For lightwind I'm riding Spleene Door 159cm. On the lowest end riding board almost flat (can't edge much anymore) works but setting board flat makes me go much less upwind. The fins on the board are 50mm(middle) and 47mm (heel).
Here goes the question - if I put 85mm Ocean Rodeo fins instead of middle 50mm fins am I going to improve upwind? What are negative side effects I'll face?

prolly not it will only add drag where you need speed...maybe if place them centered of heel side at edge for balance, since the board is flat without edging. its balance and speed -----go foil.

I have a liquid force Proof 161 that I swapped the stock fins for 2.5 inch KGB fins and it made a huge difference in upwind.
Entirely different board than yours...but I'd try the big fins and see how it goes....every rider has a preferred setup....

I'd just be happy to even get to try a Spleene Door...looks like an awesome light wind machine...

I think my heart is set on a OR Mako though.. :D

Well, folks change fins on twintips, depending whether they ride a flat water or waves. There must be a reason so it got me puzzled.

I'm not going to add additional fins, even though flydoor has a fairly large middle fin, just asking if replacing fins with larger ones will help me to get better traction when I ride board almost flat, with minimal edging. 85mm seem to be much larger than current ones but if I only going to decrease speed and get no better traction/upwind, well, that sucks then.

Quote: Originally posted by crazyherb

I have a liquid force Proof 161 that I swapped the stock fins for 2.5 inch KGB fins and it made a huge difference in upwind. Entirely different board than yours...but I'd try the big fins and see how it goes....every rider has a preferred setup.... I'd just be happy to even get to try a Spleene Door...looks like an awesome light wind machine... I think my heart is set on a OR Mako though.. :D

Door is a lightwind machine, I could go in 7 knots on it under 19m Speed3 Deluxe and I'm 200 lbs
But as I said on the lowest end, when any edging stalls me I can still go board flat but loose upwind.
I ride Mako too, a small one 135x37cm. It's my "high wind board" actually, I got it for riding chop in blasting conditions as my regular board is RIP measuring 137x42 and it's too wide for high winds.

Quote: Originally posted by grigorib

Quote: Originally posted by crazyherb   I have a liquid force Proof 161 that I swapped the stock fins for 2.5 inch KGB fins and it made a huge difference in upwind. Entirely different board than yours...but I'd try the big fins and see how it goes....every rider has a preferred setup.... I'd just be happy to even get to try a Spleene Door...looks like an awesome light wind machine... I think my heart is set on a OR Mako though.. :D Door is a lightwind machine, I could go in 7 knots on it under 19m Speed3 Deluxe and I'm 200 lbs But as I said on the lowest end, when any edging stalls me I can still go board flat but loose upwind. I ride Mako too, a small one 135x37cm. It's my "high wind board" actually, I got it for riding chop in blasting conditions as my regular board is RIP measuring 137x42 and it's too wide for high winds.

sounds pretty good at 7knts. how much depower on the trim do you run ? board sounds like its doing what it suppose to, on the fin thing you can run as small as you can feel the grip, a good realization for me with fins was its about tracking, not nesscarily "grip" l have dropped entire toeside on most i run and they are just small jet fins. the kite can move forward with more depower and adding forward balance. with your head more forward and slightly windward you can get the up line back.
also skim board stuff matches well, small , "light touch" flat riding. for me added some fun and surfy action.

Quote: Originally posted by PHREERIDER

sounds pretty good at 7knts. how much depower on the trim do you run ?

Do you say I should have trimmed in under those conditions? I didn't trim in any, it was fully out but I also sheet out most of that ride. I felt comfortable with that range.
The grip on water is what I needed more.
I have a Liquid Force Fish board which came with small fins and it did skip a lot. I pull 8" Litewave fins and what a change there was - I could finally put some pressure on those fins. I understand that 85mm fins won't bring me to Flysurfer Razor type of riding but it might help.

it will give better up wind, kite will have less overall drag and fly faster--->speed....power you got, u are stalling kite with grip. when you are moving windward, the kite is not moving windward...its stalling.... you fall off wind to regain speed....kite trim holding u back. when you get down to small net power everything counts, kite position in window, body/head windward fall position, all balanced and smooth. it will make the kite more overfly prone so u have to nurse it back into the window with steady bar tension and feel thru the harness

more speed is good.

Don't get me wrong, I was keeping my distance but I wanted more. When I trimmed in low wind in I started getting slack in rear lines and 19m is too slow anyways so slack in rear lines wasn't helping.

adding trim will give the kites absolute bottom and give maxium windward point of sail. speed 1/2/3?

Speed3 19m Deluxe. Are you talking about trimming on bar or about bridle trim to change wing geometry?

at the trim above depower line. depower a little at a time til u get use to it. reach and grab up the lines to make faster turns.

S3 has triple depower its an amazing kite , explore the bottom half of the settings, i do like the heavy bar settings on the bridle.

Quote: Originally posted by PHREERIDER

at the trim above depower line. depower a little at a time til u get use to it. reach and grab up the lines to make faster turns. S3 has triple depower its an amazing kite , explore the bottom half of the settings, i do like the heavy bar settings on the bridle.

Cool. Thanks!

all feedbacks and my own experience summed up I've made a call - got myself a set of four 85mm fins and my target is to be able to ride a 159cm door board in 6 knots. Will test in OBX this spring and report on results here.

Worst case - I'll use two of them for wiggly-super-fun Ocean Rodeo Mako for chop and waves. Actually I'll try that anyways

So I tested it. With four 85mm fins riding the door reminds a railway track ride - steady and straight. Then I left only two large fins on it replacing heelside fins back to 50mm set and it worked out better. Rode in very light wind - about 7 knots but can't say whether I could have ridden smaller fins with everything else the same way.

i have been on only heelside finns for my go to board for a while , and they're tiny jet finns.

7knots on a door sounds like alota extra sessions to me. for a TT thats damn good.

gee, I got used to large fins fast. Coming back from a trip I took the fins off and then put small fins back at home.
Had a session on a lake recently and was going like "what the heck has happened, why do I have that skimboard feeling of a board under my feet"

So two large fins are back on my door.

Overall - yet another positive feedback for large fins for low wind riding

Glad to hear big fins worked for you, and nice to hear feedback.
Just found the bottom end of my Switch Helium 18M and Proof 161 tonight super light wind (10-14mph).
Had to wait for the gust to get me going then, let apparent wind kick in..
Still haven't snagged a Mako King yet...while not a light wind specific board I got to ride one last week and fell in love with it's ability to upwind like a home-sick angel, yet still "surf" around when you flatten it out...


ROCK ON with those big fins!!

Quote: Originally posted by crazyherb

....Mako King yet...while not a light wind specific board I got to ride one last week and fell in love with it's ability to upwind like a home-sick angel, yet still "surf" around when you flatten it out... ROCK ON with those big fins!!

The 85mm fins I've got are the large TTS Ocean Rodeo fins they put on Mako King. They match the Door and the Liquid Force boards and I have contact for the guy who sells them. Try to put a couple on your proof board and it'll be a very cost efficient conversion to something close to Mako King, at least in the upwind portion. The rocker and concave of Mako are irreplaceable though

And to merge into the next topic - put lines extensions so they're about 35m eventually.
Basically spending $32 on fins and $50 on line extensions to add a knot or two on the low end makes a hell of the return on investment in satisfaction.

Funny you mention longer lines...I run the 18M on 30M lines...and was thinking to myself last ride... "I should add that set of 5M extensions I have laying in the garage, next session."