Who remembers the 80's

i bought my knee board in 1985 and it came with a winged keel fin, I wonder if this would have an effect on a SUP it did on the knee board!
Now of course they make them bigger and longer so your board actually leaves the water, who would have thought it would come to this???

Unfortunately I have to say that I not only remember the 80's but the 70's and a good bit of the 60's too.

I had several surfs with Shane Horan in the early 80's at a place called Broulee in the NSW south coast. He was living an alternate lifestyale for a while with a bunch of other dudes. Nice guy and I clearly remember that he could make a very average wave look very good.

Those winged keels were also popular on longboards around 88 through the early 90's. A couple of guys in the Noosa Mal club back then used them with a reasonable amount of success. One Californian guy used them on both 8' and 9' mals.

Plenty of of stories from back then and lots of history to tell.

ET.

I've tried it and the drag and performance drop is noticeable.. The only good thing that I can see about these fins is that they are safer.

eighties.


Im trying to remember last week

Oh the 80's bless.


Sups weren't around in those good old days

HGfish said : Remember these were ridden as single fins back then and boards didn't have the 'lift' that a thruster's side fins provides. Against modern gear it will seem seem less than.

Completely true, HGfish

Cheyne did explain to me what McCoy said to him before that the winglet from Ben Lexon's brilliant design has to work with rail . So, Mc Coy made a very flat bottom very flush with water level to make work the whole thing, board and fin. The whole system work when it goes fast, just planning over with just the fin having pressure on water

I reckon this would work on a SUP . I all ready have the fin made from stiff fiberglass which is very unique .

I have a production Starfin, and it worked interestingly with SUPs: unlike prone surfing, the leash is less in the water while waiting so it doesnt tangle easily in it like for prone surfing

The winglets are not for lift (otherwise they would be horizontal), they are here to remedy the main drawbacks of single fins: the fact that they lose grip when the board is banked on the rail: with the starfin, when fully on rail, a winglet is vertical in the water and providing proper traction. That's why they worked on sailboats (and they were profiled to provide downwards lift)

"Because the yacht is heeled over when sailing upwind the leeward foil is closer to vertical and provides additional side force, reducing the leeway angle, hence making the boat sail upwind more efficiently. Winged keels are generally found on high performance sailboats, if they are not prohibited by class rules. They are only of benefit for yachts sailing upwind where stability and the ability to produce side force are important and if the draft is limited by the class rule. Downwind the extra skin friction drag is a hindrance."

On my SUP, it provided a very snappy ride, due to its single point of pivot and high leverage, the board pivoted on a dime, but controlled curves were very hard to perform. Plus it was very sensitive to tail rocker (if the tail rocker didnt match the winglet angle, it would drag a lot).

I guess an interesting variation could be side fins curved outwards: the opposite of the existing design which does not seem logical, as the tip will become horizontal, thus inefficient, when banking...

We need Roy.

While we are speaking of the starfin... Geoff McCoy doesnt seem to like them... despite Cheyne popularizing the McCoy Lazor Zap + Starfin...

www.mccoysurfboards.com/mccoy-fins

"McCoy Ben Lexcen Fin Disclaimer This statement is to inform people that the Ben Lexcen designed keel fin is in no way my fin of choice. I do not recommend it to be used in any of my Geoff McCoy designed surfboards. Never have I had any involvement with the design and I certainly have not and do not recommend its use in a surfboard. The original Lazor Zap fin is a refined Dolphin fin design. In recent years I have developed and recommend my Gull Wing fin."

I saw a bloke surfing beautifully on a board in Manly a few months ago. He was drawing unusual lines but surfing with a nice style and good glide/flow.

I asked for a look at his board when he came in (followed him down the beach like a weirdo) and he showed me enthusiastically his winged keel fin. The board he was riding had a helluva lot of vee in it which seemed to work well with the fin.

I wonder what bottom Cheyne Horan's boards had?

There are these also:

finsciences.com/


I remember in the early 90s there were all sorts of crazy fin designs in Windsurfing.
I'm still waiting for the Canard fore fin to make a comeback.
So huge at one stage.

In the end, I think it was figured out that the foil shape made much more difference than the plan shape.
A plain fin with a nice foil will work better than any gimmicky plan shape.
However different plan shapes are much easier to sell.

Small changes in foil shape on the fin can make a bigger difference than changes in plan shape.
For example sanding a flat spot on the side of the fin can really effect it.

A windsurfer is moving faster than a SUP board, so differences in fins is less subtle.