The phrase ‘crinkle-cut’ usually brings to mind potato chips, but a team of University of Wollongong (UOW) students and academics are changing the surfing game with new 3D-printed crinkle-cut surfboard fins.

Three researchers and six surfers spent six days testing different prototype fins off the Mentawai Islands on the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, surfing and collecting data for up to eight hours each day.

University of Wollongong team surfer Brett Connellan testing the 3D-printed fins Credit:University of Wollongong

Early analysis of the data collected suggests the crinkle-cut prototype was the preferred fin. Nicknamed for the series of grooves on one side to improve water flow under the board, the crinkle-cut fin gives surfers more speed, extra projection on turns and increases the board’s lift to drag ratio.

"It was a very driving and a very fast fin," said surfer and owner of DP Surfboards Dylan Perese, who took part in the trial. "Unanimously we all found when that fin was on, it was the best of the batch."