weed fins AGAIN!!!

It seems to me that the reason it keeps coming up is that we've been asking fin companies to make a "rigid" weedie for a while now, only to receive a fin that flexes over your knee to a degree where you may as well throw it in with the rest of the "don't work" fins that will later be cut down to suit. At around 200 to 250 bucks a fin most people get the 's on and start doing thier own.
I recently had a chat with a gpstc member who showed me Vector's new weedie, which was exactly what I would describe as "what I ordered in the first place".
I'm going to give them a go, because THAT'S what I wanted, a weedie with bugger all flex. Not a larger fin that's cost me 250 bucks and another 6 hrs to reshape then rebox.
Well that feels better..

Totally agree with Pepe. Go with Vector!! Jesper is the only person I know of that has spent considerable time focusing on developing a slalom orientated weedie. I'm not going to tell you what weedies I've found to be rubbish, but vector have got so many things right. They are developed from scratch AS A WEEDIE!! Most companies just just re-box a pointer at 45 deg and charge top dollar. This attitude has given weedies a bad reputation.

The 2 stand out performers that ditch bad weed are the Vectors and Curtis/Lockwood. Vector are available in 30 to 44. I've sailed the 34 with a 7.0 and 7.8 on 55w & 68w and found it to perform really well. This is boxed at 40 deg and handled the worst weed without issues. Weedies don't have to be boxed at 45 deg. The angle depends on the length. There has been a lot of work done recently to determine angles to length ratio.

For fins smaller than 30, you can't go past the Curtis/Lockwood. Available in 23 and 26. First batch has just been made and everyone thats got one is pleased with how they perform. Well worth a look!!

I christened a 30 cm Maui ultra slalom weed yesterday on my futura 101 with a 7.0 RS slalom and liked it a lot, stiff grippy and reasonably quick. I think a 32 would be a little better as I thought the board was a bit stuck and would benefit from the extra power.
I also have a 38 and a 46 in that style, 38 for my 7.8 on my futura 101 or 122 depending on the day and the 46 for my 8.6 on the 122, the46 works awesome have not had a chance to try the 38 yet.
was using flying objects 34cm for years which did well, i do not like the look of the new flying objects so have not tried them.
found the jp 36 too thin so spun out a fair bit.
Also have a 28 cm lessacher chameleon which is grippy and fast for the speed stuff but a bit lacking getting you back to the top of the speed run

i am using 2 customs , one Byron mc made , speed weed 25 , great fin . cut down G10 caveman ,
The other is a 32 100% carbon , thick and stiff as ***k !!!! i use it from 8.5 to 6.6 , a friend made it for me who is a pro carbon fibre dude , will post a couple of pics tomorrow

As Tomas said, If you just grab a pointer and rebox it at 45 degrees the percentage of thickness over the chord (flowline) is reduced dramatically. You may start with a percentage of 9, then rake it over to 40-45 degrees and the percentage then becomes, with the new flowline, around 5, which is useless.

Greg, is that a VH or VF Valiant in the background? I used to have a VH sedan till it died. I then got a couple of two door Valiants, on was a Hardtop and the other a Charger.

The VH sedan a pretty good windsurfing car as you could fit a fair bit of stuff in it and the boot plus the boot was pretty good to sit on when looking out over the water.

Good fins by the way.

since byron done his foot hes gone carbon crazy,,... has been pumping out modified carbon fins/booms .. used a 19cm weedie he made this weeknd on my lil speed board and a 5.2m .. spun out a few times when underpowered..as to be expected .. but once powered up and moveing felt great .. i wont want to give it back

It is interesting and informative to read the different views on the weed fins.

One thing most is talking about is that they need to be very rigid so you don't get spin outs or having this wobbly feeling.

I import the Vector Fins for Australia and has been involved with the development for 8 years.

Here is some insight on what went into making the Vector Slalom Weed range,,

We developed a Slalom Weed fin at Vector over 1 year with lots of different concepts tested out.

Yes we did try to rake back the normal slalom fins, but was never happy with the outcome. They did get rid of seaweed but performance was lacking. To soft, to many spin outs, to much bag leg pressure.

We also experimented a lot with the width of the base of the fin and in different positions as forward (overlapping on the board).

Our aim was to make them as rigid as possible as a fin sitting so far back (with the rake) is very sensitive to flex. We also wanted them super slippery with high performance. We also wanted a fin you could push more without spin outs. So this meant a redesigned foil section taking the rake and wider base of the fin into consideration.

On our testing for the best rake we found that 40 degree increased performance quite a lot and still got rid of seaweed powered up on your gear.

We do know if the water is thick of weed and you are semi planing then a 45 degree is for sure better.

But we went for max performance and getting rid of 98% of the seaweed.
From our feedback and own testing we are very happy with the results...

Current range is from 30-44cm
Vector Speed Weed is overlapping from 21-27cm


Cheers

Jesper

anyone tried the MU delta slaloms?

I was hoping it might be a good all round fin for slalom and weed.

Any thoughts?

I've sailed the delta weed 21 to 27. The 27 I sailed with a 7.0 on 55 w board on 1 m high chop quiet comfortably. Super slippery, but with the wide base holds sweet. 23 with 6.2 / 21 with 6.2 and 5.6 on a 44 w s-board. The first lot that came out were not as wide. This has been corrected. I now use them as a substitute for smaller slalom weedies

I am glade the boys like my fins. I did re-shape the profile a bit so the profile at 45 deg is beter suited.
Greg did 34.5 knots on it and I have done 37.5 knots they are not slow. But I do recon the vectors look and sound good. Just when money tight & you have left over fins and broken foot = time to make weed fin.

I have used the Choc weedspeed 26 & the full carbon lessacher Duo Speed Weed in 22 & 24 All are execellent, & a lessacher Duo Cut Weed in 36 best big weedie I have ever used My LeadingEde carbon 32 weedie is dam good but cant get them any more. So if you are looking for larger stiff fins the lessacher Duo Cut Weed in 36 would be hard to beat. they all crap all over the select ones. I belive the Black Project fins perform quite well, but it also get down to what sort of weed you are contending with. All the Guys who use the Vector & Lockwood are all (mostly) GPS speed sailors. So it depends what type of sailing you do EDIT:( oh durr this is posted in the GPS fourm) ignore the last bit