Mail from Andrew Daff: Hi Wolfgang. I am very pleasedto tell you that I used one of
your Duo Speed Rake 30° (22cm)for the 1 hour record attemp on Lake George.Runs 2km in each direction so I needed a fin for both directions and the 22cm seemed to be the right size.I also needed a fin with rake to clear the weed, the fin worked perfect for both.I did not catch any weed at all,even in the gybes.The best thing is
I never have to stop to clear weed and can push at top speed all the time.
I worked the Rake 30° for Strand Horst. www.designlessacher.eu.
Wolfgang
The Lessacher fins are not bad, excellent for weedy lakes and inlets, but I would not take them to a bumpy, gusty, survival spot.
Here is a review of some more traditional straight premium speed fins:
www.andersbq.com/2012/02/premium-speed-fin-test.html
Not to deflate your response andersbq but Lessacher was only pumping his weed fins or rather weed speed fins which work for me
Interesting review..seems to gel with the gossip we hear on the beach about the relative merits of the various fins.
I guess if anyone was to do a fin review a guy who has hundreds of different fins is more qualified than most to do it. This person has a real fin fetish...
some of his collection
Hallo Anders:Thank you, that my fin is not bad.It is a speedfin,she made 50 Knots
topspeed and can weed.Wake up and look what is new: Wolfgang
Wolfgang, I have 50 of your fins, and will probably not stop buying more. I have even "exported" some weedfins to Wollongong last year... Lessacher Chamelot and T-Zone weed.
They had quite a lot of seaweed in Lake Illawarra when I was there, I did a blogpsot about that too; www.andersbq.com/2010/12/second-day-and-second-chance.html
I would take the Lessacher fins I have used to any spot I would sail if there is any chance of catching weed. 
Anders: Nice blog and interesting read. My only comment is that I have never thought of a 30cm fin as a speed fin. My longest speed fin is 21.5cm! 
Depends offcourse where you sail. I have loads of fins below 20 cm. But there is no option of using them at Karpathos. Here we simply need 26,28 and 30 to be able to get around the course. The waves upwind are hard to conquer with a C3 Slingshot. We sail about 300 m off the beach to get to up the starting area.
The biggest fin I call "speed-fin" is the C3 Venom 32cm, which I have broken 40 knots with 7,8. So a 30 cm could be a speed-fin. But you are right, usually I rather go with 26 or 28 cm. But at the day I did the big switch-test, the wind where not super, no +40 runs in sight. And to be honest, I sailed with both 28, 29, 30 and 32 fins that day, from all brands in the test.
Andrew, if you were 20kg heavier and 7 cm taller (like Andersbq ) I'm sure 30cm fins wouldn't seem so big in choppy water...:-)).
ha ha, no off course a 30 cm fin will not work for 50 knot, but was not the issue.
I have other fins in 17, 18 , 19, 21, 23 cm. But I have not done any big test with them.
For your information, the rest of the world doesnt look like SP. If you think that spot is the reference for global speedsurfing you have no idea what your are talking about.
Off course there are other spots that have about the same superflat water, but they are remote and not where most sailors ca go every day. I have at least visited most speedspots in the world, but I am far from sailing there on a daily basis. Most people are happy to do 38 knots in their homespot.
you cannot take a 19 cm Slingshot on the upwind at karpathos... The problem is not really the chop, but the gusty wind that go from 20 to 40 knots in no time.
it as simple as that, I post some pics here, this is upwind and downwind we max around 39-43 knots. The most common fin is Tectonics F1 26 cm.
I prefer to be on small fins for speed sailing (obviously), but agree with posts above that it's not always the case when trying to make the most of conditions and it's good to know you can still go pretty quick on bigger fins. I've had a 44+ knot run at Sandy Point with a 28cm Venom and a just last month got a 41.86 knot 2-sec run in TAS with an iSonic 86, Reflex 6.2 and a new 34cm Venom. The 34 Venom felt fine and have been over 40 knots with that and previous Venom 34's many times. Not necessairly optimal, but you get a lot of runs in and can sail back up the course in chop and gusty conditions. I've got a speed board (46L proto) and two speed fins (18cm Strike, 21 Slingshot) that I've had for a while now and they are still waiting to be used!! Maybe one day 
Well, and also important, the area and shape of the fins is whats important.
