Is anyone else completely confused by fins?

I had just bribed Steve Thorp into letting me have a pair of his new K4 fins (which I think are going to be pretty popular - price and weight wise). He then asked me what size I wanted? The honest answer was that I have absolutely no idea about this.

On a single fin board I have it worked out (usually stick with the one it comes with, but for an 82 litre a 22 -23cm one is about right, medium flex, not too stiff).

Then I was reading, or tried to read numerous threads on the Boards and Boardseeker forum, plus information on the Starboard website. I worked out that a lot of people like discussing fins to the degree of boredom, but I still have no idea, but it seems a complete minefield that no one knows the answer too.

This is what I have worked out so far.

There are about 4 -5 different fin sizes for quads and twins (a few more if you include tri's).
You can then choose to have the bigger ones at the front and smaller at the rear
Or the other way round
Or you can have 4 smaller fins on the quads.
You can then choose to have different flexes
Different tow in angles
Or Assymetric outside fins
Plus you can have a new
Slot box by starboard
Mini tuttle or
standard US

I'm not mathematician, but is that something like 5 to the 6 possibilities?

2 things here, I just want to plug my  board in and go sailing right now and am I good enough to know the difference, every single wave is different and I am way to forgetful to remember 4 fins, let alone options!

Ah, that is actually 4 things (I've no chance). Anyway I would love to have a quad and  twin and plenty of time on the water to know the difference  - what if you break one fin or lose one on the quad? Will changing my fins make me a better windsurfer, or will my state of mind on the day?

This is what teaching is all about, a 6 week summer break and an August pay cheque, for hopefully just surfing and windsurfing, which is a bit like the old days, but for a lot more cash! (Of course we do it for the job satisfaction, kids, etc etc).

Actually today I am about to embark on a 24 hr Coach trip taking a load of year 8 and 9 School kids to SW France for their first watersports experience. You can guarantee as a consequence next week will be classic here! I have my surfboard just in case I can sneak off and catch some of Mimizan's breakers. The rest of the summer has James Cox's stag do, which I am now sure how successful I have been in organising, and a travel venture to Somo, near Santander to see what, if any, summer wavesailing that area of Spain offers. I've heard it can be very good!

Could have been 6, but I got way lazy on Sunday.

On Saturday, whilst Gregg was waiting for the Chinese man to arrive and Coxy was building a website promised out of guilt, I managed to persuade Will Eveleigh to stick his Gaastra Flow 1x together with gaffa tape and come out to the Hengistbury Head ledges where there was about a mile of breaking head high waves. It can be flat everywhere, but get a spring tide on an ebb, with a tide against wind and you have a windsurfing playground. We spent a couple of hours blasting up and down picking off plenty of floaty jumps, backside airs and forwards. I did one if front of Will, and he decided to go for one straight off, having never ever tried one before or even any idea of what to do. He went for it, but it was messy, with the edge of the board landing in his thigh - next time I reckon. We then spotted the band of Cox brothers way on the horizon, so did a maxed downwinder to catch them up. Tim Cox still reaquainting himself with the Sputnik 265, but looked on the edge of control in the chop.

There must have been about 20-30 out in the harbour and a similar number off Avon that day, must be the sport to be in these days!

Second day in a row my phone beat my alarm to wake me up. Clyde is super keen but presumably not super popular with the partners of any local windsurfers he rings at 6.30am. Still 4.7 weather is not to be sniffed at in this age of windsurfing austerity. Anyway, Southbourne. Very onshore, windy and small waves. But nit that small when you're half asleep. James, Simon and I all answered the call and skipped breakfast for an early rinsing. I also took a few shots but no time to upload them as I had to run for the train.

I have to do 7.36 hours data entry now but it's good to know I haven't totally missed out.

There's also a few pics from overcoombe yesterday on Rod's blog which I'll steal later if I get around to it. Must go now. Someone's left a copy of Metro and it takes two station stops to read it.

Ouch, up at 6am, out on the water at 6.50. It blew its tits off all night. Then had to go a course in Southampton, the last thing I wanted to do was use a pendulum to calculate the earth's gravitational constant on some new texas instrument thing, whilst all along it was classicish. It was howling first thing at the beach, by the time I got out it had dropped on the inside with a 4.2 and I spent a lot of time swimming. Still a few good drillings and some decent sized waverides, and crashed jumps - cant be bad.

