Hi Guys.
Thinking about trying X-Wave fin in size 28 - 30cm in my 105 Freewave board. Wonder if anyone had any experience and noticed anything different comparing to say MFC Freewave in same size.
www.mauiultrafins.shop/X-Wave_1
I don't have any experience with MUFs X fins in the Single fin mode. In Twin and Thuster I did have some experience. It made my twin much faster and slashy and more nervous. Used 17cm. I did liked it. Then had almost no effect when I tried 3 MUF X-Fins in my Thruster. So my bad guess is maybe they have more pronounced effect with less fins so to speak but guessing.
What's your experience with a Single X-Wave?
Thanks mates.
Hola! Used to run it in my 110 freewave board. I think it was 32cm. I liked it, has this upright profile that brings good speed but still jibes nicely. Knocked at least one of these off on a rock. Broke nicely where the bolt goes through, without damaging the box or the board.
No experience with MFC freewave, but considering similar shapes I have used could be bit better grip but a tad bit slower? For my 99kg I find the less flexible fins get me going earlier and getting better top speeds.
Been using smaller X-Waves in twin and quad a lot. Best speed I have found and good upwind ability, sometimes too loose though.
As a bit of a fin nut, I am a huge fan of the X-Wave fins, and to your question, I recently did some side-by-side testing against the latest MFC Freewave fins. I spent a lot of time on Maui with Rick Henke who started Maui Ultra-Fins there back in the 1990s. Rick was a retired aeronautical engineer from Germany who did not think much of the windsurf fins of that era so he started designing his own. His first prototypes were not great but eventually evolved to the X-Wave fins which are fantastic.
I have been using a 24 cm X-Wave on my 89-liter custom Thommen FreeWave for years. I tried a dozen different fins on that board over the years and none were as good as the X-Wave which worked on that board with sail sizes from 3.4 up to 5.9. The fins are fast, turn better than most single-fin wave fins, and have a wide wind-range due to the wide chord area at the base which gives great low-end and the very small tip area which maintains great control when over-powered in 30 mph winds.
I recently lucked into buying a quiver of JP Freestyle Wave boards from 2016 that had never been used. The 77, 85, and 102 all came with the JP Freewave fins of that time that were exact copies of the MUF X-Wave fins. This copying of his fins had really pissed off Rick Henke at the time. A few years after 2016, JP stopped using the copies of the X-Wave fins which I assume was because Rick went after them.
Anyway, here are my results of fin testing on the JP Freestyle Wave boards. The 85 came with a 23 cm and the 102 came with a 27, both fin sizes fit perfectly with those boards. I run a 5.9 sail on the 102 and 4.7 to 5.3 on the 85. I first tested the board/fin combos with and without the thrusters that came with the boards. Both boards planed the same with or without thrusters, were substantially faster without the thrusters, and turned much better on down-the-line waves without the thrusters. The boards surfed okay with the thrusters if I went to a much smaller center fin but then I lost a lot of low-end planing and top-end speed.
I then picked up a set of MFC Freewave fins and put those on the JP boards to compare with the X-Wave fins. The X-Waves had a better low-end due to the extra chord width in the base area, the top-end speeds and turning felt similar, but the biggest difference was how often the MFCs would lose traction and spin out at top speeds in rough water. X-Waves never lose traction or spin-out, but when powered up in rough water, the MFCs would experience varying degrees of stall on a regular basis. I am now happily running X-Waves on my Custom Thommen board and JP copies of the X-Wave on all my JP Freestyle Wave Boards without the supplied thrusters.
Wonder if people prefer MUFs X-Wave/X-Ride in Carbon or G10? I mean apart from obvious that G10 will last longer. Performance-wise..? They have those red fins now too.... hmm...
Haha, I remember I once got BlackProject 28/30cm G10 single wave fin and it was so heavy it felt like it was made from lead. Some G10s are fairly light though.. like older versions of MFC Freewaves.
If it's a freewave board with a powerbox it would very likely ride much better with the fin moved further forward, which you can achieve with the new MFC fin.
mfchawaii.com/eu/shop/windsurf/fins/freewave/freewave-single-fin-2024/
May be a good idea. What's your experience using that MFC 2024 fin? Wonder if MUF can produce similar forward-moved PB fins?
Select to expand quoteleto said..
May be a good idea. What's your experience using that MFC 2024 fin? Wonder if MUF can produce similar forward-moved PB fins?
I've asked for forward moved PB fins from different fin companies at various times over the last 6 years. Either didn't get a response or got a "sorry we're too busy doing our own prototyping to do a custom product". Glad to see MFC has brought this out now. If it sells well other companies may copy them.
Or the board manufacturers can just copy Starboard and put the finbox in the right place to begin with.
Wonder if an average advanced windsurfer would feel any big difference using these forward-moved powerbox fins? Maybe simple hype?
I tried a couple of different sizes of the MFC forward mounted powerbox freewave fins in my 77 and 85 liter JP Freestyle Wave boards. I found the fins to be more prone to spinout at speed through chop and they did not seem to turn as well on a wave. I went back to the JP copy of the MUF X-waves that came with the boards and am much happier. Just my experience after a few days of swapping fins.
A fin that size. Clearly you don't want to wave ride with it. As the x-wave is already more upright there is no need to move it forward. I used to ride them a lot. The idea behind them made totally sense to me. As a physicist I like science approaches. Theses MUF fins are nice for blasting but for wave riding much to sensitive. I struggled with my wave riding until I changed the regular MFC fins. It was the best choice ever to change. They are in theory!!! great fins. But in practice they are a little bit over engineered, i.e. high performance. They are not forgiving enough. With profiles it is always "performance" vs. "controllability". And we mere mortal windsurfers usually need more control than performance. As to the MFC Freewave. They are not good fins. Decide to go to a "Freemove" fin at that size anyway. I am not a big fan of this "freewave" idea. Wether it is "wave" or "blasting". Wether it is 3 fins 3 straps or 1 fin 4 straps. Everything between is a step backwards.
So for blasting for say 105L freewave (with thruster option which you may/may not use) would you choose 26cm or 28cm X-Wave as a single and why?
I think the answer of 26 or 28 would depend on sail size, wind strength, and whether you are going to add thrusters. I only use my 102-liter Freewave board in winds under 20 mph with a 5.9 wave sail (with winds over 20 mph, I would go to one of my smaller boards and sails). For light-wind blasting on the 102, I prefer my 28 cm X-Wave without thrusters. If there is good surf over 6 feet, I would switch to my 24 or 26 X-Wave with thrusters on the 102 (or switch to my new 99-liter Goya Thruster waveboard).
I have a 28 MUF X-Wave that I use on 95 to 105 lts. freewave boards. In my view, that's a totally different fin compared to the classic MFC Freewave 28 I also own. The MUF shows great pointing qualities, which means you can stay upwind easier and so make it easier to choose your position expecially in gusty or lightish winds. Still it is quite manouvrable and a great jiber. I prefer to fit the MFC only in higher winds and maxed out conditions, due to the slippery nature of it: it's almost like dropping one sail size. I mean the MFC is hugely overrated and not nearly worth its price. Maybe my opinion would be different in true waveriding conditions.
In order to achieve even better planing and pointing qualities, I also got me a 30 cms Tribal Kruze that I love to use with my 104 lts RRD PowerMove and 5.7 Alchemy in the lighter stuff, as the combo is an instant planer as soon as any ripples appear on the water surface.
To sum it up in my experience the MUF is a great compromise between turning qualities and cruising for freewave boards in bump-and-jump/small waves conditions.
