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| Rick Hanke brought us back to school ... |
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| A Tekkno Lessacher Chamaleon |
When I attended the German Speed Championship in 2011, they had a very
interesting seminar about fin-theory, hosted by Maui Ultra Fins and their
designer Rick Hanke. No doubt that he knew what he was talking about. I am myself an engineer and I had some flashbacks from the 4 years I spent in school with my calculator, formulas and tables ... I reckon
he had a PhD in aerodynamics and he really put his delta-fin innovation to the
sky. Theoretically the best speed fin in the universe so far. But he was clear
about an other German fin-maker, "Wolfgang Leassacher, his fins are disasters,
with concaves on both sides. Do not work
at all."
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| Wolfgang in action |
On the parking lot on the outside Wolfgang took a nap at the same time. But as most of us know theory and practice do not match well in
windsurfing.
Since I started with speed, I have loved the Chamäleon.
I must have had more than 50. When you lose the grip with it, it only slides in a very controlled way sideways, like a sportscar.
I said to Wolfgang that I love them, but I have
problem with the 28cm in combo with 8,6m2 or bigger. Wolfgang replied, “hey
when I designed that fin 20 years ago the biggest sail was 7,8. You must test
my new ones now.“
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| Some of my black beauties. |
At German event 2012 he delivered a handful of new fins. But I never
test any new products for the first time in an important event. (It was one of the European Speed Tour events). And the
following 6 weeks, it was all major events in the Swedish and England. But in the closing weeks of 2012 I had some opportunities to use
Wolfgang’snew shapes. The sizes were not perfect matches to my board range, but they are
absolutely top notch. No other makes can match that grip in the same size, and the speed was about on
par with the best. I also used the Duo Speed Weed 32 on my CA SL78 and it worked very well (but I really need a deeper fin with more lift to that board). It is great that we have guys like Wolfgang that have the
guts to do things different. Now I also have the right sizes, looking forward
for the test session in Egypt soon!
PS Read more about my over 300 fins collection
here and
here and
here
