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Board W/O fins

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mike holmes
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Board W/O fins

Postby mike holmes » Tue Jul 30, 2013 6:06 am

From a topic on this forum:
joe weiss wrote:The airush website is very confusing...
is this the Razor ?

Image
The kiter is not using any fins on his board, I guess they have some kickers and sliders on the lake he is kiting at.
Wonder how the Infra handles W/O fins.
I know that there are some boards that have a specific shape to help out when the fins are not there.
Usually that shape involves channels at the sides of the board, but I might be wrong.

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Re: Board W/O fins

Postby mike holmes » Wed Jul 31, 2013 6:27 am

No one ?
There is not a single kiter on KF that took the fins of his Xenon Infra ?
No one with experience with channeled boards and no fins ?
Guess i would have to make some tests on my LaLuz, but then again I am more interested in the shape and design changes between a board that is intended to be used with out any fins.

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Re: Board W/O fins

Postby jespin4845 » Wed Jul 31, 2013 12:39 pm

there is a guy at my spot that rides his laluz finless, very fluid carves, myself i had an asylum that i rode finless, great feeling, now i ride a misfit with .75 fins,...its nice to have some fins cause of the chop, re-engage my edge in choppy waters easier...if i kited in california/hawaii type waves/water i wouldnt have fins, just take them off man, takes a session to really start digging that edge, u might keep them off or put them back on...also takes a bit different technique to load up for a big jump, upwind doesn't matter its all about rocker for that, at least to me, others would disagree...

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Re: Board W/O fins

Postby mike holmes » Wed Jul 31, 2013 12:47 pm

jespin4845 wrote:there is a guy at my spot that rides his laluz finless, very fluid carves, myself i had an asylum that i rode finless, great feeling, now i ride a misfit with .75 fins,...its nice to have some fins cause of the chop, re-engage my edge in choppy waters easier...if i kited in california/hawaii type waves/water i wouldnt have fins, just take them off man, takes a session to really start digging that edge, u might keep them off or put them back on...also takes a bit different technique to load up for a big jump, upwind doesn't matter its all about rocker for that, at least to me, others would disagree...
Isn't the board too wobbly When landing big jumps or kiteloops ?

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Re: Board W/O fins

Postby Starsky » Wed Jul 31, 2013 1:40 pm

Dont have that board, but have ridden without fins a ton. My latest board was designed to be finless. I find it brings the feeling closer to that of a snowboard where easy gliding 180 switches are a regular part of riding.

Changes the feeling of loading up for big airs, but not really for smaller airs. It also makes landing out of small airs a little more forgiving, but landing really fast and hard a little easier to skip out.

Even with fins, I haven't used anything bigger than 1" in years. Average kiteboard fins feel really constrained and directional to me now.

Its all what you get used to.

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Re: Board W/O fins

Postby jespin4845 » Wed Jul 31, 2013 1:58 pm

At first it feels wobbly, get used to it though, muscle memory

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Re: Board W/O fins

Postby TheJoe » Wed Jul 31, 2013 3:10 pm

Don't need fins unless your on a surf board or a race board. They are handy in the chop just for some extra bite. Does not matter which board you have.

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Re: Board W/O fins

Postby dyyylan » Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:55 pm

TheJoe wrote:Don't need fins unless your on a surf board or a race board. They are handy in the chop just for some extra bite. Does not matter which board you have.
this, although channels do help a bit with grip.

i ride the LF influence with boots and sometimes take fins off if there isn't too much chop, and it's fine. doesn't have a ton of bottom shape so it feels a bit slippery but you get used to it and it's not a big deal at all, no loss in upwindability etc. the only time ive found it really makes a big difference is when there are little waves everywhere and you have lots of power, then it's hard to keep your grip on a line.

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Re: Board W/O fins

Postby sharky79 » Thu Aug 01, 2013 6:31 am

Took off my fins just recently. I ride a Xenon LaLuz and it's a blast.
It's just so much fun, if you are considering going finless then just give it a shot.

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Re: Board W/O fins

Postby mike holmes » Thu Aug 01, 2013 8:31 am

Thank you for the replies. Surely i will give it a try.
What interests me is the shape of boards intended for no fins or very small fins.
unlike wake boards we kiters rarely ride flat so the wake boards shape is different from a kite board.


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