LOST my Makani HAHALUA 43 cm weed fin

In October 2019 I was supposed to be operated for my hernias - yes, two of 'em ...

So, took a few days off before and went windsurfing on Tuesday October 15th at OKA Parc at La CrĂȘte beach. It was supposed to be 20 kph winds SW and cloudy with about 12 degrees C.

Since it was super light wind and my windmobile was dead n gone ... I brought the Fanatic Shark 145 HRS,  Gaastra Swift 10 m² sail, 50 cm Shark fin and Makani Hahalua 43 cm weedie. Dude suggested weed fin since water is low, but I prefer a freeride fin.


I tried the freeride, but kept coming in too close with the SW wind and scratching the fin
Thus I came in and put the weedie, which looked a little cracked ...
Took a chance and lost ...


That fin was actually purchased in 2010 to replace a Select 47 cm weed fin that was lost in the local Milles Isles River !!!

It is also about the 3rd fin that I have lost at OKA. I guess I have NOT learned my lesson.
These lessons are getting more n more expensive too ...
Makani did not seem to have the 43 cm weedie available any more :-(
Jean-Robert of Makani informed me:
"We stopped producing the larger weed fins as they are too expensive to ship back and forth" and then offered me a carbon 40 cm version for $300 USD !!

Fins seem to ALL be over $200 and since auventfou is closed, 2-rad carries mostly really high end stuff. Windspirit has some options, but not many specifications on sail range covered ...

I guess since people are going to foiling some larger sail and larger fin options will disappear ??


I feel like the windsurf industry needed a kick-start and they see wind-foiling as the route to go !!



On iwindsurf coachg gave me some ideas on light wind windsurfing and the subject does go to hydrofoiling ...

http://www.iwindsurf.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=34479&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&sid=3e0669a1bf113f4d23b2298d9b2b56d9

small update: my hernia operation was cancelled yet a third time
this time I am supposed to be a "priority patient"
yet my next scheduled date is November 21st - only 5 weeks away
and YES I will come in any time there is opening #$%^&*()_

Even worse news !!
There is NO wind this weekend S.T.

It is now @ the end of November and after my cataract and hernia operations I am at home and can search the web for weed fins, foils, etc :-)
Used fins now go for $140+ and cannot seem to find many long weed fins
Found a Black Project Weed Speed 42cm from DGEE not far from here and Andie of wind-nc.com has a G-10 version of the fin I lost ... have lotsa time before next use is required ...

WindWing

Somehow I have the misfortune of having acquired an OLD WindWing sail.
Interestingly enough Dr. Windsurf called it "new" as in not used and i can see why ...
I will let you judge for yourselves...

First let you show you what my wife saw when i rigged it for the first time:


She says it was all just wrong :-)

and now for my perspective...


It is fairly evident that the main issue is the battens are NOT full battens and as such do NOT give a solid pocket of air and for me just looks wrong. When i pick it up and jank on the sail to see pull, it is not too bad and should be okay for my trainees. What i was hoping for was a fully battened sail about 5-oh. This sail has NO specs written on it !! Must be really old !!!

I unrolled the sail again and looked at the paper from the sail bag...


There is a "paper" saying convert which is short for convertible. Another similiar paper was on the sail stating 4.6. Based on the additional information , it is 5'1" for the boom which is 152.5 cm ie short for me since i use large sails and booms and a luff of 14'3" which translates into 427 cm, which seems long for a small sail to me ...

I will investigate how WindWing is doing now...
They are obviously an American company and proud of it!


Did a quick investigation and windwing.com seems out of date and the name Hansen and Hansen Sails comes up all over the place. Apparently they both were at Hood River, Oregon for a while and perhaps back to Berkeley , California later. Their ways may have parted and i am unsure of what they are doing now... Both brands are lesser known sails to me - butt what do i know ?? Seems they, Hansen and Sistek formed Windwing somewhere around 1982 and were at one time the largest producers of windsurf sails in North America. Somewhere around 2009 and 2010 i see no more activity on neither the windwing nor the http://www.hansensails.com/Products.htm websites. However, there is discussion on the hansen forum about 2013 sails ...http://www.hansensails.com/Forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=274

In 2015 I decided to see and record how it looks with the PX RDM 460 mast. The mast extension is set to zero and batten #3 was changed with the FULL batten. Now wish I also had the FULL batten for #4. The boom I have is a bit long, but will do ...
It looks good, but worry about the window. If it is PVC, it is the same situation as the HSM SPF. Will ask on the iwindsurf forum ...


In JAN2016 I used it on the ice


In 2019 I decided to look for more winter sail options and was asking about it on quebecwind. Want something smaller than my HSM Fire 6.3 with full battens ... Yvente asked if I was missing a latte/batten..  I checked and this is what I found ...


This is batten no.4 when counting from the top.. It is a half batten, but a full batten could go !! I do NOT have any spare battens long enough and auventfou is now closed :-(
Looks like I could use an old batten of about 57 inches which is 142.5 cm ..
Will post this on quebecwind ... ask 2-rad - windsurfingdirect , etc , etc

BGOOD commented on quebecwind that this is the way the sail is designed ...
I thanked him and stated that was how I used it in JAN 2013 ...