Does water temperature affect fin performance?

Tell us how you really feel metard.lolz

I still maintain I can look at a board and know if I can suerf it or not.I'm sorta embarassed by my lack of technical knowledge aboot suerf boards. The main thing is to have the right wax and your leash properly tied.(and your stuff hidden in the dunes just in case) I do like hearing peeps who are more knowledgeable than I discuss the pros and cons of different designs but do think it gets a little silly at times. Surfing is an art not a science.

 

Ok. Fair enough. All the science is above my mental capacities but are we talking about surfboard fins or de-icing airplane wings? The latter concerns me more. I just need to be able to track. Kudos Roy, keep the wheels a turnin.

 

None of you science guys has replied to the hydrofoil suggestion. Here is the rationale - no board in the water, so you get a pure test of fin drag. You could pull a guy on a jet ski and he could let go at say 25 mph, and you could measure drag based on speed and length of ensuing glide. Then do it again with the same rider, same foil, same speed, same water surface conditions (glassy), much colder temp. That way you could see right away if it made a big or negligible effect in the real world.

I know what you're thinking - it's a metal foil. But once you ran the initial tests in warm and frigid water, you could then change out the bottom wing with carbon fiber, graphite, etc, to compare materials and which operate with least drag under what temps. Capiche?

 

After riding the Gull Wing BLEF skeg, I will testify that makes sense. It has lots of lift compared to standard fins.

 

Roy, your craft is interesting and once again, credit to you for sending that sample fin to the swellers. But I've got to say, if you're wondering whether fins perform differently in cold water, you have either:

A) come up with another successful marketing thread, or

B) run out of sheep to f*ck and finally snapped

 

roy ur a cool dude but u lose me man.i cant follow these spaceboards with 14k$ finboxes.shyt I wish I had a 14k$ car.

slashdog I'm going with b on that one

 

BLEFF!!!!! Named for the noise Roy's sheep makes when he jams his dong in it.

 

You are right dad. I've been bad and will go to my room and think about what I have done and try and be a better person...

Wait, on second thought,

GO FUK YOUR SHEEP you piece of monkey jizz. Jokes about you banging a sheep never get boring.

 

After giving it some additional thought, I might suggest that fins might actually work BETTER in colder, denser water. For example, airplanes need to go faster on a hot day to get off the ground because it's harder to get the necessary lift required for flight in the less dense air. On a cold day there's more friction/drag, but the plane needs less speed to get the same response.

This whole argument is moot, though... there's way too many other factors that confound this variable.

 

Saltwater or fresh water?

 

Theoretically, yes... but under surfing conditions in the real world environment, not necessarily. Other factors will render the difference imperceptible, if not totally negated... primarily, the increased energy of a cold water wave compared to a warm water wave of the same size/shape.

Another key factor is related to density change. Increased density results in higher planing and decreased drag... I would argue... cancelling out the increased friction from increased viscosity.

 

Hey Roy, I fixed it for ya.

 

Water temperature affects my d!cks' performance.

 

hope you all realize this thread is just a setup for a new line of fins: the hot and cold water BLEF series.