help needed on fin size

galeforce79 · Joined: 05 Apr 2001 Posts: 89

i have no knowledge of fin size. i have one fin and it came with my 295 130 L board. i use it with my 6.0 and my 7.5. should i have a different size fin for each sail? will it do anything more for my sailing?

spyder · Joined: 24 Sep 1996 Posts: 2790 Location: oahu

basically if you arent spinning out with the fin on your 7.5, then it should be adequate for now.

fins get tricky, with shape and size. It depends on what type of sailing you are doing, and size of sail. Board and sailing style will also play into the fin selection.

Fins vary from Blades to Wave, and all kinds of sizes and foils. Generally, blades are best for upwind and speed , but not so good for turning, whereas Wave fins are very turny, but tradeoff speed and upwind ability.

The fin is usually too small when it spins out (other reasons too for spinning out), and the fin is usually too large when it rides out of the water (fin walking).

I wouldnt worry about your fin too much, unless you start spinning out, or the board doesnt want to turn. Just sail more with it and see what happens in different conditions (high-low wind). Ask your sailing friends what they use.

gemoore · Joined: 14 May 2001 Posts: 494

I agree with Spyder and would add one point, which is that the fin has a large effect on how the board handles. So if you dont have second board (the one you cite is pretty big, I presume for lake sailing, mainly), nor smaller sails, then a cheap solution to extending the range of your board (lower and higher winds) is to get a larger and a smaller fin. For this size board, two fins will probably be all you need.

When your current fin wont quite plane, a 5-10 cm larger fin might plane and it will carry the holes better. When the wind picks up and youre having trouble holding the board down but dont have a smaller sail to go to, a slightly smaller fin (maybe 5 cm) will calm down the board so it doesnt bounce so much. If you find yourself overpowered and on a bouncy board, often the way to make it all controllable again is to add downhaul and put in a smaller fin. Thats a LOT easier than rerigging to a smaller sail.

Shop for bargains, and you probably can extend your boards range by 0.5 - 1.0 meters of sail size on each end. For the money, fins are the hands down best buy for maximizing the use of your kit.

GEM