Winter Monsoon Downwind Vid - Best conditions of 2016

[supuk]

I'm looking forward to a 16' x 25 Rail! Are you listening Jimmy?

That would be an ultimate all conditions board. It could rule in DWs and be close to a 14' race board on flats. It could turn too. Look how A10 chooses to use his 16' x 24.5 for surfing.

Im going to do some more 16  when i get home which are kinda like crossed between a m14 and a rail but thined out  and thenhopfully this summer will not be so crazy as last so will have to find a way for you to have a go. maybe we can arrange a big euro dw meet up week in france or something, some were  like lacanau were you have the mega lakes and a reliable sea breezes plus waves ect camping ect on the door step and good food and beer

[Argosi]

Eagle, thanks for your tips and screenshots. It is amazing how much the dugout fills up.. I can absolutely see that my legs did not move much and the right thing would be to step back as you say and head right. Something I have done many times on my Bullet but need to summon up the courage to do on the Ace. This is a manoeuver that I practice a lot in the flat and in downbreezer conditions both goofy and regular foot, but have not practiced much on the Ace, and clearly need to. But as you say when things get festive, the surf-nosed boards will be my preference too.

Once you get used to it, it's not too bad stepping back to the tail of the Ace. I find myself moving back and forth from the front of the standing area to the tail all the time - stay forward to catch the bumps then move back to avoid pearling and also slow down to stay on the bump longer. It  may be easier to maintain balance if you take 2 foot hops to move back and forth. One advantage with hopping is that you can continue paddling without interruption as you move move back and forth and maintain your speed. Once you get used to that, you can start stepping back. I have crappy surfing skills but with practice can now step back and forth on my Ace on a bump by bump basis. It's also a great workout and fun to boot. By getting back the right amount when on a bump, you'll dramatically reduce the amount of pearling.

Sometimes when I can't get back quickly enough or I catch a big bump that has a good probability of sending me flying, I'll drop down to one knee until I've made the descent down the face. This comes in handy for sure.

The Ace is tricky to surf steer on a bump (I use opposite rail steering more often) - except for very talented riders. When I catch a bump, I just go with the flow to ride it as long as I can and connect as many bumps as I can. If you have the fitness for it, the Ace is amazing in that you can continually connect bumps better than any other board I've tried. I can see how pros maintain such high average speeds on the Ace in not so high winds.

I've had an Ace in my quiver for about 5 years now (The NEW was the name before Starboard came to their senses and renamed it the Ace) so I've had the advantage of more practice on it than most. Funny, I first got one as a flatwater race board, but it's turned out to be my favourite downwind board by far.

Here's a video and photos of my Ace on a downwinder with winds of 27mph gusting to 37mph. The wind was side-offshore, so that made for nicely groomed bumps which is not what we normally get. As usual, the video makes it look smaller than it was. The photos do a better job of showing the conditions. Since it was consistently windy that day, I spent much of the time standing between the tail and half-way up to the front. When the wind gets weaker, I spend more time closer to the front of the standing area.
http://supdownwind.blogspot.ca/2015/11/nov-1-downwinder-jack-darling-to-col.html

Stick with the Ace on those downwinders. It'll be worth it as you get more used to the board.

[yugi]

^ Fun video. It's always fun to see different places.
I have a question: there seem to be some larger rolling waves. Are they rolling past you [faster]? Or am I reading that wrong?

[Larry Allison]

Good info here, thought I would share alittle history that was requested by a few of you from some PM's. I will start with 3 of the early on designs with a brief summary of why they were used.

The First is this pointer fin style, upright in shape like this Maui Fin Blade we produced for them in the late 80's. Alot of the companies on Maui liked this Upright design because it pivot turned quickly to keep up engaged with catching the next bump. The draw back was when you hit flats with this Upright Narrow design you would Yaw all over the place and battle to stay on your board.

[Larry Allison]

I never liked the Upright Blade design here in our Southern Calif Waters. So I came up with the Stealth Single fin which Jim Terrell liked back in 2010 when he was riding Barks. Here is a review from Standup Paddle Magazine in 2010 talking about that on my Blog
http://www.allisonsupracefins.com/blogger/post/2659487653875810304

The reason for this design was the reverse rake I create from my Windsurf Slalom design of the 80's to work on Bark Boards. The fin box on Barks were placed so far back on the tail like SIC which came out later with their version fin, like the pic below. Other fins with rake would be great for tracking but hard to maneuver which made this Allison Stealth Design the go to fin.

[Larry Allison]

Another Fin that started out as a unlimited fin for Rob Rojas in 2011 was another version of reverse rake to shed weeds but still turn quickly in the pic below. Now this fin is used for Touring and Yoga Boards called the Paddle Core Fitness fin for that same reason, large bottom end for stability and reverse rake to small tip for easy turning. 

[Larry Allison]

The Cutaway seems to be the favorite in downwinding. I don't do anything cutaway in the Sup World, because if mother nature is not pushing you then you are screwed due to lack of surface area at the base. This fin was popular in the 90's when high performance longboards were the rage. The purpose of this  type of fin is to maneuver a hard turning board on a wave with power pushing you and sucked in mushy waves. Which I find interesting in the Sup World when a company states this fin is "Great Buoy turning in Racing" My comment is: You Need to be on the board long enough to get to the Buoy to make the turn! Because you loose Stability and lack Drive due to a narrow fin base. For those of you who like this type of fin, Paddle it in flats with no wind, STOP Paddling quickly and watch how fast your board comes to a stop out of a glide and becomes Wobbly.

