I have Carve 123 with stock fin and it really feels sloppy. I am about 175 to 180 lbs and sail on lake michigan. I use this board with 6.0 to 7.5 M sails - and can't seem to find the right fin for it. Any advise?
Can you be more specific about what you mean by "sloppy"?
Also, what is your level of ability, what wind strengths are you using the board in, where do you have the footstraps placed on the board, and what size is the stock fin?
>I have Carve 123 with stock fin and it really feels sloppy. I am >about 175 to 180 lbs and sail on lake michigan. I use this board with >6.0 to 7.5 M sails - and can't seem to find the right fin for it. Any >advise?
I'm quite a bit heavier at 215#. I found the stock fin unusable - besides which it hummed mercilessly.
My fin of choice for 7.5 sailing on my 123 is a gSport 46cm freeride fin. Smaller sails, usually a smaller fin works better - but sometimes I'll just leave the 46 in there on a 5.5 or 6.0 day just because I'm lazy.... and for the greater ease of water starting. -- PeteCresswell
> >I have Carve 123 with stock fin and it really feels sloppy. I am > >about 175 to 180 lbs and sail on lake michigan. I use this board with > >6.0 to 7.5 M sails - and can't seem to find the right fin for it. Any > >advise?
> I'm quite a bit heavier at 215#. I found the stock fin unusable > - besides which it hummed mercilessly.
> My fin of choice for 7.5 sailing on my 123 is a gSport 46cm > freeride fin. Smaller sails, usually a smaller fin works better > - but sometimes I'll just leave the 46 in there on a 5.5 or 6.0 > day just because I'm lazy.... and for the greater ease of water > starting. > -- > PeteCresswell
Hi Pete, Please explain for us how a 46 cm fin (vs the smaller 36-40 cm stock fin) makes it any easier to waterstart. I dont see how the size or type of fin has anything at all to do with waterstarting (as long as the fin is adequately sized for the board once you are up and planing. A weed fin that extends a long ways beyond the tail of the board can be somewhat "hazardous" for water starts, but how does the size make any difference? When do you use the fin during a waterstart?
>Please explain for us how a 46 cm fin (vs the smaller 36-40 cm stock >fin) makes it any easier to waterstart.
Geeze, the moment I wrote that, a little voice whispered in my ear "Yer trolling fer Roger..." -)
Traction. When I water start, I find a choice between pointing the board more-or-less downwind and not pushing on the fin much - in which case I make a short run downwind while getting up on the board; and keeping the board headed relatively upwind and putting much more pressure on the fin - so that I come out of the water basically on a close reach.
For Plan A, I'd guess fin size is irrelevant. It's what I use when running my itty-bitty wave fin on my Carve 144 or Aero 127 at low tide or in the local inlet.
For Plan B, more fin is better - at least at my body weight.
More fin ==> more traction. I know "traction" is the wrong word....but it's definitely not "lift" because there's little or no board speed involved. It's more of a barn door effect. Basically, the tail doesn't go sideways when I catch a sail full of air and start to get up on the board. -- PeteCresswell
Hi Tom, I have a Carve 121 and I'm 165 pounds. I like the GSport Carve 40 fin for my 7.4 when the wind is marginal. At your weight this fin would probably be perfect for your 7.5 powered up. For powered up 7.4 or light 6.5 I use a Finworks FS Pro 14". And for powered up 6.5 I like the GSport Freespeed 34. All these fins give the board a fast slippery feel, and don't spin out. I'm kind of a fin fanatic and you probably would not want 3 fins, but if you want only one fin for your 6.0 - 7.5 sail range I think you may be handicapping the board's performance at the low and high ends a bit. A two fin combo of the Carve 40 and Freespeed 34 would cover the board's range nicely enough I'd think. You could also substitute a Finworks FS Pro 15" for the Carve 40 if you want to have a gruntier low end fin for your big sail. It may top out a little in speed versus the Carve 40 but it will get you planing in lighter winds. And if you did choose this 15" fin then perhaps the second fin might be the GSport Freespeed 37 instead of the 34--at your weight you'd probably be fine with the 37 and your 6.0, plus if you have an in between sail (6.5?) it would mesh well. Hope this helps. Bob
> I have Carve 123 with stock fin and it really feels sloppy. I am > about 175 to 180 lbs and sail on lake michigan. I use this board with > 6.0 to 7.5 M sails - and can't seem to find the right fin for it. Any > advise?
