I wont have any credibility from my first few hundred posts I guess from reading all of the above. I asked a similar question on Boards forums a while back.

I have a drake 36cm freeslalom swift that came with my kode, it spins out like no other fin. I even tried sailing a 6.5 gator with the said fin and then a 28 select s09 - so huge difference in size, in slight chop as well. Guess which span out and which didnt!

This lead me to asking a similar question but with respect to the fins, and from a bit of research (and an engineering degree to fall back on for understanding) I understood that a polished surface would not release the water as quickly as a 'matt' surface due to the surface tension created from the polish creating more of a vacuum. I guess there are too many variables to prove this or otherwise, and it would be different for salt/fresh water anyway.

While I was sanding down the said fin to get rid of all the paint and try to give it some flex in the end I was listening to a few science podcasts, one of which talked about golfball design.........
Now, the little dimples in golfballs allow them to fly faster and further as they create less drag by creating turbulence behind them, while keeping a laminar flow on their body. Also someone mentioned to me about humpback whale fins that do the same thing yet are very efficient. AND we started to put little things on the tips of airplane wings to also create turbulent flow - which means it creates less turbulence on the actual wing.......would these little things perhaps allow us windsurfers to take the speed title back I wonder?

After all this the fin still bloody spins out! I am now going to dig out some polish and see if that stops it.

redsurfbus said...

I wont have any credibility from my first few hundred posts I guess from reading all of the above. I asked a similar question on Boards forums a while back.

I have a drake 36cm freeslalom swift that came with my kode, it spins out like no other fin. I even tried sailing a 6.5 gator with the said fin and then a 28 select s09 - so huge difference in size, in slight chop as well. Guess which span out and which didnt!

This lead me to asking a similar question but with respect to the fins, and from a bit of research (and an engineering degree to fall back on for understanding) I understood that a polished surface would not release the water as quickly as a 'matt' surface due to the surface tension created from the polish creating more of a vacuum. I guess there are too many variables to prove this or otherwise, and it would be different for salt/fresh water anyway.

While I was sanding down the said fin to get rid of all the paint and try to give it some flex in the end I was listening to a few science podcasts, one of which talked about golfball design.........
Now, the little dimples in golfballs allow them to fly faster and further as they create less drag by creating turbulence behind them, while keeping a laminar flow on their body. Also someone mentioned to me about humpback whale fins that do the same thing yet are very efficient. AND we started to put little things on the tips of airplane wings to also create turbulent flow - which means it creates less turbulence on the actual wing.......would these little things perhaps allow us windsurfers to take the speed title back I wonder?

After all this the fin still bloody spins out! I am now going to dig out some polish and see if that stops it.

the drake freeslalom swift is the worst fin in the world i got a futura and they are the stock fins supplied they are slow, spin out easily ,dont point upwind. they are very strange in their design as they are very wide at the base, extremely thick throughout their length and very stiff. the best place for a drake freeslalom swift is the incinerator!!! in my personal opinion. get an mfc sl2 there pretty good