Bigger fin for the Viper?

[rtz]

I had an experienced guy take it out for a spin today. 240L and 4.7m sail. He said it likely would not be able to plane with that sail. He said with one of his Sailworks sails(Revo/Retro) it would plane. He said it MIGHT plane with a larger fin. I just have the freebie 35cm fin that came with the board. He was thinking 40+cm. Question is; which fin?

Powerbox:

[bmoore98]

I have used Vipers to teach many people to windsurf. The stock fins are only good for teaching. Students are hard on fins because they tend to ground them frequently. I recommend that you go with a 42cm Finworks Wing and keep the fin in good shape. When you sell the Viper, keep the after market fin for use on future boards.

[wynsurfer]

85 cm. X 240 L board with a 4.7 sail??????????????? Get a 6.5 or larger sail and a 42 - 47 cm. fin.

[wynsurfer]

85 cm. X 240 L board with a 4.7 sail??????????????? Get a 6.5 or larger sail and a 42 - 47 cm. fin.

[swchandler]

I have to agree that with a bigger fin you'll have a better chance of planing.

Yet, the whole idea right now is building your planing skills and moving back into the footstraps. If you're past the stage of learning basic non-planing skills, and you can readily go out, tack, and come back to the launch site, you're ready to power things up. Again, a bigger fin gives you more potential drive, but you have to ask yourself whether you've gotten enough sail power to overcome your bow wake and move back on the boom and board to get into the footstraps and cleanly plane up.

There's a synergy between the fin and the sail, and they need to be reasonably matched to perform at their best. A small fin and a big sail is usually a bad match resulting in spinout and poor upwind performance. While a large fin and a small sail isn't necessarily a mismatch, the extra power of the fin may not be in sync with the power of the sail.

Overall though, you need to be in the footstraps to find true harmony and balance between the sail and fin.

Are you hooked in and feeling like you can't comfortably handle the power of the sail? For this question, forget about the board and what it's doing.

[rtz]

I'm not in the straps or harness yet. I can sail around and stay upwind and return to my launch area. The 4.7m is all I feel I can handle right now.

[beaglebuddy]

Adding a big fin to that set up will do nothing really. That's a small sail so a small fin is appropriate. To get that board planing will require a big sail and a big fin, here's the logic, if the wind was strong enough to get planing on a 4.7M sail the condition of the water would be so rough that a board that wide would be uncontrollable.
4.7M conditions would probably be a sinker board, that is a board so small that it will sink under your weight when not planing.
That big board of yours can comfortably plane but probably with at least a 7M sail, a big fin and not sure how much you weigh but perhaps around 15 knots wind.

[grantmac017]

I'll say it again:
Harness.

[joethewindsufa]

you are asking MANY questions about MANY aspects ...
you CANNOT change them all at once and expect good results
if you cannot go bigger than that sail, keep at it
at some point you will realise it is time to use your larger sail
(which WILL work with your current fin)
be patient and change one thing at a time
the season is only beginning ...
the reason people are saying get in the harness - it will save your arms
you can put home made really loong lines at first - to get comfortable
i used to use 2 lines - one to learn and the other to progress
once again - be patient and keep going out there !!!
(also be careful - if it looks too rough - just watch the others)
the long lines got me in the harness
we all start somewhere and progress at our own pace !!

[techno900]

Joe nailed it, pay attention.