[Larry Allison]

OK now that I shared alittle history of my journey to present will help explain why I recommend certain fins for Downwind Situations.
Starting with the Ninja which is a Easy riding fin and the favorite of many for almost 10 years in the Sup Community. The Ninja has a good bottom end for lateral hold and power to pull you thru the flats. The leading front edge cuts thru seed weed nicely with the top section flexing small for good release having the feel of a 8 inch high fin glide, this concept only works in a Fiber Glass Structure make up. The Ninja is a popular downwind fin for high volume tails or where the fin box is placed forward further than 15 inches off the tail. You need the long sweep of the Ninja for hold.

[Area 10]

Larry - I shouldn't think many people are using cutaway fins like that for downwinding: they work best in a 2+1 setup and all production DW boards that I know of are single fins. Although, I was actually considering ordering a custom DW board with a modified 2+1 setup, but that's another story...

The fins that work surprisingly well for DW in festive conditions are in my opinion those with a narrow base and a bulb at the tip, like the True Ames Squirrel cutaway and the FCS Fat Boy. I'm sure the design could be improved upon for SUP though, so it would be great to see what you and your testers could come up with on that general theme. I'm sure you wouldn't have trouble finding prototype testers on the zone here (including me!).

[Larry Allison]

Nice to see you Area10, Let me finish this run down then I will come back to ask you a few questions. Now coming into more refined boards with fin box placement 8 to 15 inches from the tail this is one of the fastest selling fins for downwind in my line up. It's the Moray which is 8 1/2" in depth, but flexs small for release to give you the glide feel of a 6 1/2" fin. This fin only works well in a Fiber Glass Structure also for proper flexing. The beauty of this fin is it carries you thru the flats good and maneuvers the bump easily with good hold. This fin is a popular riding fin in the Gorge and Northwest coming off white cap peeks, along with good stability for the rider.

[Larry Allison]

For you guys that like riding smaller depth fins my Dolphin JR fin is the popular fin which Infinity riders like. Dave B. runs this fin with Ventral Assist in flats and runs it single on bump riding where he has more power coming from behind pushing the tail. This Fiber Glass Structured fin at 7 1/2" in depth with 47 sq area has good bottom end with a tapered outline for good release which we have been using now.

Carbon Foam lightweight structure, which will be available soon, reacts pretty similar in performance to Fiber Glass which is why I designed this plan shape. Notice in the pic below where I laid the 7" Stealth Terrell from the early days over the JR Dolphin of today the leading front edge has alittle more fuller upright for Quick turning but still sheds weeds along with alittle more  surface area in the trailing edge for added stability. 

[Larry Allison]

Then we get to the Aercor which guys call the Rudderless Keel. This fin has 2 different foil sections which act differently depending on the angle of attack of water flow. The front section has a 50/50 foil section for fast flow thru water with a 30/70 behind for turning.

When power is pushing you from behind water notices this fin outline and not the hole. When foot steering pressure is applied and you lean to turn now water sees the hole and because there is no resistance the fin reacts small and allows you to turn on a dime. When you come out of the turn and speed is built up the fin locks again going straight.

The trick to understand this fin is: If Mother Nature is pushing you from behind and little Paddle engagement is needed to maintain glide then the Aercor Fin is Magic. If you need to Paddle more to maintain glide then the JR Dolphin or Moray is the fin of choice.

The Unique design of the Aercore Fin is also why it is a good quick responding Wave riding fin compared to others.

[Eagle]

"The trick to understand this fin is: If Mother Nature is pushing you from behind and little Paddle engagement is needed to maintain glide then the Aercor Fin is Magic. If you need to Paddle more to maintain glide then the JR Dolphin or Moray is the fin of choice."

It seems the general theme has been stability at the base with release at the tip except for the Aercor.   Larry what dimension do you have for the trailing edge for that yellow Stealth?  In your earlier pic it looks like 7" and the blue JT 9" - but not all the way to the bottom.  The SIC 7.0 is around 7-3/4" measured perpendicular all the way to the bottom as shown.  So the area of the 7.0 looks to be less than both the Stealth and JR Dolphin.

The Moray seems to be better for less wind -> and Aercor better for more wind.  How does the Fat Boy (squirrel) fin solution play into the DW equation from your perspective?

[Larry Allison]

Now I thought to share a peek at a new design I created at 7 1/2" deep for strong Downwind conditions made in a Fiber Glass Structure only because flex is super important in this outline and only one size. Because going larger in size makes this fin tip prominent and works against you and causes you to work against the fin and the water conditions, not a good situation to deal with.

[Larry Allison]

"The trick to understand this fin is: If Mother Nature is pushing you from behind and little Paddle engagement is needed to maintain glide then the Aercor Fin is Magic. If you need to Paddle more to maintain glide then the JR Dolphin or Moray is the fin of choice."

It seems the general theme has been stability at the base with release at the tip except for the Aercor.   Larry what dimension do you have for the trailing edge for that yellow Stealth?  In your earlier pic it looks like 7" and the blue JT 9" - but not all the way to the bottom.  The SIC 7.0 is around 7-3/4" measured perpendicular all the way to the bottom as shown.  So the area of the 7.0 looks to be less than both the Stealth and JR Dolphin.

The Moray seems to be better for less wind -> and Aercor better for more wind.  How does the Fat Boy (squirrel) fin solution play into the DW equation from your perspective?

The Yellow Stealth is 7" depth, My Blue Dolphin JR is 71/2" depth.