The Power Blade, an original George Greenough design, pushes the boundaries of the modern-day single fin surfboard. After years of meticulous material selection, extensive testing, design revisions, and the development of a distinctive flex pattern construction, the Power Blade emerges with the potential to rival the performance characteristics of the thruster.
Here’s how Marc Andreini, renowned Santa Barbara-based shaper, sums up the Power Blade: "Although the thruster took surfing to a higher performance level (following single fins) with more speed and quicker responsiveness, we lost a lot of flow, trim, deep bottom turning and down the line style that went with single fin style surfing. Now we can take that style and up the performance to match the speed and virility of the postmodern board without sacrificing the flow."
The most important design aspect of the Power Blade lies within its ability to flex and ‘twist-off’ at the ‘head’ of the fin. This attribute provides what we call ‘variable-tow’ similar to a thruster, which allows the tail of the board to follow the nose, and in turn produces drive. In some ways it acts like a fish tail, flexing and twisting back and forth creating propulsion based on direction and angle of attack. The narrow base yields minimal water pressure resistance, allowing for a significant amount of response, speed, and maneuverability within a single fin.
The main challenge in successfully producing this design came through the need to retain a very stiff and extremely strong ‘leg’ in order to support all the load on the 'head.' Through extensive research and testing we finally landed on an extremely unique lay-up combination of high-density epoxy and fiberglass materials that met the strength requirements without suffering fatigue. This fin is sturdy enough to last a lifetime.
Ultimately, the Power Blade fulfills three distinct and rigorous demands in a literal single fin: stiffness where needed, particular flex characteristics, and the ability to twist.