Formula Fins

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2007 Race Sails TEST RESULTS of the FRENCH WIND MAGAZINE

New Formula boom development  by : Peter Ifju  (  the I - boom )

2008 i-To-i (01a).jpg - Pete Ifju - Top Secret Custom Boom

After thoroughly testing my new “I-boom” I have determined that I will never go back to a traditional design for formula racing. I have used the boom in 12.0 through 10.0 conditions in both flat water (12.0 in 6-12 mph) and high seas (10.0 in 20-30 mph, and 6+ foot seas). In all of these conditions, I found the I-boom to be more comfortable and easier to sail than my regular formula booms.

The idea came to me recently when sailing in light conditions trying to squeak more upwind angle out of my setup. I’ve been using a technique of taking my front hand off of the boom and holding the uphaul rope. This effectively opens the front of the sail allowing it to be more vertical, and also helps to close the gap. The drawback of the technique is that it requires good balance and in high seas is not practical. While practicing the technique, I asked myself what the boom geometry would be to essentially put my body and sail in the same position. Additionally, recently I’ve been primarily using an overhand grip for the front hand, and I was looking for a more comfortable grip. A recent article in Windsurfing Magazine showed some images of ergonomic booms that also inspired some thoughts.

So, I ordered about $500 of carbon sleeves and epoxy and I started building. It took me about a week (the week my family thought I went missing). The boom ended up about 1.5 pounds lighter than my other booms. It has HPL and Epic Gear fittings, a Maui Sails head, Chinook grip only in the grip part of the boom and red hockey tape. The stiffness is similar to my HPL and Epic booms and it has the “I to I tested” label on it. (1 hour and 46 minutes of 20-30 mph winds, 6+ foot seas, 10 meter sail, shore break and all).

Here is my take on why I think the geometry is better than the current boom geometry

  1. More comfortable hand position for the overhand grip. I can sail longer without fatigue. The grip area is also elliptical and conforms well to my grip. 
  2. When I'm overpowered and trying to maintain control, I typically move my front hand forward on the boom to gain a wider grip.  This however moves my body closer to the sail, since I have to follow the boom curve towards the mast and I lose leverage and effectively close the sail.  The overhand position becomes increasingly uncomfortable and thus I go to an underhanded grip, which brings me even closer to the sail.  On the new boom I can move my front hand far forward and maintain the leverage.  My leverage doesn't change for a large range of hand positions.  In the gusts (25 mph on an 11.0) I was holding the boom right where it curves towards the mast.  At that point, the boom is about 9 inches wider than my HPL, so I'm effectively about 4.5 inches further out.  With this boom I can have a wider grip (distance between my hands), and still have the sail more open. I don’t get “stood-up” in the gusts as easily  
  3. With the wider grip and added leverage, it is easier to rake the sail back to close the gap. It almost feels automatic.
  4. The boom is a little wider at the harness line (3/4 inch wider), so more leverage, but similar to my other boom and therefore feels very natural.  
  5. The boom is significantly wider where the sail touches first when the outhaul is released (about 2 inches wider just behind my adjustable outhaul cleats), so the sail is more full without disrupting the twist pattern of the sail for deep down wind angle.

by Petet Ifju     

Stand by, Team Miami is working hard to get you the news as fast as we can!!  We are going to put the new *** F2 2008 Formula Board ***to the test this weekend and will have a detailed report soon afterwards!  The weather looks outstanding and we should be able to test in a variety of different conditions.

http://www.calema.com/forums/miscpics/f2formula2.jpg

The Nautical Federation of Industries (END) has just communicated lately the tendency of the sales of material of slips for the year 2006… And in right-hand side line with the elements of last year which announced already a renewal of activity, figures 2006 confirm a sustained high growth.
  1.  Representing today more than 60% of the sales, the practice Leisure, directed around the freeride and crossover, continuous to progress with in particular 26% for the crenel freeride and 10,7% for the crossover.
  2. If the practice Waves sees on its side a low renewal rate on the side of the floats, the veils they seem to be changed more regularly with a progression of 7,3%…
  3. Finally side of the Slalom, if the progression of the floats remain rather weak ( 2,7%), it is side of the veils which the sales evolve/move significantly with 67,6%. Generally, the windsurf thus confirms its obviously started recovery last year with, in particular, a public not initiated which from now on understood that the practice is again accessible.

