Jordan Rodin has spent a year of his life pursuing the difficult art of riding finless surfboards. Since accidentally discovering the joys of wave sliding at his inauspicious home break, Mullaz Point in Perth, Jordan has become a devotee of fins free. He’s already travelled to J-Bay with mentor, Derek Hynd, and favours riding the intricately designed craft that Derek makes, although he can’t tell you too much about those because Derek likes to keep the details pretty close to his chest.
These days Jordan is based around Margaret River, but regularly takes his wave-sliding quiver on the road. Below he explains why he keeps chasing the fins free buzz.
Tell us about the day you decided to ditch the fins.
Well it was like any other day didn't plan on ditching the fins or going out and hunting a finless board, I just forgot my fin that I was using in my single fin at the time. Maybe if it was pumping that day I would of probably have packed it in and gone home, but there was only about an hour of light left so, I went for it. I basically ate shit for about 40 mins until my last wave; I kinda held my line for about 20 metres then slid out, but from that day on I just tried to hold on for another 10 metres or more until I could ride the wave start to finish.
What’s the attraction?
It’s pretty funny everyone thinks I do it because Derek Hynd does it and it’s cool. I didn't even know about FFFF (Far Field Free Friction) until after I tried riding my board without fins, I guess the biggest attraction for me is not having to generate your own speed, it's flat out from start to finish, and it opens a lot of windows to waves that aren't so good for surfing with fins.
How long have you been fins free for?
It’s been almost a year surfing without fins. The first 6 months I was riding a bunch of boards and never focused on one type of equipment. But in the last few months I haven't really surfed anything else but finless.
Are you actually consciously pulling moves and drifts or just kind of semi out of control and going with it?
At the start yeah for sure it's all kind of outta control not really knowing what the board can do when you put it in new position on the wave. As of now after riding it for a while it's just like going surfing now, you're in total control – it might not look that way but it is.
What’s the slam-dunk of finless moves?
It has to be getting barreled right…? But I get stoked out on riding a wave not doing a lot and going really fast so I don't know if there is one move that stands out to me.
Are you actually travelling faster or does it just appear that way?
Good question, from the feeling I get when riding a finless board to a board with fins, is that it’s got way more pick up speed from the get go; it’s almost like you want to slow down with a slide or spin other wise you will just out run the wave completely, but I think it’s faster!
You mentioned you have been riding Derek Hynd’s boards is he a kind of mentor/inspiration?
Well he is the king of free friction surfing, so I didn't really want to be on anyone else’s finless concept! But for sure he is a huge inspiration, I was staying with him in J-bay early this year and he was doing things that I didn't know were possible, so it was pretty inspiring for me to see that first hand.
Are there lots of concaves and channels in the base?
Yeah it’s got all that jazz in there !
Is Derek protective of his design ideas when it comes to finless boards?
I just think he is really passionate in what he is doing. All shapers want their ideas or concepts to be theirs and original, and to his credit he has done just that!
Any wave you really want to ride?
I really want to get over to Morocco! Looks like free friction paradise with all those long, walled out points, but also want to try some bigger, heavier stuff just south of were I live in Margaret river.
Is it possible to ride big waves and slabs or just dreamy little down the line walls?
I think anything is possible, it’s just you have to find a slab that lets you in early, maybe somewhere like North Point were you can race for a while and shoot through it, but for fun, yeah dreamy points are the go!
Can regular Joe pick it up or does it require absolute devotion?
It’s definitely a challenge, but hey if you live near a perfect point I don't think it would take too long before you start trimming and riding the wave, but if you don't have those set ups like I did, yeah it’s pretty hard and you have to be devoted I guess!
Will you ever go back to the fins?
Yeah, I am sure I will go back to fins but at the moment I am having way too much fun riding free friction; just something different!
