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Tribal Powermax 30

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Created by mr love > 9 months ago, 22 Dec 2015
mr love
VIC, 2295 posts
22 Dec 2015 2:57PM
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Needing a bit of a fin quiver refresh I grabbed some Tribal Fins off KA's Peter Weitenberg earlier this season. A disclaimer here, yes I do design work for KA but no I have nothing to do with Tribal, Tribal is Peter and Chris Lockwood.
I grabbed a Slalom 38 which is a teriffic fin and what you expect of a slalom fin designed by Chris. 2 Speed fins which due to a terrible speed sailing season in Victoria have not been used and the Powermax 30. This fin was purchased to match my PC2 custom Bump and Jump board, a fast freeride designed for the rough Port Phillip Bay conditions. I have now had a chance to use this fin quite a lot and as far as I am concerned it has been fantastic, the Ducks Guts!!!

The fin has a more curved outline than the Slalom and is more swept back. Combined with a thicker foil section it is designed to be a fast but not furious fin excelling in less than perfect conditions, exactly what it delivers. I find it rock solid. I can load it up quite heavily and it has loads of grip not feeling delicate at all. Because of this you can drive the board hard off the fin and get really good upwind angles. When you bear off for speed it feels very slippery. Is it as fast as a pure slalom fin?? maybe not but I struggle to tell the difference and I have seen some decent numbers on the GPS for the rough conditions. Going fast on the Bay is hard and you do find yourself in the air at times. If you land back foot heavy your fin will let go, no question. I have found with this fin I rarely do it, it,s very forgiving and steady. Being a bit more swept back it also has less tendancy to lift the nose right out and you can power downwind with the board trimmed nice a flat and feeling very safe.

So I could not be happier with this fin, it appears to be everything that Tribal claim . In my opinion it would be hard to go past it for a fast freeride board if you sail in rougher conditions or if you have a very heavy back foot style. It would work great in boards like the Futura, Atomiq and Rocket, those fast freerides or detuned slalom boards. I am also sure it would be a great fin for Slalom racing in rough conditions as well.

Any cons? If I had to be really picky I noticed the fin head was not perfectly flat, there was some small amount of shrinkage when cast and the top surface was a touch concave. I had to spend a minute with a piece of sandpaper to get it to fit perfectly flush with the bottom of the board, but that is only because I am anal about that sort of stuff.

Well done Chris and Peter, an excellent fin.

w100
WA, 233 posts
22 Dec 2015 11:38PM
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I saw CL pulling huge speeds with the 30 and 36 PM / M 112. This model fits M very good and if I wouldn't wait for some new carbon toy from WA I'd gone for it for sure.
It reminds the CL2 carbon. Really can't rate it as "freeride" performer but,maybe,as easy as "freeride" feel.

mr love
VIC, 2295 posts
23 Dec 2015 6:36AM
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Yep, that new term "freerace" is probably a more accurate description and it,s perfectly suited to those style boards, the "detuned" slalom boards they now call freerace. That said what do most freeride sailors want? If you are into blasting and racing your mates or strap a GPS on when you go sailing then it,s perfect IMO.

ejmack
VIC, 1308 posts
23 Dec 2015 8:42AM
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I have two for my AtomiIQ100. A 34cm for the 5.8m and a 38cm for the 7m. 85kg sailor. Awesome fins. I sail mostly rougher conditions - rarely flat water. Perfect fit in the Starboard PB straight away. Really nice padded fin cover. I've used the 34cm a fair bit in 18-24 knots sailing out from Elwood and managed some of my best Port Phillip Bay speeds. Fast, secure and nice to gybe. Works really well in the AtomIQ.

My 34cm has spun out twice since I've had it, most probably due to poor technique. I found it a bit harder to "pull" back in and re-grip. My only negative, a very small one.

Delivery from the Netherlands was under a week so another tick there.



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"Tribal Powermax 30" started by mr love