The first seabreeze for Melbourne yesterday and I got to give the new Carbon Freerace a proper workout in messy, wavey Port Phillip Bay.
I must admit that before I started this carbon fin development program I had only once used a carbon fin, an early protoype of another brand that I was told was a reject as it was lots too stiff. I really liked it but felt is was not much different to G10, clearly as it was a reject for being too stiff. So I was a bit sceptical about all the claims of carbon fins and flex.
This development program has been a massive learning curve and eye opener and I now really understand how the flex you can acheive with the carbon construction completely changes the way the board feels and travels over the water.
I had many days last season in exactly the same conditions as yesterday but the difference was I had my G10 fins in the board. I love them, they are great fins but yesterday the difference really struck me. I had a 38 freerace carbon in and in short...it was brilliant. Most of the testing I had done was in winter Northerlies and the sea conditions are quite different or on the flat, this was really the first workout in the notorious northern end of the Bay swell and big steep chop. What struck me the most was the board was much smoother, it really was up out of the water and skipping over the top and the chop was a lot less troublesome. Yes I still had the really steep one appear in front of me and hit it pretty hard or got airborne but the whole session was less physical than with a G10 fin. Also when I did bear aways the nose stayed higher so I was way more confident to put the hammer down and not scared about tripping on the back of the waves. As normal I forgot the GPS but I can guarantee I was faster as I felt more at ease to push hard.
I would honestly say that this Freerace carbon at such a low price point is a clear winner and unless you need a G10 slalom fin due to a rocky or reefy venue and unavoidable fin damage you would be crazy not to consider one of these freerace carbons.