Bit the bullet and did this at Sandy Point today, and the results were awesome...

Got some strange looks doing it though.

1) Take the 24cm "Freestyle" fin that came with the board

2) Take a saw (preferably a big one, for effect), and cut it in a straight line so that it is now approx 16cm

3) Take some wetndry sand paper to it for 30 seconds to take off some of the rough edges

4) Put fin in board, go sailing.

Result? Perfection.

pictures of your new creation?

i've got one i made for my old starboard which had a us box, but current board is powerbox so it is wasted

sweet, how many litres is your board.

i am assuming that was a $170 fin you cut up.

nah nah nah mate, you got it all wrong!

1)Go down to SHQ

2)Buy New 2010 Tabou Twister 90

3)Put in your new 14x2cm fins in your board

4)Go Sailing!

Result? "A TRICK STICK"

Yes pics before/after please. Well, the "before" is perhaps too late...
I've always wanted to do that surgery on my 'stock' freestyle fins...

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sflack said...

nah nah nah mate, you got it all wrong!

1)Go down to SHQ

2)Buy New 2010 Tabou Twister 90

3)Put in your new 14x2cm fins in your board

4)Go Sailing!

Result? "A TRICK STICK"

i've got the tabou twister 100, but it comes with 16cm fins. i lent it to hoop for a "propper" freestyle. The feedback was needs smaller fins. SO i got me some drake twin fins off and evil twin. gunna chop them to 14 and see how i go. they will proll end up as 12s though

yeh thats fair enough! 16's are a bit big! but the 14's in the 90 are brilliant!

They are big enough for me to sail in 'not so freestyle conditions' aka bump and jump stuff! and i can also really drive off the fins for a bit more height for sailing up wind!

But the fins are small enough to pop and slide super easy!

The 100 looks sick, i wish they made all the boards shorter and gave them a fat tail!

Instead of the drake option, check out on the net for Tarifa fin company!

They do twin fin freestyle fins, send them an email, cos they look sick!

Take care dude!

Steve

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FlickySpinny said...

Bit the bullet and did this at Sandy Point today, and the results were awesome...

Got some strange looks doing it though.

1) Take the 24cm "Freestyle" fin that came with the board

2) Take a saw (preferably a big one, for effect), and cut it in a straight line so that it is now approx 16cm

3) Take some wetndry sand paper to it for 30 seconds to take off some of the rough edges

4) Put fin in board, go sailing.

Result? Perfection.

You certainly seemed to be doing well enough out on the water yesterday Flicky!

Cheers EJ!

The board is a 2009 Tabou Freestyle 100...

Here's a pic of the fin:


Yup, in theory, it probably was a $170 fin... apart from the fact that it came with the board and was not fit for purpose... and no-one would buy it off me!

Now it works like a dream. Got a couple of one-handed spocks with it on it's first outing, and damn close to a grubby too... great day at Sandy!

Roll on tomorrow - I need that grubby...

[edit] ... just measured it - 16.5cm.

nice fin, thou i'd take that back corner off, looks deadly

Flicky, what's Sandy point like for freestyle? Looks like it would be good fun with that super flat water. Is it gusty?

Mate - it's awesome. Glass flat water (gotta be careful of crashing in front of the speed boys though) and very rarely gusty. Works really well in an easterly, westerly, south-westerly.

If it strays anything north of west then it gets gusty though.

I've only had one session there where it's been gusty, and even then it's been ok Probably sailed there 20 times, so maybe someone with more experience can comment as well?

For freestyle on a W / SW it's great at any time as you get flat enough water all the time on any tide.... the speed boys like it at low tide as you can get right up to the spit, but for freestyle it doesn;t have to be that flat.

On an easterly, the sandbank needs to be out of the water on the far side, so for about 4 hours either side of low water it's great.

Get down there - you'll love it. I cannot believe that there is such an awesome location there and so few freestylers. It's comparable to Baby Bay in Dahab when it's blowing. Also, on the easterly, if there's some swell running on the front beach you can get some great down-the-line wavesailing with nothing dangerous to hit (massive long sandy beach - lovely). Best to launch in the inlet and then walk across the spit. Bit of a hike, but worth it for the bigger waves and cleaner wind.

Give us a shout if you're heading down.

Swoosh - As for the point, I've left it on as an experiment to help keep some turning capability... seems to be working so far.