F2 Xantos 295 and Fin advice

Naishman

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Jun 4, 1996, 3:00:00 AM6/4/96

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Just got back from a week in Hatteras and sailed ten hours every day.
Couldn't be better. I have been having problems with My Xantos 295 and
the 15 inch blade fin that came with it. When I reach higher speeds the
fin would lift. The solution was to buy a smaller fin, but then I lost
upwind ability big time. That was not all. When this fin spun out, I
could not regain until I stopped or fell. I tried everything to stop the
spin out but never could.

Anyway, while in Cape Hatteras, I had to buy a weed fin. I finally
decided on a 13.5" True Ames Blade Weed. This fin looke huge and I was
afraid after spending the money this would make the board rail up on me.
This fin was the best thing I could have done. I was sailing with my 5.0
moving faster than I ever have and the board was solid and stable. carves
were tight, and going up wind was better than the stock 15" concrete wave
fin that came with the board.

My question is why? everyone tells me weed fins are not good, but as far
as I am concerned, I will leave this fin on the board and always sail with
it. I have never enjoyed sailing this board as much. Your feedback on
this puzzle would be great.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Just give me wind and I will sail.

Jonathan M Richardson

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Jun 5, 1996, 3:00:00 AM6/5/96

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Naishman (nais...@aol.com) wrote:

: Anyway, while in Cape Hatteras, I had to buy a weed fin. I finally

: decided on a 13.5" True Ames Blade Weed.

I have had the same experience with any number of different boards.
The weed fins work surprisingly well! They only suffer in upwind
ability and then only slightly.

It should be said that board and fin design has been driven largely by
racers. Last summer I attended clinics by Gebhart and Boyd. Gebhart
showed off his racing fin wallet which contained G-10 pointer fins in
1 cm length increments. Everyone was amazed that he could select a fin
at all from all the choices. Then someone asked what fin he used when
he was doing "normal" sailing (i.e. bump and jump). He pulled out a
swept-back, relatively-small fiberglass fin, saying "this is all you
need." Similarly, Boyd has put his seal of approval on a swept-back
bump-and-jump find which I have used and which is great.

The lesson to learn is that pointers are for straight-out speed and
upwind ability and that's all. If you want better overall performance,
use a more swept-back fin.

-Jonathan.

USWA Member #US233
Boards: Seatrend 9'0" and 8'6", Mistral One Design
Sails: Waddell
Spars: Fiberspar

Don Ledford

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Jun 5, 1996, 3:00:00 AM6/5/96

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Naishman (nais...@aol.com) wrote:
: ... I have been having problems with My Xantos 295 and
: the 15 inch blade fin that came with it. ...

I have a Xantos 310 and an Axxis 278. I don't use the stock F2 fins
which came with my boards - I've been building a "quiver" of fins which I've
come to believe are as important as sails.

Here's my list:

True Ames 17.5" great fin - 7.0+ on the 310
Finworks Pro 420 also good, but now redundant with the 17.5"
Finworks Pro 375 Matches my 7.0m2 North Prisma on the 310
Finworks Wing 360 5.0 - 6.0
Finworks Wing 310 4.0 - 5.0
2 smaller wave/bump and jump fins which I hardly get to use
(One of these is a stock F2 fin, but looks like it will work ok.)

Fins make a huge difference.

- Don Ledford led...@serv.net

mcki...@adcae1.comm.mot.com

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Jun 5, 1996, 3:00:00 AM6/5/96

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In article f...@newsbf02.news.aol.com, nais...@aol.com (Naishman) writes:
>Just got back from a week in Hatteras and sailed ten hours every day.
>Couldn't be better. I have been having problems with My Xantos 295 and
>the 15 inch blade fin that came with it. When I reach higher speeds the
>fin would lift. The solution was to buy a smaller fin, but then I lost
>upwind ability big time. That was not all. When this fin spun out, I
>could not regain until I stopped or fell. I tried everything to stop the
>spin out but never could.
>

>Anyway, while in Cape Hatteras, I had to buy a weed fin. I finally

>decided on a 13.5" True Ames Blade Weed. This fin looke huge and I was
>afraid after spending the money this would make the board rail up on me.
>This fin was the best thing I could have done. I was sailing with my 5.0
>moving faster than I ever have and the board was solid and stable. carves
>were tight, and going up wind was better than the stock 15" concrete wave
>fin that came with the board.
>
>My question is why? everyone tells me weed fins are not good, but as far
>as I am concerned, I will leave this fin on the board and always sail with
>it. I have never enjoyed sailing this board as much. Your feedback on
>this puzzle would be great.
>*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
>Just give me wind and I will sail.

What is your weight and size for comparison??

Naishman

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Jun 7, 1996, 3:00:00 AM6/7/96

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Thanks for the response. My weight is 165 pounds and I am 6' tall. I was
sailing my F2 Xantos 295, 125 liter board, from sail size 6.8 down to a
5.0.

Look forward to your thoughts.

Wilzone

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Jun 9, 1996, 3:00:00 AM6/9/96

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The answer is that Concrete wave makes about the worst fins in the world.
If your fin isn't foiled right, it will spin and rail and fail to go
upwind. Hey, if you like your weed fin, just keep using it!