placement of an FCS fin with tabs into a standard fin box. But I could not get the box to fit snugly, so I could not use the FCS Occy dual foiled center fin. So I abandoned that idea, and robbed my 6-8 shortboard of the 5.5" center fin. This set-up worked very well but I still had a jones to go fully thruster.

I read some good stuff about fins on Stand Up Zone, and in the Stand Up Paddle Surfing Magazine. The Zone had a thread with a link Fins Unlimited where I bought the K2D2 online.

So far so good...it surfs a lot like the previous set-up, but feels slightly looser without any loss in stability and no unwanted side slipping. Time will tell but I think it's going to work out fine. I'll have these fins in for a while. I'm looking forward to testing them in bigger surf as I have a suspicion that they may be a little too loose in consistently overhead swells. In that case I'll go back to my 9.5 cutaway center with GL sides, a set-up I've always liked.

Weather/Surf Update
The marine layer has made a comeback and now mornings are consistently overcast and gray, with temps in the mid-50's. An onshore pressure gradient is in place, putting light to moderate onshore winds at the beach in the mornings. The north-south winds have been blowing and water temps are down to 53F degrees. The subsequent upwelling is bringing up lots of food, bait fish, and bottom fish. The fisherpersons are happy.

Surfwise we're in for some flatness. Here's what Mark Sponsler has to say.
High pressure off the Pacific Northwest coast is producing a elongated fetch of 20 kt northerly winds and limited short period northerly windswell. Over the next 5 days even that small and weak fetch is to fade while pulling away from the coast and by Wednesday only 15-20 kt fetch is to remain, limited to the Cape Mendocino CA area. Windswell all but gone. In the South Pacific a gale formed in the Southern Hemi Sun/Mon (7/28) producing 45 kt southwest winds and 35 ft seas in the CA swell window, focused mainly on Chile and Peru, offering odds for only sideband very southerly angled swell for primarily Southern CA on Tues-Wed (8/6). A short pulse of gale energy on Tues (7/29) in the deep Central Pacific produced 12 hrs of 32 ft seas, likely good for background swell on starting late Fri (8/8) into Saturday. A complex gale is building in the far Southeast Pacific, but most of it is forecast to be east of even the Southern CA swell window. Virtually no other fetch is forecast in the CA and HI swell widows for the next 7 days, suggesting a long flat spell ahead.