Hi,
I sail in lake (Southern NSW) with quite a few sandbanks (NO weed problem) and am looking for options to increase the amount of the 'lake' I have access to by a getting shorter fin (say a max fin depth of 28cm).
I have read about 'weed fins' and although I don't have a problem with weed (just depth) I wonder if that is what I should get....
I currently sail a Fanatic Shark 135 ltr quite comfortably and wind conditions usually mean I am using 6.5 mtr sails.
The rake of a weed fin gives you extra length without adding extra depth. so they're good for shallow water as well as weed.
Check out the Unifiber Anti-weed Lessacher fins or Unifibre's Shallow Rider. Brilliant fins!! I think, with that size board/sail, you shouldn't go much shorter than 28cm though. But these fins are quite powerful so if you're light on your back foot and it's not massively choppy, you should get away with a 26cm. I think I saw one of these second hand (or cheap new) on Seabreeze only a few days ago.
There are other brands around too, like Black Project and MxR. I really like both these brands too.
Also, if you buy something and find you're still hitting the bottom, but you're not spinning out then you can easily cut it down 2-4cm. Plenty of folks cut fins down (including me). G10 is very easy to sand.
Touching the sand with your fin at speed can result in a painful dismount.
weed fins will give you a little more warning than a pointer before you go over the handlebars.
Thinking outside of the box...It may be an option to take up Freestyle. They use smaller fins for their tricks.
Hi Alain, I've got a similar issue where I sail. My board came with a 56cm fin, I tried a shorter 42cm fin and at low speed it just didn't have the grip so I've just bought a Tru Ames Stubbie fin (38cm) that has the same surface area as my 56cm fin but our wind has just ran out so I can't tell you how it goes yet. The guys I sail with do a couple of things, some use big/broad weed fins and another guy gets a local board builder to change his slalom type boards over to tri fins to get multiple shorter fins giving a large total surface area. Tekknosport make a broad, shallow water fin in a few different lengths too but I ended up going with the Stubbie.
nobody is going to suggest a Delta?
I am not a freeride person but seems many use them...
The following is a topic on Seabreeze about the freeDelta RE fin
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/Review/Fins-Black-Project-FreeDelta-Fins/
