Obsessed with fins?

BPF with some protos

If you are one of my followers on Facebook, you might have noticed some photo posting about fins. Some wonder why one person has so many fins. Are they for sale?

Well since you are reading this blog, you are aware that the fins are maybe the individually most important part of the whole set of speed equipment you own.

Tuning the boards with the ultimate fins for every type of water is the key. Sometimes I get questions what fins are the best. And the absolutely truth is that all fins need to be individually trimmed to each board to each water and wind direction, current and water level.

C3 and a new proto

Hurricane with some protos

By now I can with emphasis say that I master the water in Weymouth (England), Torkelstorp (Sweden), Orth (Germany) and Karpathos (Greece). They all are different and needs different set-ups. Therefore it is important for myself (considering myself as a world wide speed windsurfer) to have the right fins for the right spots. My recommendations are to buy the full line of fins from one or two fin-makers and then top with selections from others.

Custom Lessacher with protos

To know what fin-brand/model that should be your basic backbone; you need to test different fins and set-ups yourself. Maybe it is a good idea to team up with your friends and share fins from a few different brands first. 

Some fins might work for your friend and will not work for you on the same board and spot, depending on how much pressure you have on the back foot, mast position, sail trim etc.

I am soon off for Egypt. The mission was to test new straight fins for some new boards. Unfortunately the boards are not ready yet, but the SP63 will work well as a testing platform for some of the new fins. Straight and weeds.

(It is very much about fine tuning. A board with a big speed ratio like SP63 (27-37 knots) are harder to trim right than a slalom board with a wider tail and a narrower ratio. The stiffness and torsion has to be perfect for the board and water conditions. Therefore it is useful to try very similar fins like C3 Sting vs Sting II, Black Project R vs RS, Tectonics T43 vs Talon vs F1 and so on.)

Tectonics and protos

Top up with some selected fins

Lessacher Fins, crazy weed fins but works IRL

Rick Hanke brought us back to school ...

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."

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.“ 

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

The Premium Speed Fin Test

People sometimes ask me:

- You have so many fins, please tell me, which one is the best one?

OK, the fins are for most speed sailors a well-kept secret. Most understandably, the fin is extremely important. But I will in this blog post reveal some golden nuggets.

But first some basics. There is generally no best fin. There is just the best fin for a certain moment and condition. In this “test” I used 28-30 cm fins from five different premium brands. I sailed on a Carbon Art SL53 speed board, which is a narrow board with about 83 litres of volume. I used a 7.0 full cambered racing sail and the wind was gusty offshore 25-30 knots. I did about 5 runs with every fin and logged 10 seconds average speeds around 36-37 knots in most runs. The spot was Karpathos and I brought +30 fins last summer to the lovely windy island.

At this spot the entry speed is important. It is pretty much a slingshot when you accelerate 10 knots within 2 seconds. The grip is important, and then there are two more gusts, some small chops and a 20 meters to stop. Again the grip is important, because when you release the pressure from the sail, the tail-walk starts instantly.

Tectonics F1

This is what I call a reference fin for all speed sailors. It is a premium fin made at Maui. It is not too hard and not soft. It works on most types of boards. All top speed sailors that I know have used it. It was very popular around 2007-2008. It is still a very good fin. If I didn’t know better I would have been very happy with it. But at a gusty spot when the speed exceeds say 36 knots and you get another super gust, spinouts could occur. I would say that this fin is excellent in more stable conditions. This fins works very well to both small slalom- and speedboards.

Deboichet Upwind

A very stiff custom fin that really needs a skilled rider with good reaction and big muscled legs. Even if I consider myself all of the above, I really do not feel comfortable with the UW. It is so stiff and it is hard to find the perfect trim for that fins when it is gusty. Even if it never spun out, I really did not feel safe and therefore did not hit the best speeds. Probably better in more controlled spots like Dungervan or Sandy Point etc, where the runs are longer and you build up the speeds during a longer time and you can work with more controlled trim of the rig.

C3 Venom
The C3 is made at the Cobra plant in Thailand. Still a high quality product and I would say that it is worth the high price. It drives extremely well upwind and in the acceleration phase and when I bear off I just hold on and forget about the board. It is so easy to ride. I guess it has to do with the softness. The only con is that it is a little more fragile, with the thin top.