On Sep 13, 6:56 am, Tom - Chicago <tob...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I have Carve 123 with stock fin and it really feels sloppy. I am > about 175 to 180 lbs and sail on lake michigan. I use this board with > 6.0 to 7.5 M sails - and can't seem to find the right fin for it. Any > advise?
> Tom - Chicago
I have a Carve 121 that I have had for a couple of years and had similar issues with mine. The stock fin was weak and underpowered and probably too small for the board. I don't have a collection of Tuttle fins to experiment with nor do I have any friends who have bigger fins that I could try. So, I decided to get the same fin I have had with my other boards but in a bigger size. I bought a Finworks FS in a 14" and it made a huge difference in the overall performance and fun factor of my 121. Great bite, no spin out and sails great overpowered up. My primary size sail for my 121 is a 6.5 and on occasion a 7.0 and a 14" works good for those sizes in powered conditions. I would guess that a FS in a 15" would work good as well and maybe a bit more power on the low end. Anyway, this was a good choice for me.
> I have a Carve 121 that I have had for a couple of years and had > similar issues with mine. The stock fin was weak and underpowered and > probably too small for the board. I don't have a collection of Tuttle > fins to experiment with nor do I have any friends who have bigger fins > that I could try. So, I decided to get the same fin I have had with my > other boards but in a bigger size. I bought a Finworks FS in a 14" and > it made a huge difference in the overall performance and fun factor of > my 121. Great bite, no spin out and sails great overpowered up. My > primary size sail for my 121 is a 6.5 and on occasion a 7.0 and a 14" > works good for those sizes in powered conditions. I would guess that a > FS in a 15" would work good as well and maybe a bit more power on the > low end. Anyway, this was a good choice for me.
> > I have a Carve 121 that I have had for a couple of years and had > > similar issues with mine. The stock fin was weak and underpowered and > > probably too small for the board. I don't have a collection of Tuttle > > fins to experiment with nor do I have any friends who have bigger fins > > that I could try. So, I decided to get the same fin I have had with my > > other boards but in a bigger size. I bought a Finworks FS in a 14" and > > it made a huge difference in the overall performance and fun factor of > > my 121. Great bite, no spin out and sails great overpowered up. My > > primary size sail for my 121 is a 6.5 and on occasion a 7.0 and a 14" > > works good for those sizes in powered conditions. I would guess that a > > FS in a 15" would work good as well and maybe a bit more power on the > > low end. Anyway, this was a good choice for me.- Hide quoted text -
> - Show quoted text -
I weigh around 200# and I use my 121 about 20% of the time so I am not that concerned about getting a lot of range out of it so bigger fins and bigger sails is not in the cards for me. I need a lot of upper wind range as the board is primarially used when it is gusty so a typical 121 day for me would be wind in the 15-25 range, 17 or so average and some lulls and bigger gusts thrown in and the board/fin works great when things suddenly pick up maybe late in the day and you just want to finish the day out without re rigging. Thursday was a day like this, I showed up at our site and the wind was 18-28 and a 22 or so average. I rigged a 5.4 and was doing quite well on my Kombat 105. Then the wind started to drop and had to rerig or quit. I rigged my 121 with a 6.5 Hot sails Fluid and was powered decently and fun. Then the wind came back in the 18-30 range and I was over powered so I came in and maxed the DH and added some OH and went back out to finish the session. Most of the others rerigged to 5.0-5.5's and were lit. I was still OPed but under control. No tail walking, little spinout and but looking for holes to jibe in. Anyway, survived pretty good instead of quitting or re rigging late. Works for me
> I have Carve 123 with stock fin and it really feels sloppy. I am > about 175 to 180 lbs and sail on lake michigan. I use this board with > 6.0 to 7.5 M sails - and can't seem to find the right fin for it. Any > advise?
> Thanks to all for your suggestions - I'm now out fin shopping!
> Tom - Chicago
> On Sep 13, 8:56 am, Tom - Chicago <tob...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I have Carve 123 with stock fin and it really feels sloppy. I am > > about 175 to 180 lbs and sail on lake michigan. I use this board with > > 6.0 to 7.5 M sails - and can't seem to find the right fin for it. Any > > advise?
> > Tom - Chicago- Hide quoted text -
> - Show quoted text -
I just found this discussion, and find it interesting.
