too small a fin ?

[joe_windsurfer]

today was play day
however, water levels are lower than usual
winds were light - so , i rigged an 8.5 loosely on a 160 liter board {am 100 kilos}
for low water levels put on a select 40 cm slalom {usually used with 7-oh}

this was okay for practicing beach n water starts

THEN the wind picked up -- ok, let's see what this setup can do
managed to plane and even go upwind
where it stalled was with tacking #$%&*
even pushing with front foot and leaning sail forward {dangerously} did NOT always help
used to have similar problems with longboard, but could always put center-board down !!

since it was play day - tried moving mast foot back and all the way forward


is there a trick to using a small fin with a big sail ??

in the end i gave up cuz wind really picked up - put a 47 cm antiweed , tightened the sail and put mastfoot @ 3/4 mark and ripped - no problem tacking - did catapult once $%^*

[Roger]

Joe,
I'm pretty sure you are doing some sort of "quick tack".
Next time you have those conditions, try leaving the rig way back (the foot of the sail right down on the back/deck of the board, and step over the mast and mast foot (do not go ahead of the mast foot at all.
Getting the rig all the way back will get the rig behind the fin and drive the board up and through the eye of the wind.
Give it a try!
Roger

[Windman]

Hi, Joe,

If you look at the specs of your board on the AHD site, you'll see that they call for a fin length in the range of 47-55cm. I thought that an 8.5m sail with a 40cm fin would be too small, particularly if you are loading the fin.

As Roger asks, were you doing a "quick tack"?

Hope this helps.

[joe_windsurfer]

the 40 cm fin is for my 6.0 and 7.0 sails and works fine
my 47 cm weed fin is for my 8.5
the issue is the water levels are low this year
so, tried the 40 cm slalom fin with the 8.5

definitely doing the "quick tack" where you push the nose through the eye of the wind with your front foot

this should not be fin loading, non ?

later with the 47 cm fin , sail tightened in bigger winds = no issues

was just trying to make the best out of light winds with low water levels
could always go in deeper water , but winds were on-shore that day - it's in a bay

i use quick tacks cuz i can do em in any winds :-)
can do light wind jibes, but come from long boarding - so, still learnin :-)

windsurfers are avoiding that bay now - fellow busted his fin 2 weeks ago
that day it was 10 kiters and I in the bay - no other w/s ers !!!

In my Venice (Italy) lagoon with 8,5 I always use my Fanatic weed fin 34/48. Correctly Fanatic wrote both numbers, depht and lenght. It works brilliant and with 34 cm I can plane on very shallow waters. The rake (angulation) is more than 45 degrees and it has a wider chord and a smaller tip. It works brilliant with the old Mistral Echo 138lt that I still use in Venice for low winds. Slow and progressive stop when water level become very low.
On the opposite I also own a Prolimit 32/40 that has lower rake as you can see. With it board stop little more suddenly, also for the more traight tip shape, I suppose
I remember that in Select fin range there were two seaweed fin lines, one with a really huge rake for deep seaweed and/or very shallow waters, so this could be the solution for you.
http://www.select-hydrofoils.com/en/...elta-antiweed/
Also Gsport-Curtis have a huge rake weed fin http://www.gsport.com/images/fins/big/weed_big.jpg
Imho don't think that is a solution to use smaller fins for heavyweight people like us with big sails
Have good wind
Nico 175x85kg

[joe_windsurfer]

the select weed fins for 8.5 are XXL for a board with more than 70 cm - hard to get depth and span #'s from website :-(
my 47 cm weed fin is a Select - older model and about 63 cm leading edge !!
so, your weed fin has less height than my 40 cm slalom fin !!

I have to admit that my Echo is an old narrow slalom board, 58 cm wide if I well remember, so a smaller weed fin than on you board could be the right choice for me. I've tested the Fanatic weed on the custom small-flapper board that I use outside Venice (yes, I have double quiver, this is living in Venice downtown...), 73 cm wide, and it seems not so bad, but the old flapper tail design interferes with weed fins and spinout happens some times, so not a long test.
About checking the lenght-depht, yes really Select website is not so clear, but I've seen that for almost every weed fin factory are not so clear the two sizes, mine Fanatic is the only one with clear written both numbers. Even looking on ebay.de is not always clear what you're gonna buy, f.e. a 45 cm deep or long weed fin.
And therefore I've seen that is often suggested a longer weed fin compared to the normal one, so benefits of weed fins in shallow waters are partially lost.
The famous Lessacher http://www.designlessacher.de/ talk about depht-draught and surface-area, nothing about lenght; but note that for sails over 8,0 a 36 deep fin is suggested, no matter the width of board pheraphs because of increasing of total fin surface. Shape is pheraphs better than "drop" shape of Select. Lessacher fins can be found on ebay.de in many lenght. I like them so much, and I've read very good tests on the web.
For checking the Select sizes an idea could be to print the image and then make a proportion with your actual fins, as obviously fin head are a constant size.
Hope can help and sorry for language mistakes.
Nico

[Lessacher]

The Formula Weedfin is vertical 40cm deep,diagonal 56cm long. 100%carbon.12,5m²
are no problem. 700 or 750cm². Sorry I forgot it. Rake is 45°. So I can always say:
1,414.40=56,56cm (diagonal.) For 80cm boards worked I a new 40cm Duo Weedfin.
Duo Weedfins are double asymm.fins with cut out at the base.No spin outs.
The Formula Weed is horicontal 21cm wide, the Duo Weed is 19cm wide.
I work : 24cm 28cm 32cm 36cm 40cm. Always 1,414 is diagonal long
Chamäleon: 24cm 28cm 32cm. I have 36cm,but I say always ,please use the Duo 36cm
she can hold bigger sails. New is a fin with Rake 30°. Between upright and Weedfin.
My fastest fin. She can weed, not perfect, but if you have speed,no problem.
She made with Thomas Döblin 50 knots topspeed in GPS. 22cm vertical and is 28cm long. 18cm 22cm 25cm 28cm 32cm 35cm 40cm. Double asymm fin, for both tacks.
50knots are 93km/h. I worked just for fun the fin for hundred. I hope that he get the wind. Wolfgang

[joe_windsurfer]

mein Freund :-)

looked at some numbers
please tell me where i can get a Lessacher fin in Canada !!!
water levels are so low, I hit rocks in the middle of the St Lawrence again 2 days ago :-(

so, 30 or 36 cm fins that support 8.5 and 10-oh are my dream !!

Bitte sagen Sie mir wo !!! und wieviel ??

Herzlichen Dank
Joachim

[Lessacher]

Hallo Joe! Duo Cut Weed 36cm is okay. 100%carbon. What box have the AHD??????
You can get the fin only from me. I send fins, they look try and pay ,or send it back.
The price is 150 Euro and shipping 40 Euro. Time 2weeks. Please send a mail.
Wolfgang.Lessacher@t-online.de
www.designlessacher.com

Wolfgang