Tectonic T-43 PWA

[mark h]

Any one know who is using these fins or is it just hype? Tectonic say the top riders are using them, but all I see in the pictures are carbon fins like Z-fins and Carpenter fins etc.

I think the website says "secret fin". From what I understand, the top PWA professional using them was exclusive on them, kept them covered up ie: no pictures ? As for who? Take a good guess,,, you would probably be right,,,

I know that Micah and Bijourn definitely used the T-43 last season, very effectively in their mid size kits.
Like on their 7.8 and 8.6 sails and midsize boards.

I know that Micah won this PWA event in Turkey using T-43's in the bigger sizes 48-50cm quite handily,
1 Micah Buzianis USA-34 0.7 0.7 2.0 2.0
2 Antoine Albeau F-192 4.0 3.0 0.7 3.0

[SeanAUS120]

Micah's definitely on some kind of Tectonics... not sure of the models. Don't see a lot of other G10 fins out there from what I've seen however...

[mark h]

Thank's Sean

The last few week's I've generally been a pain in the butt asking around about fins and booms as I'm changing all of mine.

Im keeping all my 2012 iS's and NS F2011's till next year and concentrating on getting good fins and booms now. Got AL360 E3 booms for 5.2m to 8.6m, and about to order a big Tecnolimits XTR for the 9.5m.

Still unsure about fins. I cant really stretch to Carpenter Fins or Z-fins, so narrowed it down to the new "green" Gas-Fins, F4 fins D2, Select V-max and possibly Techart fins. All pretty good value and ready available-ish. I only need 4 fins, but still a fair outlay, so trying to get it right

I see you made a very long list of possibilities and didn't include Tectonics as an option? i have been using these fins now for many years and I can tell you , they were the first, and they are the best,, they have 3 world titles under the belt, the best guys in the world use em, they ship immediately, no waiting,, Antonie and Bjorn pay for them,, Bjorn won his world title last year using them,, maybe you should check em out,,, it seems to me that all these other fin companies start out by trying to copy Tectonics,,, I also find it very interesting that in the Kite racing world,, Tectonics also has the World Title using the very same fins available for windsurfing,,,, check out Johnny Heineken, world champ, what's up with that???

[mark h]

Hi Unreg
Im not ruling the Talon or T43 out, but I have noticed that most of the fast guys heavier guys have switched to carbon this year.

I do like Tectonic fins, and have a set of Nomads and a Hornet for speed boards, I also had every size Falcon F1 from 22cm to 34cm, so Im no stranger to how good Tectonics are

I always used carbon fins on my slalom kit as I'm approx 100kg and thought best to stick with what I know. I once got a set of Vector G10 Cranefires and sold em all a couple of weeks later cause I way prefered the carbon feel.

That's not to say the Talons or T43 would feel bad as Iv'e never tried them. If I were to go with two fins per board (iS107/iS137) what size Talon are best, and same for T43?

I normally take one fin size that works most of the time, and one fin size for light winds. Currently use Select S10 39/41/45cm on iS107, 39cm & 45cm dont get used much at all, the 41cm seems to cover 90%. The iS137 I use S10 47cm and 51cm, the 47cm is good 80% of the time.

Would a 46cm talon be stiff enough for 195 lb sailor? I had a 44 cm g10 thin foiled fin from another manufacturer and eventually it started to spin out all the time. At first it was ok. Could the g10 have gotten softer and fatigued and started flexing too much??
Does tectonics get superior g10?
After all, g10 is just fiberglass layers laminated with epoxy. It would make sense for it to fatigue with endless flex cycles...
Any modern slippery mass produced fins out there that are stiff enough?? Are any of the selects slippery, or are they all super-powerful?

[mark h]

For any one that's not seen it, here's a list of who's using what, compiled by Sean during his excellent coverage of the PWA events on Boards.com.

Antoine Albeau – Deboichet / Kashy / Tectonics
Josh Angulo – Kashy / Tectonics
Ludovic Jossin – Tectonics / C3 (Sting)
Ben Van Der Steen – Z-Fin / C3 (Sting)
Patrik Diethelm – MB Fins / F2 Custom (shaped by Kai Hopf)
Andrea Cucchi – Tectonics
Kurosh Kiani – Vector / Tectonics
Peter Bijl – Vector
Bjorn Dunkerbeck – Tectonics / CA Fins
Steve Allen – Tectonics / CA Fins
Micah Buzianis – Tectonics
Sean O’Brien – homemade custom carbon fins
Ross Williams – Z-Fins / Kashy
Arnon Dagan – Z-Fins
Alberto Menegatti – Z-Fins
Andrea Rosati – Z-Fins / Tectonics