Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Wasted resource

You know its funny how sailors look at the weather, even though its impossible to sail. You'd think we would know better and just ignore it, but there's something in my mind that can't leave well enough alone.

I awoke to the little voice in the back of my head saying, "Hey, its gonna be windy today. REALLY windy..." Checking the weather and whoa! We do have wind today ... 25-35 with gusts to 50.

Now I just need to find some water thats not frozen over!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Asymetrical fins


I had a good conversation with Keith Teboul and Jake Miller about twin fins, and both Keith and Jake pointed out that they're not only fond of twins (Fins! We're talking about fins!), but they're running different sized fins on each side to maximize turning or grip performance for wavesailing. For more turns (at Hookipa), they are running a smaller fin on the starboard side.

This stemmed out of a conversation about Keith's latest board that he was sailing at Hookipa, and if you watch the Hookipa video down the page on this blog, you'll notice its short length and how super snappy it is when Keith gets in (and out) of tight wave situations. The board for its length has a fair amount of rocker, but Keith feels that because its short he can ease the rocker a bit without sacrificing turning ability and still amplify planing,top end speed and control during bottom turns. Of course, the board still needs a capable driver, and Keith rips. Being a shaper with sailing skills such as his, its no wonder his boards rock. ;-)

At any rate, I'm looking forward to trying out some asym fin configurations on my boards this sailing season. My boards are plenty loose, but I'm interested to see just how further they can be pushed.