The Body of a Fin
Want know how to name the body parts? Here’s a starting point for the different parts of a fin. Who knew that there was so much in a simple fin?
01. Tip
The bottom of the fin. The tip is the part that creates the most drag in relationship to its size. If you start roughing it up with 50 grit sand paper (ie the beach), you will get more drag, and it will SLOW YOU DOWN.
02. Leading Edge [LE]
The shape and smoothness of the LE is critical to your performance. Any imperfections in the LE can cause the fin to stall early and ruin your groove.
03. Trailing Edge [TE]
Watch out it’s sharp. We actually dull it down but you could still use it to cut cheese. You don’t want the rear edge too sharp as the water flow will create turbulence as the water flow from either side rejoins.
04. Outline
The 2D shape of a fin. Ask your 4 year old niece/nephew to draw around your fin onto paper … you have an outline!
05. Chord
Chord of a fin is measured by the length from front [LE] to back [TE]. Putting the rake back on your fin will also make the chord longer as it is measure parallel to the water line.
06. Foil
Think of your foil as a plane wing. It is how the water moves over and around the fin. We’ll talk more about foils later.
07. Finish
How smooth the surface feels on the fin. Different finishes produces varying degrees of laminar or turbulent flow. We’ll cover more later. The type of foil and your style depends on what type of finish you need.
08. Base
Goes in here. The base attaches the fin to rest of your kit. You may want some bolts to make sure it stays together.
09. Inserts
Makes the bolts stay in, lines indicated direction of the hole in case you need to re-align the bolts.
10. Cover
Yes these sexy fin covers come free of charge. Useful for protecting your fin, getting it in and out of your board, keeping your fin cool and just general all round coolness. You can have one too! Just remember to take it off before you go sailing, they don’t float.