NB This fin is 29 cm.

Black Project Type S
The BP fins are pretty new in the market. They are developed on Maui but produced in China. But that is nothing bad. It is affordable and after sanding some paint off, it is as good as the C3 Venom in the acceleration and off wind. Maybe not as good up-wind, but this is not a slalom fin. Not as fragile as the C3 and much cheaper. Very much bang for the buck!

Choco Mach 1

This is what you get if you cross the shape of a Tectonic and produce it in the same factory as C3. It is not a bad fin, but it doesn’t have the edge and feels as the other above. I would say that it is an okay fin for those who doesn’t need to break 40 knots. But there is a reason that I have sold most of mine. Daniel Aaberli (Choco) has launch a Mach 2 which is thinner, but I have never tested that fin.

Conclusion
My personal choice is C3 Venom and Black Project Type S. I know many riders that prefer the others. I do not say they are wrong, but now you know what I think. Maybe you wonder what fin was the fastest? Well I did this test during 3 hours and the wind and water are not the same in every run. The C3 was a little ahead of BPF but within the error margin. The Tectonics almost in par with the other two, and the Deb and Choco just behind. I also tested a few more fins during this day but they where disasters. Maybe thats the most important conclusion, all premium fins are good, just small differences in personal taste.

PS One remark, on the day I did this reference test, I used fins between 26-32 cm. I would say that the "results" where the same on the 28 cm´s, but at 32 cm most fins except of C3 Venom felt a little too big on that board.

New speed fins from Maui

These last weeks before going to Karpathos some goods arrives almost every day. Masts, boards, boardbags, GPS, nutrition drinks etc. And today some interesting new fins. Black Project Fins has proven to build the best slalom fins I ever used and now they have built some new speed fins. I have never seen such high quality fins before, so it will be interesting to try them. The models are X40 and X45, which stands for the expected speed! They are about 215mm and 225 mm deep and are the new modern design with a wider base. They are very thin but also assy. Karpathos is a place where we sail around 37-42 knots but also choppy and tought upwind. I hope they will work OK upwind. In worst case I might have to switch fins at the start!

Valentine´s Day - A BOUQUET OF BEAUTIFUL FINS

Photo by my very understanding wife ...

I would like to wish all speedy windsurfers a happy Valentine´s day.  I am celebrating this day sorting new fins from New Zealand and Hawaii. The C3 Sting´s looks good in the middle sizes and I look forward to test them versus the new Black Project Type R and Speed. When I have ordered fins from C3, I have bought 3-4 every shipment for a year. But when I ordered Black Project, I thought - what the heck, I will finally end up buying them all anyway. The exchange rate was good, I bought all sizes. So I got a beautiful piece of bouquet on Valentine´s Day!

Fins, fins, fins, fins and some more fins...

Some of my Tuttle-fins...

I ordered some new fins from New Zealand yesterday. I really need them. This time nobody talked me in to buy them. Well nobody really are trying to sell fins to me by hard selling, but if someone is saying something like "I love this fin", I probably will order some different sizes a few days later. I newer get any discount and the prices are around 150-250 dollars per fin. Plus shipping, toll and VAT... Still I am very pleased every time I get a package. Why? Well for some reason the fin-makers always are short of stock, and I almost have to beg to get them. C3, Deboichet, Black Diamond and Hurricane are harder to get than for example Tectonics, Lessacher and Choco. If I really like one fin very much I sometimes buy an spare in case of hitting a stone. I wonder how many fins more I will buy this year, and what make.

Sold some before Christmas, room for new!

If you don´t speedsurf you might wonder why I have hundreds of windsurfing fins? Well, we use different fins for different conditions. Depending on water depth, weed, chops (small waves), boards and sails, we use different fins. Later this winter I might blog about windsurfing in icy water (I can tell you already that you should not have a straight fin when you hitting an iceblock...)

PS If Larry Tuttle got one dollar for every fin with Tuttle-base he would have been very rich...
PS 2 (Be cool, I have more fins than on the pictures, the US-box and powerbox fins are quite a few...)