SUP fins, quite important for going in a straight line, turning and stability. In the summer, I got two fins from VLT: the F22 Carbon Pro and the OSC 2
Preamble
Let’s set the scene; in Spring 2026 I acquired a pre-loved NSP Ninja 22”, a board that is narrower than my shoulders. It came with the original NSP Race 22 fin, which was in pretty good shape for a fin that had had several adventures on its journey between owners. But I took one look at the slender profile and grabbed the bigger brother from my Carolina Evo, the Race 24, for my first training sessions on the Ninja.
Realising that the Ninja, even at 22”, is a capable board with the Race 24 fin, I soon swapped in the standard Race 22 fin, and it was fine, but I thought that the slender profile didn’t really suit my paddling style. So I started to look for alternatives.
At the Danish SUP Tour event on Bornholm, I met Kristian Gitter, the paddler behind Droplet SUP Racing, a Danish webstore that concentrates on Race SUPs and accessories. Alongside race SUPs from NSP, he sells fins from VLT.
Let’s talk fins!
NSP have a range of race SUP fins that they supply with their SUP Race boards. These are the ‘Race’ SUP fins, and all have the same outline: Race 20, Race 22 and Race 24. They are long, pointy and appear fairly narrow for their length. They are somewhat triangular in shape.
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| NSP Race SUP Fins |
Over the years, I have found that my preferred fin shape has always been mid-length, quite wide and with a flatter tip, more rectangular than triangular. My preference is born from medium-distance paddling in fairly sheltered water; the more rectangular fin is great for stability and tracking. I should add that I have been guilty of keeping my paddle in the water past my ankles, occasionally. The wide fin helps combat this.
NSP fin design comes from more varied conditions, where the extra fin length provides stability, the narrower tip helps with performance in rougher water, and the narrower profile makes it easier to turn the board. They are designed with the help of paddlers with a better technique than me.
Different shapes, different intentions.
The NSP Race 24 fin perfectly suits the NSP Carolina EVO, a board I use mostly on the sea or in rougher water. But its length is sometimes an issue, as I do paddle in some very shallow water.
The NSP Race 22 fin is OK in the Ninja, but, as a bigger paddler with a lot of power, I felt it limited the strokes per side that I was capable of; I was swapping sides more often using it. However, the Race 22 fin in the Carolina EVO is entertaining; it livens up the back end in moderate conditions where a consistent stroke rate is defined by conditions.
VLT Fins
VLT are a European manufacturer based in Italy, and they have a range of fins for SUP racing, touring and training. Many of their fin shapes are available in different constructions, so you can have a cheaper plastic version for training, where it will get bashed around, and then swap in the carbon version for racing, where the importance of a pristine, high-quality fin matters most.
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| VLT Fins on the Droplet Webstore |
And Kristian had a sale on his webshop for some old-season training fins. Exactly what I was looking for for the Carolina Evo. Obviously, I had to have a look at the higher-quality fins he had too, and was super grateful when he offered me a deal on two fins: the VLT F22 Carbon Pro for the Ninja and an Orange OSC 2 for training on the Carolina Evo.
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| The Orange OSC2 and F22 Carbon Pro |
VLT F22 Carbon Pro
This is a short, broad fin designed for flatwater racing; it comes in a plastic bag (no protective sleeve for the one I ordered), with a screw and thick brass plate to mount it in your board. The fin is made from a plastic polymer and carbon mix and was perfectly finished. It is priced competitively at €110 (at the time of typing). A flatwater fin is exactly what I wanted, and from the first paddle strokes I was smiling. Mostly because I was still standing up on a narrow board with a tiny fin!
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| F22 Carbon Pro before fitting |
The fin is very well made, but before you start paddling with it, you will need to do a little adjustment. There is a tab at the front that is used to align the fin perfectly in your fin box; it requires little effort on your part with a file to remove the material you do not need. Once done, you have a flush-fitting fin with a recessed screw, minimising drag. No thumbscrews here! Once filed, the fin was a perfect fit in the Ninja finbox, and the Carolina Evo too. It fits like a glove.
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| Perfect fit |
On water, the difference between this and the NSP Race 22 fin was immediately noticeable. More strokes per side on flatwater.
With the F22 Carbon Pro, the Ninja felt stable and fast. And that proved to be the case with my Time Trials this year; the F22 Carbon Pro was on the Ninja when I set my fastest two 5km Time Trials. It works for me, and I am faster with it than the stock fin in good conditions.
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| VLT F22 Carbon Pro fitted to my 2023 NSP Ninja |
In rougher conditions, I can feel that this is a small fin; the back end is pushed around more in tail and tail/side wind or choppy waves. But it hasn’t thrown me off the board when the going gets tough; it still works, but it is slower in less than ideal conditions than the Race fins from NSP.
Different fins, different intentions.
VLT OSC 2
This is a slightly larger fin designed for allwater or touring, and it is much cheaper than the carbon fins from VLT. The lower price is obvious when you open the bag; this fin is not made to the same standard as the F22 Carbon Pro. But at €30 (at the time of typing), this is a fin to compete with the cheaper end of the fin market.
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| VLT OSC 2 after filing to fit my NSP Carolina EVO |
The finish of the fin is perfectly acceptable; after all, it is €80 less expensive than the Carbon Pro fin! Like its more sophisticated sibling, it has the same tab at the front that needs to be filed down to achieve a perfect fit for your board and like the F22 Carbon Pro, it comes with a fin screw and brass plate.
Just like the F22, the fin screw sits flush with your board, something that other cheap fins do not do. No thumbscrews here! The description on the VLT site does not list the material it is made from; let’s say it is plastic, and from my experience, it is hard-wearing.
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| VLT OSC 2 fitted to my NSP Carolina EVO |
I fitted this fin to my Carolina EVO to save the better-quality NSP Race fin for racing. Once I had filed down the tab, the fin was flush with the hull, but it was not a perfect fit; it wobbled from side to side and up and down a little. A little foam padding sorted that out.
Tracking and stability were good in use on lakes, rivers and the sea; only occasionally did I want a longer fin, and then only in rougher conditions. I would not use this fin for a downwinder. I have not tested this fin on a Time Trial; that is not the reason it is in my collection. It has stood up to the rocky coastline and varied lakes of SW Sweden admirably, showing little sign of use or of the many fin/rock interfaces that it has had.
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| There is a VLT fin under the resting EVO on the largest lake in Europe |
This fin is available with the same construction as my F22 Pro, and I am sure that it would be finished to the same high standard as the F22 Pro.
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| https://droplet.dk/ |
Droplet SUP
If you are in the Nordic region and looking for SUP race boards or equipment, then check out Kristian’s webstore here https://droplet.dk/
Summary
If you are looking for a new fin to fine-tune your SUP, then I can recommend the fins from VLT. They are available in a range of constructions, priced competitively, and they work very well. The cheaper fins are great for training or use where fins take a lot of abuse, in rocky environments, for example, where the noise of an expensive fin meeting a harder surface causes your credit card to flinch.
The more expensive F22 Carbon Pro is an excellent fin that does exactly what VLT say it is designed for: high-performance flatwater racing. I like it a lot!