James Cox is now taking the foraging thing way out of hand, spending his time wandering the streets thinking he is Bear Grylls. Well he has the pants. Only last Friday he convinced me to go windsurfing in just a pair of shorts. I was warm enough for 20 minutes. I was not so convinced today, Coxy though, likes to windsurf in just a pair of skin coloured shorts, a treat for the old ladies and Spaniards strolling the Bournemouth Seafront. Turns out that Lifeboat tea is also for chimps!

What better setting for a cup of England's finest than in James Cox's vegetable patch. Williamson's Tea spotted the Southbourne Slasher foraging in the Mangroves and came to his rescue with a perky blend of Tea made from Lifeboats.

At last a tea for proper windsurfers and not just for Chimps!

Not since England captain Steven Gerrard slept with his wife's sister, and/or possibly also an unnamed 16 year old, causing strife, arguments and a split between the England team with John Terry claiming unfair play of his stripped captaincy by Capello, and a consequent shambolic exit by England from the World Cup has there every been such a Fall from Grace as experienced by windsurf extrodinaire Gregg Dunnett.

As Gregg borrowed my old 5.7 for another sail (it was 5.3 weather, Gregg is lacking one of those), can we reminice of the rise and fall of this supreme Boards mag windsurfing journo, boards tester and general legend of a windsurfing bum. Gregg had done it all, from teaching windsurfing to launching the starboard evo into limelight with some infamous test comments. He had the best kit known to man overspilling his shed. Even the Oceansource centre had kit only some dream of. There were times when they hailed kit, and dismissed some brands for being slightly the wrong shade of lemon yellow. How times have changed.
As we sat in Coxy's back garden sipping some post windsurfing homebrew, Gregg's misfortune sadly came to prominence as he was eying up a rusty Tushingham Vulcan 5.2, circa before buddha, that was lying beneath some compost and rusty nails. Coxy saw the sad look in Gregg's eye and pulled it out, not even offering a bigsalty sticker to fix one of the holes, and handing it over to the grateful child, there was a look of solidarity in his eye. The irony is, way before the testing days, Gregg proudly brought one of these home from Minorca sailing to show off. You would think it ends there, but the fall is longer, following footsteps laid by Andy, Steve, myself and many other windsurfing layabouts, tomorrow he has starts a new, very real, tax paying job working for Purbeck District council as a Sustainable Development Officer. In the meantime he assures me that Kimmeridge is just round the corner, and Tushingham have sold out of the new Rock's, but his are in the next delivery...

Coxy, you are next boyo!

Hopefully today could be a sign of things to come, the west is getting battered by a southwesterly time to get wet again.

I've learnt that water is definitely a lot softer than rock and stones after last weekends motor cross escapades from which I am still recovering from, 1st time on a bike and a 250cc at that! I soon discovered that I can't jump them like a mountain bike.

I took my sister out yesterday, last time she went windsurfing was as a boardseeker babe to an all expenses visit to Minorca Sailing, that was quite a few years ago. Anyway, I bought an F2 discovery off ebay for Liz, it was only 150 - complete bargain of a board. This is one of the best starter boards there has been - Ramona was having a blast. We had a great time messing around on it at Christchurch harbour. It reminded me of the old days where people were out with there picnics and windsurfing gear enjoying the sun and atmosphere. There were about 15 or so there of all ages with start up kit.

 Then Willow had a turn, she was a natural - which considering she is a dog is quite impressive!. We actually almost got planing on a 4.0! Everyone should get a board like this to take their otherhalfs/mates/dogs/cat's out on.

Next stop was Southbourne, again armed with a couple of cold ones, a 5.7 and some serious sunshine! Hopefully SW's are here for a bit longer and will get a bit stronger.

