Was out today on Supersports 109 with 37 SS fin and a NP 5.9 Excess in about 20-25knots Southerly.

Have had fin slippage when it break out whilst going over top of chop before and have managed to regain traction by pointing the board downwind. Traction normally coming back very quickly.

However- today I spun it out and must have gone at least 30-40 metres out of control. Tried to straighten board downwind but no good. It wouldnt bite. Ended up sliding sideways and having a fairly big "off"

Any suggestions as best way to regain fin control from what Im presently doing? Im pretty keen to not get so out of control. I understand I should probably not load up on the back foot so much over the chop but it was one of those gusty days and was trying to make ground upwind.

Any advice appreciated. Cheers, EB

because my board is quite light and rather small .. i can just pull my back foot into my arse and it will usualy grip up again .. useing both feet ..:
also if not fully gone and only sucking a tiny amout of air/u can see tiny air buble coming out the back but still tracking in a forward motion ... i almost chophop and land tail first .....this land the fin into a new solid piece of water ...and of i go

Every spinout is different but I usually find standing on the tail to slow it down and then trying to regain control by bearing away is the go

+3 to pulling your back foot in under your bum, i also hang off my rig more.

4 is it for tug the back foot in hard with heaps of pressure on the mast foot.

For bigger boards that slide and slide if you take your front foot out and stamp hard just behind the mast foot that will correct it. Its pretty awkward to do when you're sliding but it works.

Thanks guys,

I think I do pull my back foot in a bit without realising it and bear off as well, but probably not enough. Ill give it another go. Not a constant problem but the slide out yesterday was bizzare, there was no way it wanted to come back, must have looked like a truck sliding sideways on ice.

Thanks again.

i find i spin out when i am using a wave freestyle sail on ma waveboard.
everytime i bring the sail down towards the bottom of the footstraps i loose the tail,
i eventually sussed it out and now i can tailslide and bring it back in on the plain as like a trick.
when landing it happens aswell have to land with sail slightly forward.
to prevent this dishwashing skateboard action dont bring the sail paralell to the back board or get a bigger fin (looks like your one is is alread quite large try a board with a rail edge e.g slalom board mabe
mabe there is alot of weed in the area aswell

Gorgo said...


The solution is to press down more with your back foot rather than push sideways with your leg. In the extreme you can bend your back leg a little and ride more on top of the fin.

You can also get it by slipping a little as you come off some chop and coming down a little sideways. As has been previously said, suck the chop up with your knees so you don't get flicked off the chop. Pull the tail of the board around towards your bum so you land with the fin heading straight. It's also way more cool. You're doing a nice little planing chop hop instead of a get flicked into the air slide out sploosh.

Yep- concentrate on pushing that fin down down down to the bottom of the ocean. Ride that sucker DOWN!

Especially if you're trying to get upwind there is a tendency to try to push sideways with your foot. What you want to try to achieve is to put more pressure on the ball of your foot and to try to angle the board so that the leeward rail is lower in the water. You are then getting more upwind lift by driving off the fin, rather than trying to push it away from you.

Also, crank on a bit more downhaul. It should make the fin feel smaller (try it - you might be surprised).

It is wise to check the condition of the fin too. I find a new fin hangs on well but it only takes a few rubs on the bottom to create a flat spot which seems to make them let go more often. I sail with a 24cm Select Weedy most of the time with a 5.7 sail. I agree with the comments about harness postion, neutral or even a little front hand heavy.

Woud a larger fin help or cause more trouble?

Been trying out new board last two days in 20kts SE. 1st day had heaps of problems with fin spinouts, then today I adjusted the harness lines so more evenly balanced and no probs at all. So at this stage I am convinced it relates to the harness unless it redevelops. I didn't even take the fin out so no change there.
Thanks to the posts on this site to get me focussed.
Cheers!!

Krisiz1 said...

It is wise to check the condition of the fin too. I find a new fin hangs on well but it only takes a few rubs on the bottom to create a flat spot which seems to make them let go more often. I sail with a 24cm Select Weedy most of the time with a 5.7 sail. I agree with the comments about harness postion, neutral or even a little front hand heavy.

Took my own advice. Felt I was having spinouts more regularly than I remember. Went down to a 23cm Choco weedy/freeride. Hangs on like glue.

I found 34 points, what a windsurfer can do, when he got a spin out. I find, to write,make that or that, may sometimes help, but when I have a great catapult,
thats in my head for a long time. So it was for me the time to work fins without
spin outs. 20 years, i tried and tried. Result are doubleasymm.fins for both tacks,
at the base with a cut out, I work in 100% carbon. I try that what i worked in Strand Horst (Netherland.) 165km from there where I life . Shallow water and weed let you learn to work good weedfins, doubleasymm . concaves, cut out at the base. No spin outs. This system is good for all fins.Wave, slalom,freeride and
Speed. The speeder dont love weedfins. Angle of weedfins should be 45°. But I
tried 30°. Upwind very good, downwind very fast. Thomas Döblin made topspeed
with 50 knots. He used the first time the 22cm fin, she is 28cm long. With speed is
weed no problem, but it are 30°. I work the concaves diagonal. On both sides
it does not work. So on the left side ,from the base to the half,on the other side
from the half to the top . (Diagonal.) Concaves are behind the thickest point of
profile. It works leewards the half concave, the other half works on the way back.But the half concave for the way back reduce the vacuum on the other side.Faster, no spin outs. The concaves work at the base not so good how on the tip. So I reduce the concave at the tip 5%. Thats for both tacks okay. Thomas used a reduced right fin from left to right. But it should be better to have a fin from left to right,where the concave is leewards at the tip. Concaves work in deeper water better. I worked such a fin for him for 100 km/h. Now its winter here. Time to try new things. Thomas wait for wind, no time to think what is spin out. Wolfgang

move ya harness lines back further. will stop you loading up the rear leg so much, hence less spinout.

i was using the SS109 last year with a 7.2 race sail with a 36 cm ss fin and never spun out. you are using too big a fin for that sail and doing some stuff wrong.

Bertie said...

move ya harness lines back further. will stop you loading up the rear leg so much, hence less spinout.

i was using the SS109 last year with a 7.2 race sail with a 36 cm ss fin and never spun out. you are using too big a fin for that sail and doing some stuff wrong.

Any fin size suggestions for a 5.9 sail then? I thought it would have been ok...