Does anyone have any feed back on the C3 Slingshots? Positives and negatives. Thinking about buying 2 for this season. Want to use them with Isonic 55 and 44. Any opinions would be appreciated! Also alternatives that ARE avaliable to buy.

tomasz80 ive got the 21,ship the 44 over here and ill give it a good test for ya

The slingshots are brilliant. I have found getting your mast base in the correct position is cultural so far.They produce amazing lift for how small they are depth wise. How much do you weigh??

I would suggest a 21cm for the 44cm and a 23 or maybe a 25 for the 55cm. I have had no problems using a 7.0m sail,JP speed 54cm with the Slingshot 23cm. I am now going to try the 23cm in my slalom board. Also maybe look at a Sting II around 28cm for the 55cm board Probably the best fin i have ever owned for a slalom/speed fin. Never ever lets go in chop and it's very fast.

Proven fins....but the 23cm that I had weighed in at half a kilo,fin weight may not effect performance(all in the design and shape) but attaching half a kilo to my carbon board...err no, in comparison the KA 23 assy weighed in at 300g Debochiet 24 Up right 250g, alternative Vector delta(320g) - Tectonics - Black Project fins S line and new X45.

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Tomasz80 said...

Does anyone have any feed back on the C3 Slingshots? Positives and negatives. Thinking about buying 2 for this season. Want to use them with Isonic 55 and 44. Any opinions would be appreciated! Also alternatives that ARE avaliable to buy.

You should check out black project fins: http://www.blackprojectfins.com/products/windsurf-fins/type-s/

I'm laying up a good weedy full carbon hand made thats done 41kn
works very well with CA44 with 5.4m - 6.7m
21 cm holds in chop and honks up wind be happy to lay one up for ya
theres plenty of footage of it in action
total weight 289g ! one for you choco

Can i have one please??

I got a 23 slingshot. Quite disappointed. Yes it is 486gms but the main issues apart from that is it did not seem as fast as other fins I had and that once it lets go it is VERY hard to get back. Dansy will vouch for that as he went thru' a new KA koncept on his first run on the 23, yet he has done 44+ knots on the 21 which he felt was just right for Sandy Point. And of course the Dutch guys have done insane speeds on the smaller sizes.

You may need something with a bit more aspect for the 55 like a Delta and get a 20 or 21 slingshot for the 44

did i mention the 19 cm ohh she's nice hand crafted by yours truly...

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keef said...

tomasz80 ive got the 21,ship the 44 over here and ill give it a good test for ya

would love to! if I dont get a fin soon I may as well

Last I heard KA still have a few 23 assy's left. Absolutely proven fin.

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lelos12345 said...

I'm laying up a good weedy full carbon hand made thats done 41kn
works very well with CA44 with 5.4m - 6.7m
21 cm holds in chop and honks up wind be happy to lay one up for ya
theres plenty of footage of it in action
total weight 289g ! one for you choco

That would be sensational!! I really need something to get my 44 flying. Have shaped a 22, but doesnt create the power. Going to rebox it once I work out best way to do it. Slightly more vertical. Hopefully still shed weed but.

Cheers Izaak. I weigh in at 85kgs. I think ill chase up a 23 and 21. Unfortunately I have to sail weedies so the slalom fin isn't an option. See how it goes

Take a look at the Tectonic Nomads as well. They are lighter. I get on very well with the Nomads 21 & 23, super easy, but I just could not get the best out of the Slingshots for some reason or other. Switched to Nomads and I have no complaints now:)

One thing I notice about all these fins is the the Tuttle base is molded and attached to the fin. The Black Project Fins are shaped from a solid bit of G-10 in my experience of breaking a lot of fins is the tend to break where the fin joins the base. The BPF's being made out of one piece of G-10 are stronger.

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choco said...