Hmm this blog is not what it used to be, life was much better then. They take our wind and our money! Anyway, this week was saved by Emile Kott's stag weekend in Cornwall. Some great paddle boarding and normal surfing, hours on the water and in the sunshine in some perfect waves. Sunday we were out at Crantock, swapping surfboards for paddleboards on the water. Surfing wise you could pick up some lovely lefts in the corner of the bay, whilst on the paddleboard I picked out some big (what felt like big on that massive chunk of plastic) waves from the middle of the bay. Also bumped into Jan Sleigh out on the water in a fluro wetsuit, who I haven't seen for yonks.

Pushed out ex-test editor, Ian Leonard was also down for the stag, in typical Leonard style he bought Moses to the campsite that doesnt allow dogs - (Moses is a dog). At this time of year the Gestapo are out in full force in Cornwall, they don't allow nada. So Gregg and myself felt sorry for the lad and went to seek out a new campsite, breaking away from the main group. Aside from a lot of other rubbish we talked about, we had a good conversation on single v twin. Before Ian was sacked he spent 4 months in Oz testing the mistral twin and mistral single, both had boxes routed in to be either twins or singles! Shame it never got to print, would have made interesting reading.

I've just returned from a very chilled trip to el medano. This was possibly the easiest windsurfing trip I have ever been on, including going to my local break (or not as recently), the gnarly wave location that be Southbourne. Anyway back to the trip. Liz found a ryanair return to TFS for £70, going from monday and returning on Friday of half term, what an amazing deal. We also made good choice of accomadation, right on the beachfront over the boardwalk in El Medano. The holiday would have been even more of a bargain had any of my so called friends worked for a living and had enough money to come along! As it was, it came to 150 for flight and accom for 4nights. So, 10 mins from home to airport, the new Bournemouth International, then priority boarding and online checking got us past the heard of wild cattle trying to get a seat on the plane, then straight out with hand luggage (I decided to hire from the OTC) and 11 Euro and ten minutes later we are sitting on our balcony overlooking some great swell lines (which slowly dissappeared over the next few hours).

Testing the kit.
I am very fortunate to be sponsored by two of the leading brands, Fanatic and Simmer. Both of which always seem to come out tops on tests! But apart from being involved in a bit of testing with Boardseeker and Boards, I never really sail other kit, well why would I? But what are all these other boards like, quads, tris, bi's and all that. The OTC is brill, its got all this kit in, you just rock up ask Amy Carter or Graham Woods to get you some stuff, order them around a bit ( a bit like the old days when I coached them) and off you go. It's a great deal at the centre. Just 20 euros an hour at the most expensive rate, or 55 Euro's for half a day to try the latest state of the art kit. When you think a new board is £1400, it's well worth doing before departing with your hard earned. Tris, Ben and Adam are all great fun and run a well organised centre.

So what did I sail..
Well I wanted to see if I had the best kit for the job, as I am biased and sponsored you might want to take the rest with a pinch of salt!
First up Starboard Quad 81 and Gaastra Manic 4.7
That is one lovely sail!! a bit soft for me, but was a delight! Not as grunty or rotational as my icons, which I prefer - but for someone a bit lighter or who likes a softer feel!
The Quad was actually really nice, really easy to sail, flies upwind and really comfortable. It carves the wave really well and is great fun to waveride. Not skatey or loose in anyway like a twin. You engage a turn, you keep with it dont change your mind, while it keeps the power on - very dependable, I would say its not as exciting as the JP or Fanatic twin, as a personal opinion.
Next up Severne Blade 5.3 and Witchcraft Chakra. I don't think I am man enough for the Blade! A powerhouse wavesail, definately one for the slalom sailors - it couldnt be more different from the manic! I did not get on at all with the witchcraft! I honestly did not know what it was trying to achieve! After sailing all the way upwind to the wave break, which it does very well with its three fins, I wanted to sail straight back down again. Some people apparently love this board! It took so much effort to backside turn unlike my fanatic tiwn and freewave 95, then the bottom turn it quivered all over the shop and lost power way sooner than a normal freewave board, it's wierd. Super wide, bulbous round nose and rails, then razor sharp rails, plus 3 fins. Too many extreme design characteristics in one board - still some people love them!
Simmer Iron - Great sail, more rigid than the Icon, definately for power people! Nice and light though.
Goya Eclipse (sail) really nice and light, very impressed.
Goya One - very comfortable, early planing and a bit more traditional in feel than the Kode ore Freewave, good allround but more emphasis to waves than Kode.
Kode 94, was very surprised and impressed by this board, again it was really good, and felt almost the same as my Freewave, maybe a touch wider so a bit more drive needed in bottom turn, plus has a US box - whether that is a positive I don't know.
JP twin 81, loose goose, fun! Similar to 86 twin, but a bit wider!
Fanatic 86 twin - yup love the slashy nature of this board!

