by Marshall Brain | April 23, 2009
You Asked:
What does the fin under a surfboard do? — Matt, Ankeny, Iowa
Marshall Answered:
Surfboards have not always had fins. People once used their feet for steering. But the addition of one or more fins gives the surfboard a rudder that makes it much easier to turn. Fins also lock the back of the board in the water so it is much less likely to skid sideways across the water. Surfboards can have one, two or three fins, and some even have quad fins now. For more info see How Surfing Works
100 years old a different way to build a house airplanes Apple art ben cars CarStuff Chuck climate change coolest stuff on the planet Design Corner dieting DIY Dukan Diet Facebook food funny global warming Google Interesting reading Internet Invention iPhone josh Microsoft movies music NASA podcast Public Service Announcement robots social networking space STBYM Roundup stuff of genius Stuff You Should Know Stuff You Should Know podcast TechStuff TechStuff podcast travel Twitter video games weight loss world records
©1998-2010 HowStuffWorks, Inc. ATTENTION! We recently updated our privacy policy. The changes are effective as of Thursday, October 30, 2008.
To see the new policy, click here. Questions? See the policy for the contact information.
Videos
Podcasts
Blogs
Quizzes
Games
Comment Now