Proven fins....but the 23cm that I had weighed in at half a kilo,fin weight may not effect performance(all in the design and shape) but attaching half a kilo to my carbon board...err no, in comparison the KA 23 assy weighed in at 300g Debochiet 24 Up right 250g, alternative Vector delta(320g) - Tectonics - Black Project fins S line and new X45.

new fins for $79

www.ebay.ca/itm/Durable-Stainless-Steel-Windsurfing-Surf-Sail-Tack-Triple-Pulley-Replacement-/303021196778?oid=200663451087

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yoyo said...

...and that once it lets go it is VERY hard to get back...

This was my experience too. After the first session I'm a bit scared to use it again!

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Tomasz80 said...

GOT MY SELF INTO SOME TROUBLE HERE WILL BE LAYING UP SOME MORE FINS SOON THERE IS A BIT OF A WAITING LIST AT THE MO ;-)

LOL

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lelos12345 said...

Tomasz80 said...

GOT MY SELF INTO SOME TROUBLE HERE WILL BE LAYING UP SOME MORE FINS SOON THERE IS A BIT OF A WAITING LIST AT THE MO ;-)

LOL

i cant see any wind for tht next week or so leo so you can leave the back door open

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legless said...

One thing I notice about all these fins is the the Tuttle base is molded and attached to the fin. The Black Project Fins are shaped from a solid bit of G-10 in my experience of breaking a lot of fins is the tend to break where the fin joins the base. The BPF's being made out of one piece of G-10 are stronger.

not quite right...
all our G10 fins are made from a solid piece of G10 that goes all the way through to the bottom and front and back of the base.
if you push an insert out you will see it's fully surrounded by G10 and you can see the G10 shining through the red resin in several other places of the base because it's so close to the surface.
the G10 sheet it's made from is either 12 or 14mm thick so we use a special toughened resin to bring the thickness up to tuttle dimensions and to give it its distinctive red color.
since we started the G10 production fins we have a breakage rate of less than 0.05% and that was due to faulty material not a design or manufacturing fault.
the black project fins will most likely have a thin G10 layer glued to either side of the base as making them from a G10 sheet that is thick enough to cover the thickness of the base would be quite wasteful of material in the manufacturing process.

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choco said...

Proven fins....but the 23cm that I had weighed in at half a kilo,fin weight may not effect performance(all in the design and shape) but attaching half a kilo to my carbon board...err no

choco says it right there... and i mostly agree. judging by the performance that Hans and Jacques show on the Slingshot and their comparative testing with most of the other speed fins on the market. the weight difference is negligible for performance. they choose to use them, because they give them the best performance... but i can also understand that it messes with some riders head to have a piece of equipment that is not carbon.
because carbon is always better... or is it?

if there is one spot in the whole windsurf gear combo where you can tolerate or even have an advantage from a heavier more dampening material than carbon then it's where the fin is located. down low and as close to the centre of all movement as possible.
i'm certainly not going to compromise the shape and function to save a few grams.

Boogie
www.C3-fins.com

And with the fin being fully immersed in water you must subtract the fin's buoyancy. The apparent weight of the fin is its volume X (density of G10 - density of water) - a lot less than 500 grams, but yes a little more than a low volume fin as G10 has a density slightly more than than that of water.

Measure the weight with a spring balance with the blade immersed in a bucket of water. Despite the huge hydrodynamic forces around a fin the buoyancy component is still there.

I'm not sure the issue with weight is about buoyancy, but more inertial mass. Boards need to be light so they are super responsive to water / rider input. A heavy board will be harder to change direction than a lighter board.

A fin's buoyancy would only come into play in sub-planing conditions, and that's where it's easier for the rider to shed a few hundred grams.

As boogie says, the weight of the fin is less important as it's at the pivot point.

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shear tip said...

I'm not sure the issue with weight is about buoyancy, but more inertial mass. Boards need to be light so they are super responsive to water / rider input. A heavy board will be harder to change direction than a lighter board.

A fin's buoyancy would only come into play in sub-planing conditions, and that's where it's easier for the rider to shed a few hundred grams.

As boogie says, the weight of the fin is less important as it's at the pivot point.

Be very interesting to make the same 23 slingshot out of carbon and around 250g and compare the two in feel on the water.

