Advantages -

Much easier to keep the board down when overpowered so possibly faster in the gusts.

Can sail in shallower water.

Weed fins have more area and my board feels less prone to spin out / feels like my board grips the water better.

Easier to sail off the wind.



Downside - when underpowered it is harder to lift the windward rail.

Upwind, even powered up is not so good.

Using the 31 and 33 Tribal Speed Weed in small and mid sized boards.

Great fins but more upright fins are generally faster on all points of sail

I would chose a straight carbon fin over a weedy any time , much easier to go upwind and fly the board, go smaller if overpowered

Fastest I have ever gone was on a Maui Ultra Fin Delta (not all that fast in an absolute sense - 36mph). I like the Black Project Shallow Water Weed too - it points better and powers up earlier than the MUF. But given a choice - deeper water even with moderate weed - I'll always prefer something more vertical. My favorite big fin is an Xx-soft Kashy and my favorite smaller fin a relatively inexpensive Black Project Dragon.

In the Florida shallow inside waters, fin windsurfers use weed fins exclusively. I don't remember ever seeing a regular fin there. In the old days when we raced formula with upright 70cm fins, we had to pick deep spots. Open Gulf, Atlantic, and some lakes.

Nice thing about a weed fin in shallow waters is that, if you start to touch the sandy bottom, you can still go without the abrupt stop.

All that said, by golly, there are a few inside spots that are deep enough to foil.

Weedies are prone to spinout in chop.hate them, but need them in for strawweed.must admit they can make your board more forgivin in overpowered conditions.pointers are my choice, if l can get away with one.

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gavnwend said..
Weedies are prone to spinout in chop.hate them, but need them in for strawweed.must admit they can make your board more forgivin in overpowered conditions.pointers are my choice, if l can get away with one.

No, weedies are not more prone than any other fin. A bad fin is a bad fin. No issues today in weed and chop

Ever fin has its day, we need them all, after sailing with weed fins you get use to them and find how to get the best performance out of them ,I find they make your board feel a little longer than what they are ,but the tail sits down in overpowered conditions ,
Still nothing feels like a carbon pointer though

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Tardy
Still nothing feels like a carbon pointer though

True but ya cry harder when you hit a rock

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kato said
True but ya cry harder when you hit a rock

I cry for weeks when that happens ,LOL.

This is what happens when you use a 40cm pointer and should have used a weed fin.

Ouch

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Imax1 said..
This is what happens when you use a 40cm pointer and should have used a weed fin.

Maybe you were on weed ?

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Tardy said..

Imax1 said..
This is what happens when you use a 40cm pointer and should have used a weed fin.

Maybe you were on weed ?

I was having soo much fun , I refused to accept the tide was falling . If I was on weed , after this happened I was wide awake .

You done a good job of that sail
I've hit rocks on weed fins too, it's more of a buck
than a full stop , I just brake board noses off

TL/DR: there are great weed fins and I prefer a weed fin over a regular one on my small board.

I have exclusively sailed weed fins for the past two seasons and never sailed these before that time. I always stayed away from them because of all the stories about people hating them.

So after moving to a location with quite a bit of seaweed, I expected the worst. Sailing away with a weed fin on my freeride board that I sailed for >100 sessions with a regular fin. While I clearly noticed differences - as with any fin change - it didn't bother me at all and the board still worked perfectly fine and was fast, tracked very well upwind and still easy to jibe. When tacking I could notice that it turned a bit slower. I've sailed it later with the normal fin a couple of times and it wasn't "better", just different.

On my smaller FSW board I now even prefer the weedie (over the stock fin that I used before, even when sailing in water that has no weed. It's faster and the board feels more playful.

I think for slalom and hard core wave riding it could be different but I think for anything in between, you should be able to find a weed fin that performs similar or better than your normal fin.

I currently stock JP Weed Freeride 31 cm (good performance, occasionally catches weed when underpowered), MFC Weed Wave 21 cm (latest generation, offset, absolutely love it), and MFC Weedburner 29 cm (not enough use to have an opinion, but not a fan yet).