I've had similar experiences with My Carve 122. II weight 165 and sail it with 6.0 and 7.5 sails, and I've been generally disappointed with its performance, finding it slow and unresponsive in anything but overpowered conditions.
It appears that the problem may be with the stock fin, which, on one hand, is a good thing, because I can spend a few hundred $, buy one or more new fins and have a board which performs the way it is supposed to. But that leads to a bigger question:
Why would Starboard sell a board with a stock fin which, by all accounts, is inadequate, and needs to be replaced in order to achieve optimal performance?
Is Starboard trying to keep the price of a new board artificially low, by fitting it with a cut rate fin? If so, it would appear to be at the expense of long term user loyalty. Is this practice commmon to all/most board manufacturers? I know there is a large selection of "aftermarket" fines, aimed at improving/fine tuning board performance, but one would hope the stock fins would at least prove adequate under typical conditions.
Well, I have an opinion, and an analogy. Why would Ford, or Chevy, or ........... put tires on a car that do not provide the best possible performance. They're making a cost/performance trade off. What's an "artificially low price?" Most of the boards I've purchased don't come with a fin, but the few that did, needed to have the fin replaced for better performance. They did work with the supplied fin, just not as well as with an aftermarket. Further, I know how I want a fin to react, and the board to feel, you may want it to do something different. A generic fin isn't going to to match up directly with you unless you're a generic windsurfer. I like fins that are "slashy", but you might hate my fins because they don't plane up early nor trim out for straight line speed.
> I just found this discussion, and find it interesting.
> I've had similar experiences with My Carve 122. II weight 165 and > sail it with 6.0 and 7.5 sails, and I've been generally disappointed > with its performance, finding it slow and unresponsive in anything but > overpowered conditions.
> It appears that the problem may be with the stock fin, which, on one > hand, is a good thing, because I can spend a few hundred $, buy one or > more new fins and have a board which performs the way it is supposed > to. But that leads to a bigger question:
> Why would Starboard sell a board with a stock fin which, by all > accounts, is inadequate, and needs to be replaced in order to achieve > optimal performance?
> Is Starboard trying to keep the price of a new board artificially low, > by fitting it with a cut rate fin? If so, it would appear to be at > the expense of long term user loyalty. Is this practice commmon to > all/most board manufacturers? I know there is a large selection of > "aftermarket" fines, aimed at improving/fine tuning board performance, > but one would hope the stock fins would at least prove adequate under > typical conditions.
I agree that the supplied fin should be adequate for average conditions. In my experience this is achieved around half the time. The failures come about because of incorrect sizing (due to market trends...e.g. a trend toward smaller fins) or poor fin design which causes spin-out problems and excess drag. I'd actually prefer if a new board came with no fin at all, or the option to save some $ by not taking the fin. The fin that came with my Carve 121 was actually one of the better manufacturer supplied fins I've received, meaning it didn't have spin-out problems and seemed to fit the center of the board's wind range well. But even so, it did not compare to the slippery fast feel I get with a FinWorks or Gsport fin. I like the tires analogy that Craig mentioned. You can stay in the generic category and maybe ignorance is bliss (and less costly), but If windsurfing is your passion, why settle for generic? Plus, the range of any board is maximized by changing the fin for sail size and conditions and personal preference. It's great to be able to keep the same sail when the wind comes up by just selecting a smaller fin. A properly trimmed sail can handle way more wind range than a board that is handicapped by only one fin. Bob
. I'd prefer if boards came with no fin since I've built up an aftermarket selection that is much better than anything that might come with a new board.
> I've had similar experiences with My Carve 122. II weight 165 and > sail it with 6.0 and 7.5 sails, and I've been generally disappointed > with its performance, finding it slow and unresponsive in anything but > overpowered conditions.
> It appears that the problem may be with the stock fin, which, on one > hand, is a good thing, because I can spend a few hundred $, buy one or > more new fins and have a board which performs the way it is supposed > to. But that leads to a bigger question:
> Why would Starboard sell a board with a stock fin which, by all > accounts, is inadequate, and needs to be replaced in order to achieve > optimal performance?
> Is Starboard trying to keep the price of a new board artificially low, > by fitting it with a cut rate fin? If so, it would appear to be at > the expense of long term user loyalty. Is this practice commmon to > all/most board manufacturers? I know there is a large selection of > "aftermarket" fines, aimed at improving/fine tuning board performance, > but one would hope the stock fins would at least prove adequate under > typical conditions.
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