11/11/2010

Larry Allison Race Fins and different configurations

By pope

FROM THE POPE:

Hi Larry & Steve,

The sun came out today (imagine that) and I was able to take a couple of photos of the new K15 fin setup.  You can see that Steve did a nice job!

As described in the earlier email below the center fin did help with tracking and stability.  I’m sure we’ll paddle again this weekend, so I’ll give you another report shortly.

Did you give any thought to whether it would be worthwhile to test a slightly larger center fin?

mahalo, Larry V

—————————- Original Message —————————-

Hi Larry,

Rec’d your phone msg today. We had house guests over the holiday weekend, so things were a bit busy. However, we did get to paddle Monday and Tuesday mornings, and so far the fin seems good.  Steve did a good job on
the box installation and touch up painting, and the fin fits nice and snug in the box.

Monday we paddled ~8 miles in Newport Harbor switching our two K15 boards every two miles so we could both try the new setup.  Conditions were mixed: up, down and cross wind sections, some small cross swells, and some boat wakes.  We agreed that the center fin helped somewhat with tracking and also made the board a little more stable.  The effects were not as pronounced as when we replaced the skinny Starboard rear fin with your large Keel fin, but they were noticeable.  The only ‘negative’ is that the center fin seems to make it more difficult to turn.  This may be overcome by technique.

Today we paddled about 15 miles in the harbor under similar mixed conditions.  This time I stayed on the board with the center fin the entire time to see if I could sense any problems. The board rode fine and reinforced my feeling that the center fin helps with both tracking and stability.

We’d like to go out another time and switch back and forth again to confirm things.  I’d also like to get a better comparison of how it works in cross swells.  I’d also like to head out into the ocean if the weather gets a little nicer.

As mentioned, the effect we feel is not as dramatic as changing to the rear Keel fin.  I wonder if it would be worthwhile to test a taller center fin, perhaps 4″ or even 5″.  A larger center fin would make the effects it has on handling more obvious, and we could then decide how much of an effect is optimal.

If the sun ever comes out in the morning I’ll take some photos for you. The two blues fins look nice on the yellow bottom.

regards, Larry V