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Pcdefender said..
Advantages -

Much easier to keep the board down when overpowered so possibly faster in the gusts.

Can sail in shallower water.

Weed fins have more area and my board feels less prone to spin out / feels like my board grips the water better.

Easier to sail off the wind.



Downside - when underpowered it is harder to lift the windward rail.

Upwind, even powered up is not so good.

Using the 31 and 33 Tribal Speed Weed in small and mid sized boards.

There are some great comments here already, but I think there are a few other things to point out.

Weed fins are essential at some windsurfing spots but whether you should use them when there is no weed is another matter.
To use them is to de-tune your board.

The key thing about a weed fin is it will affect your sailing stance. Most weed fins take the centre of fin area back from where the board designer intended it to be - and even those weed fins that have the foil set forwards of the fin base fitting still shift the centre of fin area.
It's unlikely you'll reach the board's top speed with this set up, and early planing is also held back.

The typical weed fin has more rake for the leading edge and that compromises the lift you get from the foil, making it less efficient for sailing upwind, and for getting the board to 'fly' off its tail.
This extra rake does have the benefit of making the board easier to turn, but watch out that fact can make the learner and intermediate sailor continue to be stuck with poor gybing technique. The weed fin becomes your comfort blanket.


If everyone at your local sailing spot is using weed fins then you probably won't notice the downsides - so what's not to like?
But I guess the obvious problem with that is you start making kit choices and tuning decisions based on those weed fins - or on less than optimal gear - and so your stance may struggle to adapt to a conventional upright fin when you sail elsewhere.

I can absolutely agree that if you have rocks to sail over then having a raked fin is a huge advantage - if an unintended one.

I use Windtechs in the chop and use WT weedies to settle them down as they are very lively.
When I first got the 112ltre I used too big a fin in the gusty conditions with a 39cm pointer. I had my first taste of foiling although I didn't realise what it was at the time..
They are longer than normal boards so point extremely well even with a weedy and still go like a scalded cat when a gust hits. Profile pic is the WT57 ( 90 ltres) with a 5.7m and 24cm WT weedy in 20 - 25kts.

No weed? Don't think so.

Tribal weed speed fins are phenomenal in most conditions...my Tribal 33 is a go to in the river even when no weed. and I used to hate weed fins.

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nauli said..
Tribal weed speed fins are phenomenal in most conditions...my Tribal 33 is a go to in the river even when no weed. and I used to hate weed fins.

Have to agree mate, also my go to for the river, I am new convert to the Tribal weed speeds, cant believe how good they are , my carbon pointers are gathering dust in the shed.

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djl070 said..

nauli said..
Tribal weed speed fins are phenomenal in most conditions...my Tribal 33 is a go to in the river even when no weed. and I used to hate weed fins.

Have to agree mate, also my go to for the river, I am new convert to the Tribal weed speeds, cant believe how good they are , my carbon pointers are gathering dust in the shed.

They are pretty good fins and love mine. In fact was used by the winner of the GPS event at Cervantes this year at 38 knots in 30 knot conditions with a 5.8 sail! OK, it was Chris Lockwood using it! And no weed to speak of up there.

my only fin is a 17cm g10 makani weed fin. i think it's great. now about 16cm now due to wear.

unfortunately warranty is lackluster and the have sent wrong items / apparently changed items without stating it on website etc.

Ive always wanted a mankini

No weed fin is a good as a good pointer fin i'm sorry. If you have a good pointer and your gear set up right, it will outperform any weed fin in conditions that dont require a weed fin. If you like weed fins thats cool, but if you can learn to use a pointer to its full potential, you'd get a lot more performance out of your equipment.

^^^
I agree a pointer you get more lift,speed,upwind track better control.l can't afford a tribal weed fin so cannot comment on them.

Havent used an upright fin in over 15 years... its just what your used to and conditions you sail in....

As a footnote - Weedspeeds can't handle long strands of floating weed such as found at Safety Bay. Had to switch to my MFC 45 degree full weed fin.

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TopcatRacing said..
As a footnote - Weedspeeds can't handle long strands of floating weed such as found at Safety Bay. Had to switch to my MFC 45 degree full weed fin.