Does one need super light to go super fast? We're talking speed for this type fin right?
Seems for speed weight is your friend.

My 2 cents worth.

for sure weight/mass is important for anything that needs to accelerate, but it is all relative...
swing weight in the nose of the board or up higher in the rig? sure. they swing with a certain frequency so need to accelerate over and over.
but 150 to 250gram extra for the G10 fin in the whole system to accelerate once down the course is about 0.2% of the whole lot inclusive rider.
if weight is that important then i hope you guys all have cut down carbon mast extensions and the very very bare minimum footstraps that don't hold water or even better take the leeward ones off and shave the pads off while you are at it. no boots allowed either. Strip the grip of the boom where you don't hold it, etc...
and don't even think about dropping your sail in the water before the run.


Boogie

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C3 said...

for sure weight/mass is important for anything that needs to accelerate, but it is all relative...
swing weight in the nose of the board or up higher in the rig? sure. they swing with a certain frequency so need to accelerate over and over.
but 150 to 250gram extra for the G10 fin in the whole system to accelerate once down the course is about 0.2% of the whole lot inclusive rider.
if weight is that important then i hope you guys all have cut down carbon mast extensions and the very very bare minimum footstraps that don't hold water or even better take the leeward ones off and shave the pads off while you are at it. no boots allowed either. Strip the grip of the boom where you don't hold it, etc...
and don't even think about dropping your sail in the water before the run.


Boogie

If weight saving wasn't important why then make light weight carbon boards, mast, booms even todays race sails weigh less?
So everyone after high end performance would be happy with a 10kg board 3kg mast 4kg boom and 500g fin?
Bring back the X1-2 carbon fins they were the "BomB"

ps have you still got the moulds?

y think de c3 slingschot is a amazing fin
y juse' dem on my falcon speed en falcon 80
en daj just work wel de controle is amazing end even up wind de vin prefoms wel
ofcors it is a speed vin so flat water is best
it is a fin dat kan take a lots of pouwer en on de half cors is alradie verie fast wen jou go doun wind jou feel de akceleration
de bord stais calm at ol thaims en stais nice flat
in dis film y yous de ss25 onder de falcon speed

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If weight saving wasn't important why then make light weight carbon boards, mast, booms even todays race sails weigh less?

all parts of the rig are either a long way up or are moving around a lot more than the fin in the bottom of the board. same for the board the further away from the fin towards the nose you get. each movement in a different direction or swinging with a certain frequency will require an acceleration of some sorts. here the weight plays a much bigger role than at the bottom of the board that you want to keep as steady as possible in contact with the water.

so i wouldn't be happy with a heavy rig or a heavy nose on a board for those reasons.

Boogie

I work the Rake 30° in 100% carbon.I could only find a 25cm Bull Speed. The weight is 240 gr. The most used fin from my speedfins is the 22cm Rake 30°.
I never had the idea to look what weight they have. I looked that they are fast.
Topspeed is 50knots (49,99) Thomas Döblin. In Germany are only 10 good speeder
who got my fins.They have here in the north of Germany only 3-4 days with
good 40 knots.There I know that my fin can make 100km/h is the only problem
what can I do that it is a speeder out Germany. Wolfgang

That what always speaks for carbon,is, that the reaction of carbon is always faster
than the reaction of other materials. www.designlessacher.eu Wolfgang

you can devide the types in 2 types of speedfins:

C3 Slingshot, Vector Delta, Tectonics Nomad, Custom selects -> best on flatwater speedspots and for 40+ knots.

Assy speedfins (KA, Vector Raven) and Select Caspar Speed, BPF Type S, Vector EX, C3 Venom and other slalom fins used for small slalomboards. -> Allround speedfins in not so flat conditions and or speedstrip.

Lots of brands to choose from :)

G10 fins are good for the Job. G10 is available in different quality, Also the CNC cut can be different between brands, sanded down to specific custom specs etc..
(full!) Carbon is more expensive and lighter.