I have come to realize that all things “performance” made out of carbon fiber somehow end up being marketed as being fast. Now, the Ray on the other hand, takes a back seat on being fast when people compare it to the other fins made by Black Project. Just for the record, fins are not fast. None of them. There, I said it! Not fast. You could put the fastest fin in the world on my 2024 Starboard Allstar and it will be slower than the Ray by a country mile. Think I’m wrong? Keep reading. The Ray is marketed as a stability solution that has some shortcomings when it comes to speed, maneuverability and some glide. I was willing to take a gamble because I usually paddle in conditions that most of the other people on this planet would avoid. I place a high priority on stability and comfort and paddling around on a twitchy ultra narrow board just takes the fun out of it for me. It makes me tired, cranky and way too serious. My Allstar is a 2024 14×28 and it came with the Flash+ fin that is supposed to help with stability. I know what you’re thinking, how the hell do you not have enough stability on a 28? Simple, I am genetically gifted at 6’6″ tall and 240 lbs. Let’s just say I could tell I was on the fringe for acceptable human size when I started trying to find gear and paddles. The Ray on the other hand has no height or weight requirements and is a fin that everyone that paddles should own. The first thing I noticed with the Ray primary stability was increased . It eliminated the twitchy feeling on the board. This improvement alone would have been enough as it takes the edge off and adds comfort. The tracking with the fin all the way back in the fin box is super impressive. 15 knot headwind tracking and stability is clearly on another level. In chop and wind I can just paddle with no concern of boat wakes etc. Impressive. Downwind return a little stiff in the tail but, easily managed. I moved the fin to the middle of the fin box and tracking was more on par with Flash + mounted all the way back in the fin box. Sweep stroke turns were better in the center position. Stability in the chop was the same. I have Monday night races that have about 10 buoy turns so I was trying the fin more forward. I have it set now about 1/2 inch from the rear of the fin box and this is my favorite spot so far. Great tracking, stability, and it frees up the tail of board on downwind. Really makes the board fun riding wakes and waves. Foot steering is responsive and pivot turns are good. It is interesting that a half inch makes such a difference. Try different setups! Very versatile fin. Increased performance=fast. The Ray has the dynamics to make all paddlers faster. Comfort and stability are king. The more stable I am the more power I can put down. The more comfortable I am the longer I can perform at a high level. The Ray made me faster, glide longer, turn better, downwind better, ride wakes and waves better. You can do anything with this fin. I started off believing this fin would be a compromise on performance for stability and that was me judging a book by the cover. This fin is no compromise and I can’t think of one downside to having it on my board.