Team miami        ----Fins test results------           1-1-2007

The results are in on the fin tests!  The fins were tested using North Sails Warp Formula 2006 sizes 11.0 - 12.5, on the F2 Formula IV and 2007 V.  The results should come as no surprise to those who are experienced racers, the best is going to be next to impossible to acquire, but is way better than second  place.
 
We will talk first about the rest, before we get to the best!
 
The Fabulous fins from Deboichet are very very good.  The newest R 19 is very powerful and fast in light wind conditions, with fantastic downwind speed.  The R 17 is a better fin for medium winds, and is good on all points of sail.  It has a tendency towards spin out though.......
 
The Select Wide, is a great all around performer.  It goes upwind, better than downwind where it's speed suffers a bit.  Forgiving is the best word to describe it, as it can be pushed quite hard in all but the lightest conditions.
 
Now, the moment you have been waiting for........a drum roll please (rat a tat, rat a tat, rat a tat) 
 
1st Place, the top of the heap, the big cheese..................... :  Kashy 70 extra soft.  This fin is quite amazing.  While the other fins we tested work in a fairly narrow range of conditions, the Kashy is the top performer across the range we tested in.  The fin accelerates very well without being pushed, in fact trying to pump up on the plane is really not advised, just wait for the magic moment and it loads up, and off you go!  The fin absolutely motors upwind, and downwind it is slippery fast.  It does not have the "feel" of a stiffer fin, but you can still rail up the board and "hunt it up and down"  according to the puffs and lulls.  In fact though there is less sensation from the fin, the board becomes more "alive" with this blade.  As mentioned earlier in this discussion, the problem is that they are nearly unobtainable at this time.  Dave quoted me a price of anywhere between $700 and 800 USD, and a wait of 8 months to a year!  Reminds me of when the C3 fins were all the rage a couple of years back.  Dave is doing these fins in his "spare" time, when he isn't racing, or at his full time engineering job. So take out a home equity loan, and put in your order for next season.  Just know that without one of these in your board, you are going to be finishing behind someone who does.

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Gonzalo Costa Hoevel ARG3   

Stiffneses:

From S to H you can decide wether getting a lot of power with a soft fin or getting a lot of control with a stiff one. For lighter wind you need softer and for stronger harder for more control.

Rakes

The rake measures the angle created between the fin and the bottom of the board. More rake for us means a straighter fin making 10 the maximum rake, almost straight angle with the board and rake 0 a normal rake from past years.

You can give more rake to the fins and this will get you more power and upwind angle. When the wind picks up you wanna get more control leaving the rake more to the back.

Profiles

Thicker foils give you more power, more angle and make you feel a little bit steadier feeling but you will loose top speed. Thinner foils give you a better top speed but you will loose power in the lighter air and angle.

We also move the thickest point forward for a smoother feeling and backwards for more speed oriented fins.

Area

More surface on fin makes them more powerful and less area makes them faster but less powerful. Having bigger tips and narrows bases gave us more control, and keeping skinny tips like in our slalom fins made us reach amazing speeds as Finians new world record.

Models

R13:

The R13 is the easiest all around fin for racing. On light air this fin offers a nice lift and power, combined with an easy trimming feeling. On stronger winds this fin keeps always a nice control feeling, good angle on the upwind and a nice easy speed trim in the downwind.

R14

Based on the R13 we made the R14 for stronger wind or lighter people. We reduce the thickness and area of the fin decreasing the power and increasing the top speed. The result was a really controllable fin for stronger winds. Lighter people who preferred a faster feeling than a powerful feeling love this fin.

