For sure it's easier to test a sail or a board... so, I'm not even sure I'm good enough to write something about a fin, but... here we go.
First, a general consideration: in my opinion (and I know I'm not alone on this...) the main fin measure indicated by the manufacturer should be the area, not the length.
I mean, when you buy a sail do you ask for a sail that has a luff of 422cm or for a 5.0 squared meters?
Same should be for a fin: gimme the area, not the length!
Well, remember when the main measure for the boards was the length? Now it's the volume... things can change... let's see if we'll get someone in the industry to start introducing this little important detail...
This introduction will explain why I first struggled a bit to find the right setup for K-One 23cm that I was given.
Check this photo that compares it to another more traditional shape MFC 23cm fin.
See how smaller the area of the K-One is? In other words, if you get one, buy at least 1cm bigger then you think you need. Is that a bad thing? No, it's a great thing, because that 23cm I tested gave me the control and upwind sailing ability of a traditional 23 and the looseness of a traditional 21 or 22...
Fast planing and really loose in the turns, it was a perfect fin for the Goya 90l and 5.0 combo that I loved so much. It's the fin that I have in the video of the board's review post.
Forecast: ugly strong wind in the weekend with a significant bump from the north on sunday.
Small south swells starting this weekend lasting all next week with a peak around thursday (should be a decent one).
The last couple of days, seen the absolute lack of waves, I've been slalom sailing at sunset time (when the ugly strong wind finally gives up a little)... I can't believe it's slalom time again already!
This winter passed by in a nano second. It won't be remembered as a good one, seen the very few big NW swells. It didn't even feel like winter to me. Oh well, could be worse...
6 comments:
good review & i agree with the measurement suggestion. Did someone say winter? When? I must have blinked.... o yea, thanks for the beers last night !!
I thought the best swell of the season was back in mid november.
Nice write up GP, saw these fins on KP's blog recently, they look the biz, saving my pennies to buy one for Kym for her birthday!
Meesh, my pleasure.
Anon, it might well have been, still this winter (relatively) sucked.
A good winter has a big swell every 3-4 days... we're just terribly spoiled!
There were still plenty enjoyable wave sailing days at Hoo, but few good/epic wavesailing or surfing days at Kanaha, for example.
Hi giampaolo,
I am sure that different same sizes fin but with different volumes make the fin work in completely different ways. The same applies to sails. Although sail size is the first measure you look when looking to buy a sail, luff is also very important. For example, a 5.0 metres sail with a luff of 400 is completely different (power speaking) than a 5.0 with 395 luff but longer boom length. I do think that fins, just like sails, should come with information about its volume and size. Then selecting one would be easier and on top cheaper than buying several
Great blog
See later
Miguel
I just received and email from Pio Marasco (MFC owner). On his company's website you can ask him the area of the fins...
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