Inside Whale Bay, Raglan.

[Roy Stewart]

There was a comp on at the point so we nipped around to Whale Bay to play around in the high tide inside section.

We've also been making some new fins:

[jaffa1949]

Haven't seen you in this forum for a while Roy, nice videoThe other guy in the shots wearing a helmet, is he on one of your boards too?
I've been reading your posts on 3D printing those fins, whale tubercles and all, then the titanium model, every success for those Roy.

[Roy Stewart]

Thanks Jaffa, yes the other helmet contains one of my sons, both James and Tristan were out with me that day. James has been surfing since he was a nipper but had an injury which kept him out of the water for a few years. his younger brother Tristan shows promise he's still at the novice stage. Here are some of their rides from the same session, straight lining it of course.

The fins are proving to be a lot of fun, and are quite popular in a small way. We can more or less make any shape imaginable so if you get the urge to try something from conservative to way out please let me know and we'll dial 'em up for you. We are doing standard single fin box tabes and futures, but not fcs except for small fins. The fins came about as I wanted some for some foam and glass boards we have coming up in the 6 to 8ft range. Time to go shortboarding ( or maybe mid lengthing) again soon.

[jaffa1949]

Nice, your "boys" look to be fit young men.

Your brief on what you do, has me interested in one particular pair of fins.
I'm riding a 9ft Outer Island Longboard which suits how I surf really well it had specific set of channels which function at their best with the smaller of the FCS Bonzer Quad set as side bites in a 2+1 set up.
I have a bisect board with channels , however it does not come with FCS plugs and I would like a set of the Bonzers with a futures bottom. The cant of the fins is quite different so unless I want to set up a whole moulding and ancillaries ( which I don't ) your 3D printing would be the go!
I would be happy to lend you a set from which to print. Of course too I would love to discuss pricing!
I'll PM details so we can talk further.
Cheers Jaffa

[Roy Stewart]

That sounds like fun, I want a set too. Thanks for the PM.

[jaffa1949]

I'm excited, the new improved version of fins is coming back to me after shaping + one of his centre fins .
"Oh unbelievers pray for surf". So I can have a good test session with them.
I very much believe that fins will be an improvement factor in board design so I put my money where my mouth is!

[jaffa1949]

Yahoo the fins arrived today, the centre fin a spitfire fin with leading edge humpback whale tubercles, looking forward to the experiments .
The Bonzer variant has an inside foil and is finely shaped to the trailing edge they are thicker than the FCS glass Bonzers but I would imagine the thickness is to accommodate the inside foil?
The textures are different to other fins with a distinct warp and weft look to them, I'm hoping for surf tomorrow to try the centre fin as single .
The Bonzer set will have to wait until I open up,the the bisect board which takes futures bases.
I can also try the Bonzers in my shorter boards.

Stand by for a fin review!!!!!

I'm excited

[dtc]

[quote="jaffa1949"]Yahoo the fins arrived today, the centre fin a spitfire fin with leading edge humpback whale tubercles, looking forward to the experiments ./quote]

Humpback whale tubercles - do other surfers have to keep at least 100m away from you?



(for non Aussies, surfers have to keep 100m away from whales. Yes, amongst the sharks there are a few whales

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/whale ... zspw7.html

Have never surfed near one myself, but have seen plenty go by a couple of km off shore; or closer when viewing from the points.

[jaffa1949]

Yahoo the fins arrived today, the centre fin a spitfire fin with leading edge humpback whale tubercles, looking forward to the experiments ./quote]

Humpback whale tubercles - do other surfers have to keep at least 100m away from you?



(for non Aussies, surfers have to keep 100m away from whales. Yes, amongst the sharks there are a few whales

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/whale ... zspw7.html

Have never surfed near one myself, but have seen plenty go by a couple of km off shore; or closer when viewing from the points.

