I had a close encounter with some limestone reef at Lake George on Thursday. One of my favourute symmetrical speed fins copped it BAD!
My first thought was how the hell am I going to get the 2kays upwind back to the 5 mile from Kevs Bay on my 40cm speed board with a badly munted 17cm fin
Only one thing to do: give it a go and see what happens.
I was amazed that it went up wind just fine and didn't spin out at all, totally contrary to my expectations! I got back in two tacks which wasn't much different from usual. All I noticed is that I was maybe pointing a couple of degrees lower, but even that was hard to tell.
Makes me wonder why we worry about the odd small scratch on our speed fins.

That will buff out.

I agree with Sailquick.

Yeah, I agree, just shape it out down to a 16 and you'll go even faster.
I think irregularities close to the board have a much more noticeable influence. Sailing my CA47 with MUF 17 delta at Lilacs, Albany on Saturday - my gasket half slipped out and it went from solid handling to spinning out constantly

You must remember this one Sailquick? A blast from the past. I knew it was floating around in the seabreeze gallery somewhere.

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choco said..
That will buff out.

Done! . It's now a 16cm.

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Ian K said..
You must remember this one Sailquick? A blast from the past. I knew it was floating around in the seabreeze gallery somewhere.

Is that the first fin to go GPS 50kts?
Martin Van Muers back in 2007 (?)
He hit the bottom, turned it into a paint brush and then did 50kts later.
The pic was published on the net before realising how bad that could be for the 'story' and so it was whipped away pronto.
I've seen fin 'experts' in shops admonishing punters for touching the fin surface and damaging it's speed potential.
Load of old bollocks.
They're not scientific instruments and this game ain't science.

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Te Hau said..

Ian K said..
You must remember this one Sailquick? A blast from the past. I knew it was floating around in the seabreeze gallery somewhere.

Is that the first fin to go GPS 50kts?
Martin Van Muers back in 2007 (?)
He hit the bottom, turned it into a paint brush and then did 50kts later.
The pic was published on the net before realising how bad that could be for the 'story' and so it was whipped away pronto.
I've seen fin 'experts' in shops admonishing punters for touching the fin surface and damaging it's speed potential.
Load of old bollocks.
They're not scientific instruments and this game ain't science.

Well that's the story. But the story about the story is more interesting than the 'story' itself.

Yes, as you recall, that picture was everywhere during the first version of the story but this copy miraculously escaped the subsequent internet purge hidden deep within seabreeze members' gallery.

Something about that particular photo looks different from my memory of the story and photo as well.

I know the fin tip was well munted, but that photo looks different. Maybe it's just the angle or perspective?

I too can recall two photos. I thought it was you who posted another one here on Seabreeze way back then? The scratches didn't look so deep on the second one. It added to the mystery. Was photoshop even around in 2007? Mood lighting? I've got no idea which was the original photo........

Well thanks Ian. That was a nice trip down memory lane through my Seabreeze gallery.

I found the pictures that MVM sent me:

Obviously the stars aligned for Martin that day as well as him totally rocking and at the top of his game. It begs the question....how much faster would he have gone if he had not trashed his fin ?

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mr love said..
Obviously the stars aligned for Martin that day as well as him totally rocking and at the top of his game. It begs the question....how much faster would he have gone if he had not trashed his fin ?

48kts

Those X2 were so thin (6mm max) it was a like having a steak knife out the back keeping the tail of the board behind the front. I once unexpectedly came across a wide shallow sand patch during a run. I crouched down expecting a serious catapult but after massive deceleration and cutting a 10m+ long groove through the sand I came out the other side still on the board. Checking the fin it looked like it had been sanded with 40 or 80 grit to 10cm of the base. I sailed it like that for the rest of the afternoon... did not seem much different than before.

(Edit) Interesting aside. A later repair to fix a small dig seemed to coincide with large loss of performance. Never figured out the cause. Was it too soft now, was plan shape different altering twist, was I now too fat for such a small fin???

Perhaps leaving the ding would have been a nice turbulator.