Recently saw the horrific video of the foil surfer who had his trachea severed when he fell on a wave. Also saw a photo of a Japanese foil surfer with a gash across his entire face. Granted, this happened to foil surfers, not wingers, but I suppose it could happen to wingers.

Are you sanding your trailing edges to reduce the chance of a severe cut? Some of them are very sharp--like you could slice a tomato. I've had a nasty cut when I ran my finger down the trailing edge of my windsurfer fin to clear the harness line that got caught on it. Since then I've sanded all new fins. Should we be sanding foils too? I realize that experienced wingers rarely fall, so they are unlikely to ever contact a foil, but a newbie like me falls on nearly every jibe attempt.

How much does sanding reduce performance? Does it matter?

Thanks for feedback.

Note that most horror injuries happened with kite foils, which can be insanely sharp.

Sanding should not decrease significantly performance, but be sure to perform a half-rounding sanding, a "Donalsdon trailing edge"

colas.nahaboo.net/Surf/TheDonaldsonTrailingEdge

Some science:

www.researchgate.net/publication/267340047_Effect_of_trailing_edge_shape_on_hydrodynamic_damping_for_a_hydrofoil

infoscience.epfl.ch/record/168992?ln=en