Many people think the size of the sail has correlate with how deep the fins is. But its the size/design of the board that steer the choice of fin. Very much the boards OFO.
The fins in my little "test" have all small areas and are all very thin = low lift = good for speed even if the are up to 32 cm.
Personal, I find the c3 Slingshots a little to "dead". Thats OK when you sail close to a wall or a sandbank, but not nice 50 meter out.
I have sailed SP and toured around almost all part of Australia. I have at least 100 days on the sailboards in OZ. I am aware that SP could be really nasty upwind, I guess the current could make the chops one of the worst in the world. But it is possible to walk back. Same in spots other superflat spots, Egypt, Namibia, West Kirby, South of France etc.
But if you go out in the boiling water you know whats it like to take an assy BP Type-X or Slingshot 19 cm upwind in 1 meters chop... Almost survival!!
But there is also another thing to think about, spots like SP and WK has a shore on the other side. At lot of spots we sail with 40-50 knots of wind with the wast ocean, the further out you come, the harder it becomes with the short fins.. 100% pure survival.
I think I end this argue, now. As I mentioned I have all kind of fins, hundreds, and there are different fins (and boards) for all conditions.
Cheers ABQ
I am sure those who have sailed West Kirby can relate to this.
Its always the question,can the fin make a spin out or not.If you can work fins
without spin outs,you can work short fins with 22cm. The other have to work longer. Carbon or G10 ? Carbon is always faster,the reaction is shorter.If you
work 18 or 20cm for downwind,it works, but the way back is for the most not so easy. To change a Tuttle fin for the way back in Vollerwiek. Sometimes 4-6°Celsius
cold fingers, only 1 hour time for 5 runs or they look only on the 50knots+. The
speeder from Netherland are professionals ,they are good,our speeder make it with fun. I worked for Thomas Döblin a Tuttlefin with one screw. Downwind with 22cm ,back with I think with 28cm upright Bull Speed. At the moment is there ice.
But it is for me a great fun to help here our speeder and some speeder in Australia.
Wolfgang
Your right Andrew, off course 28-30 cm fins are not speed fins in that sense that they are made for breaking records. Neither are sails-sizes around 7,8 or 8,6.
You can argue if it is speed sailing to use those equipment, but a am sure that a lot of people or actually most people that use GPSes, dont go out every day to break any spot- or world record. Most days you sail for fun or compete with the other lads on the water, whether its a speedworldcup, the worldchampionship, Weymouth speedweek or just a great day. But if we take the last very big event "when everyone where there", we all sailed 7,0 or 7,8 almost the whole week with big 28-30-32 cm fins. But not everyone offcourse, Chris L had always shorter fins, So you might have a point...! (But most riders in the world are not Chris).
What I am trying to say is, apeedwindsurfing can be recordbreaking with a lovely Carbon Art SP40 and a 17 cm fin, but can also be break 38 knots with a 8,6 in Weymoth speedweek on a SP63 or a medium slalomboard. Same same but different.
PS I would love to try my new assy Black Project X-type 45 at Karpathos, either with help of a tender-boat or sail up-wind and change fins at the start.
PS2. With the current recession in Europe I think the only events left will be the recordbreakings. Hope to be at the right place at the right time this year!
PS3 Karpathos is not a very good speed spot, (short, gusty, choppy) but the combination of the "Mama Mia atmosphere" and 99% wind over 5-6 BFT makes it excellent for holidays and events. (And Chris has the real spot-record on a SP44)
I know this is arguable but speedsurfing to me are all the categories on GPS team challenge. Some of which you are better with bigger kit in lighter winds such as the Hour, or medium kit in medium winds such as the mile (of course this is location dependent as well). All of it is related to speed, where I wouldnt go for an hour with a Type S or even a mile unless confident in the tide state at Portland, but would still be speeding on a bigger Type R.
One day I will come to Karpathos Anders, I love greece and have a lot of fond memories from there when I was a youngster