We have a a group of southern right whales that come through every year and break the 100 metres rule you paddle away and they follow. One year they had a breach off on either side of the local bombie against a pod of humpbacks all about 500 metres from shore (no camera that day ugh)
Whale farts stink, as they do after eating several tons of miniature raw prawns and they generate an oil slick from the farts that is viscous and sticks. eeee yew.
Any this calls for picture whales today , macro shots of the fins tomorrow!

Same whale different years!

[dtc]

All my whale photos end up as splashes of white water (and no whale).

Look forward to the fin report, whats the theory behind the 'spiky bits' at the back (rather than a smooth edge). Guess thats really a question for Roy.

[jaffa1949]

Here is a picture of the fins on the Green board with the channels.
dtc , note that the tubercles are on the leading edge not the trailing edge, please consult your nearest humpback whale for details.

This last picture is a local humpie but well outside the break so I really had to push the lens and the cropping to get it up , but you can see the tubercles

[dtc]

intriguing

[jaffa1949]

Well so testing times were had!
Lots of small swell so a caddy was employed to aid the research on the tubercle spitfire fin, the Bonzers ( futures base) need no research as I'm thoroughly convinced about them.

Conditions glassy maxing at 3ft imperial measurement no other form of measurement!
Ideal for a single fin surf off. Caddy and I taking turns on each board which are virtually the same in every measurement.
"Spitfire tubercle", first few rides felt very squirrelly and erratic in turns, with a tendency to slide out
This was both our opinions as the fin was not as deep as a 9" cutaway fin, also was just the factor of we were not used to the spitfire in any way.

Adjusting our riding techniques produced really good results, down the line speed faster and nose ride control more precise, a little more tail slide than I would normally encounter in my riding on these sort of waves.
I was able to woggle my board down the face more easily on the spitfire the fin was also tried on my back hand at Pt. Plomer on a trip north, control was good and since it was small the lessening of drag enabled me to ride further on the nose without just fading off the wave.

Turning: This fin forced my to go back to very basic longboard techniques of step fully on the tail and pivot around the fin in the water classic old style single fin turns the old quality bottom turn.
Guess what, no spin out and the board was very quick to regain acceleration after the turn.
It did not track but was able to achieve small adjustments of position at any stage and position on the face.
Turns were rounded but not acute in angulation and were manageable thorough the chosen arc.
If the tail broke free at the top of the wave in a re-entry my choice of angle in re-engaging the fin had to be a little more precise ( probably a good thing to ask of my surfing)
In discussion afterwards ( we had agreed not to compare notes until we had finished) we had observed similar challenges and seen the different lines each of us were able to take on the wave with this fin.

The Cut away fins simply gave me a closer approximation to a short board series of turns with a choice of angulating the turn more acutely by forcing a snap into the turn.
Control in this was not as certain as that sort of turn is pushing my ability to the full at times.
Failure here is not the fins but me!
This is normally the standard single fin and centre fin I use in most set ups so I am comfortable and familiar with it at any size just bigger gets the bonzer side bites.

My choice hasn't been made yet as I want to try the comparisons out in bigger and more challenging surf, I am anticipating that the spitfire tubercle and side bites may have too much fin area together and be restrictive.
I also have a serious big wave spot (double overhead) where I have always been able to lay over big bottom turns so a comparison there is in order.

I will definitely use the Spitfire Tubercle lots more! On first impressions I am really impressed

[dtc]

Interesting. I would have thought that if there was too little fin for a single and you are sliding out, that side bites might be just the thing (although Roy probably disagrees).

[Roy Stewart]

Thanks for the report Jaffa, keep in mind that Spitfire fins need to be placed an inch or so further back than more raked fins, I'd start with it 2 inches further aft.

[jaffa1949]

That definitely is an answer as I say in my primer forward looser back tighter thanks for the reminder Roy The fin is great. I was a little nervous about durability as 3D printer is so new and the look of the fins showing the print lines concerned me a little. But all went well.
A couple of bigger surfs will test the spitfire further back in the box.
I'm optimistic