We have the Superweed range for these conditions, with ~45? leading edge. Most of the time Weedspeed is fine, just end of summer the weed seems to get worse in WA- more sticky. Other places need this extra rake all year round. But most places where there is some weed, the weedspeeds shed the weed, have heaps of grunt, and don't feel unbalanced like 45? raked fins- especially in the larger sizes.

Sometimes the weedspeed is better than a pointer (even without weed around) depending on what you are doing. The rake on the weedspeed gives it significantly greater directional stability, and keeps the nose free off the wind- perfect for full power speed runs. Another advantage is that they provide more lift for the length- and its safer than a pointer if theres a risk of hitting sandbars due to the tip rake.

Its a Melville go-to for many people because its usually faster than a pointer there when its windy, and there are submerged sandbars everywhere.

A pointer fin OTOH is more sensitive to change direction, so you can steer it without much "input". Being upright it also tends to pull the nose down- which, depending on conditions, can be a benefit or a speed limiter. Upwind and punching through lulls the pointer is naturally more balanced with its centre of effort further forward. Weed fins can take a bit of getting used to for guys who only ever sailed pointers.

We see quite a few slalom riders here choose the extra stability of weedspeed over a pointer when the weed isnt a problem, since it can be less fatigueing, and feels much safer in heavy conditions- especially for guys that don't sail every day: ie the difference between crashing out or finishing a race...

So "which one is better"- depends on the conditions,type of sailing,and the condition of the rider...

I enjoy both. For speedsailing mode, downwind slalom where theres a risk of craypot lines or catching weed, its off the charts enough that I need "help" with comfort over outright speed, or if there are shallow spots, I use the weedspeed. Otherwise I use a pointer.

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slowboat said..

TopcatRacing said..
As a footnote - Weedspeeds can't handle long strands of floating weed such as found at Safety Bay. Had to switch to my MFC 45 degree full weed fin.

We have the Superweed range for these conditions, with ~45? leading edge. Most of the time Weedspeed is fine, just end of summer the weed seems to get worse in WA- more sticky. Other places need this extra rake all year round. But most places where there is some weed, the weedspeeds shed the weed, have heaps of grunt, and don't feel unbalanced like 45? raked fins- especially in the larger sizes.

Sometimes the weedspeed is better than a pointer (even without weed around) depending on what you are doing. The rake on the weedspeed gives it significantly greater directional stability, and keeps the nose free off the wind- perfect for full power speed runs. Another advantage is that they provide more lift for the length- and its safer than a pointer if theres a risk of hitting sandbars due to the tip rake.

Its a Melville go-to for many people because its usually faster than a pointer there when its windy, and there are submerged sandbars everywhere.

A pointer fin OTOH is more sensitive to change direction, so you can steer it without much "input". Being upright it also tends to pull the nose down- which, depending on conditions, can be a benefit or a speed limiter. Upwind and punching through lulls the pointer is naturally more balanced with its centre of effort further forward. Weed fins can take a bit of getting used to for guys who only ever sailed pointers.

We see quite a few slalom riders here choose the extra stability of weedspeed over a pointer when the weed isnt a problem, since it can be less fatigueing, and feels much safer in heavy conditions- especially for guys that don't sail every day: ie the difference between crashing out or finishing a race...

So "which one is better"- depends on the conditions,type of sailing,and the condition of the rider...

I enjoy both. For speedsailing mode, downwind slalom where theres a risk of craypot lines or catching weed, its off the charts enough that I need "help" with comfort over outright speed, or if there are shallow spots, I use the weedspeed. Otherwise I use a pointer.

Thanks for the technical input on this Chris. Interesting points that confirms why I love using my Weedspeed fins and was disappointed about the weed sticking on Saturday at Safety Bay, as hadn't found that a problem here earlier in the season. The reason I stick to it when sailing the river and where there are submerged lines is knowing I'm not about to have a catapult fall, which is never fun, but also that it seems just as fast as a pointer in my hands which fits in with your explanation. Will look at getting a Superweed to fill in any gaps in the quiver!