Concept of the new models

Boards started getting bigger in the tail this years so we felt we had to increase the power of our fins to match the new concept of boards. The sails became really stable as well with the double luff so we decided we could go for more power on the new models. We introduced this new generation of fins R16 and R17 that provide a lot of power, control and top speed as well.

New compromise of thickness area!!! Good upwind and fast downwind!

R16

Tying to get a more powerful fin we increased the area of the fin on the tip comparing to an R13. We find out that this gave us more power and angle but we lost top speed. So we decrease the thickness of the fin and made it almost as thin as an R14 giving us the top speed again. The result was really good as we had a really good powerful fin for middle winds and a completely new style comparing to the R13.

R17

Based on the really good performance of the R16 we wanted more power in the light air or even in stronger winds for powerful riders. We increased again the area in the tip of the fin and kept the same thickness as the R16. The results were instant as in the light air we could point more again without missing any top speed.

R18

Based on the development of the R17 this is a very powerfull fin mostly for light wind conditions.

 

After thoroughly testing my new “I-boom” I have determined that I will never go back to a traditional design for formula racing. I have used the boom in 12.0 through 10.0 conditions in both flat water (12.0 in 6-12 mph) and high seas (10.0 in 20-30 mph, and 6+ foot seas). In all of these conditions, I found the I-boom to be more comfortable and easier to sail than my regular formula booms.

The idea came to me recently when sailing in light conditions trying to squeak more upwind angle out of my setup. I’ve been using a technique of taking my front hand off of the boom and holding the uphaul rope. This effectively opens the front of the sail allowing it to be more vertical, and also helps to close the gap. The drawback of the technique is that it requires good balance and in high seas is not practical. While practicing the technique, I asked myself what the boom geometry would be to essentially put my body and sail in the same position. Additionally, recently I’ve been primarily using an overhand grip for the front hand, and I was looking for a more comfortable grip. A recent article in Windsurfing Magazine showed some images of ergonomic booms that also inspired some thoughts.

So, I ordered about $500 of carbon sleeves and epoxy and I started building. It took me about a week (the week my family thought I went missing). The boom ended up about 1.5 pounds lighter than my other booms. It has HPL and Epic Gear fittings, a Maui Sails head, Chinook grip only in the grip part of the boom and red hockey tape. The stiffness is similar to my HPL and Epic booms and it has the “I to I tested” label on it. (1 hour and 46 minutes of 20-30 mph winds, 6+ foot seas, 10 meter sail, shore break and all).

Here is my take on why I think the geometry is better than the current boom geometry

More comfortable hand position for the overhand grip. I can sail longer without fatigue. The grip area is also elliptical and conforms well to my grip. 

When I'm overpowered and trying to maintain control, I typically move my front hand forward on the boom to gain a wider grip.  This however moves my body closer to the sail, since I have to follow the boom curve towards the mast and I lose leverage and effectively close the sail.  The overhand position becomes increasingly uncomfortable and thus I go to an underhanded grip, which brings me even closer to the sail.  On the new boom I can move my front hand far forward and maintain the leverage.  My leverage doesn't change for a large range of hand positions.  In the gusts (25 mph on an 11.0) I was holding the boom right where it curves towards the mast.  At that point, the boom is about 9 inches wider than my HPL, so I'm effectively about 4.5 inches further out.  With this boom I can have a wider grip (distance between my hands), and still have the sail more open. I don’t get “stood-up” in the gusts as easily  

With the wider grip and added leverage, it is easier to rake the sail back to close the gap. It almost feels automatic.

The boom is a little wider at the harness line (3/4 inch wider), so more leverage, but similar to my other boom and therefore feels very natural.  

The boom is significantly wider where the sail touches first when the outhaul is released (about 2 inches wider just behind my adjustable outhaul cleats), so the sail is more full without disrupting the twist pattern of the sail for deep down wind angle.