Tuning Hobie Turbo Fins

[dsafety]

As a person who has spent a lot of time on sailboats I will add own my small brain opinion. The Hobie fins are really foils just like sails or airplane wings. You get lift or in the case of the fins, forward thrust.

On a sailboat, when the wind is light, you want a lot of curve in the sail. When the wind is strong, you flatten the sail and get more speed. I cannot explain the physics but it just works.

One of the things mentioned in the post on the Hobie site was that kayaks never reach a speed where the "flatter is faster" rule works. I have no idea if that is a true statement but if it is, it makes sense that having a fin with more curve will provide more thrust.

I should not have labeled other's opinions as "bad advice" so if anyone was offended, please accept my apology. What I should have said is that we now have a different theory to consider.

When everything settles out, the difference between one setting and another is probably in the noise and will not have much of an effect on the average guy's day on the water. On the other hand, if you take into consideration that some guys, Skallywag comes to mind, put thousands of miles on their yaks every year, having your gear set up so it provides the most most efficient propulsion could save a lot of wear and tear on the body.

Bob