Also did some freeride kit - the futura is a mans freeride board, I thought I was on a world cup slalom rocket machine!

So after that pretty longwinded blog! I love my kit!! I don't think I would change any of what I sailed for what I currently own (I would say that!), the icons are the goldilocks of sails for me, and have Fanatic ever made a bad wave board -? However all the kit was really nice - apart from one I wasnt so keen. If I had to choose apart from the Simmer and Fanatic and go for a second best option - maybe the jp and the goya eclipse! I really liked the quad, but in quad mode I don't think it is versatile enough for the randomness of southcoast waves.

El medano is cheap (beer is only 1.5 euro's from the bar), food is fantastic. Shame I couldnt sail for longer and experience some of the balistic wind apparently on offer. I seem to miss it everytime I visit! Being so easy to get too from Bournemouth, I hope next time will be completely on the money!

Grubby headed down to Kimmeridge the other weekend and scored a few waves. I meant to upload the shots earlier but was too busy what with all the wind we've had. Actually, it's not been too bad last couple of weekends. Surfing tiny waves as per this shot, and then decent wind last Saturday as reported by Clyde. We (Maria and I) also sailed on the Sunday in the harbour and caught 10 mackeral off the Sups on bank holiday Monday.

Almost June and the first proper SW of the year, it has been such a long time coming. Even then it wasnt full on to start with. By the end of the session (after coxy got tricked by a lull and packed up) it got good again, decent fun waves breaking at the bar, with just Gregg and meself making the most of them. Southbourne picked up the most swell again. Tim Cox, James Cox, me and Gregg were the only ones out. No rain came through like forecast. You could get small aerials and some backloops. Greggs knackered tushie finally gave way after masses of use in El tur. He should be getting the new ones soon.

A long awaited session has helped to ease the frustration of such a poor spring!!
Knowing with all of these modern forecasts the only chance of sailing Llangenith side shore/side off was going to be early it was lucky when Solenne was out of bed early this morning and noticed it was windy. I awoke being given my laptop in bed to check the conditions and asked if I would like a cupa!! Perfect.
I was rigging in Llangenith before 9am, wet and windy-a complete contrast to last weekends small clean surf, sunshine and loads of people!!
Joined by a kite, I had an early session before the wind slowly shifted to cross on and I decided to retire for a break hoping to sail later today......
5.7, SSE, shifting through the south to SW....choppy shoulder high waves and just great to be out riding, jumping and sailing.
A guy walking his dogs early in waterproofs with his head down into the wind and rain shouted 'it's good to be alive to me...'
I agree, just going to grab a dry wetsuit and head back in the next hour or so.......lets hope Horton can deliver too.......

Sorry alone as usual so no pics

Seems the best we can do these days is get Northerly or North Easterly winds. We almost got up early and went to Westward Ho, which is usually good in that direction. But even that forecast went wrong. Rod had one of those arty strops moaning that we didn't make the day trip to Gwithian. Desperation forced Coxy, Gregg, Colin and myself to try out Swanage for the first time. It was pretty bloody cold really, out back there were some good lumps for forwards - the best bit was the pint in the Banks arms afterwards - gotta earn your Beer!

From this..
to Bosvegas, 1ft SUP, coldish but sunny. Pretty funny out on the water with Gregg, Coxy, Charlie and Hades Cregan.

March came in like a lamb and went out like a lion this year it said on the news last night, with deep snow over lots of the UK and a freezing baltic wind scudding down the Irish sea. However, that meant a rare settled north westerly wind streaming over the headland at Kimmeridge bay so my planned quick sail at Highcliffe was replaced with an all day mission to Kbay.