Carbon fin verses aluminum fin????

[Bud Man]

The 9700 came in today with a Goode option fin and a standard shape carbon fin. I think the option fin looks like the back has a reverse slope up towards the boots. I think I want to start with the standard shape. I do not have a clue what the advantage of carbon has over aluminum. What is it with the carbon fin. Should I try it first or use a standard shape aluminum off of another ski I have?  I want to ski in the morning so a fast reply would be appreciated. Multiple replies would be great. Thank you ahead of time for your help.

 Goode 9700, 65.5â€, 140 AMP, 144lbs, 5’ 10â€. 34 mph, Short line.

[Horton]

Just so happens the owner of this site most likey was also the person who made your fin.

Just call me if you want.

John Horton 

661-378-1402

[Horton]

http://www.ballofspray.com/vanillaforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=504&page=1

 

[Horton]

OK now I am haveing fun looking back

The Story:
In the Spring of 2002 we started manufacturing fins out of Carbon Composite for ourselves and found dramatic results. We found that the correct fin flex is far more critical to your skiing success then anyone thought. Just like with a ski, a fin that is too stiff is unforgiving. The aluminum fin that came with your ski is a good starting point but is too stiff for most ski/skier combinations.

The Coyote Brothers Research Carbon Composite blade has a softer flex and faster rebound then your stock aluminum blade. For most shortline skiers changing from a stock aluminum blade to a Carbon Composite blade will result in better consistency, smoother turns and a greater margin of error at the end of the turn. Skiers in the Jr. and Sr. divisions using softer blades skiing shortline at slower speeds experience much tighter turn radius.

The Theory & The Feeling:
The very end of the turn is where the highest percentage of the skiers inertia is pushing on the blade. This is also the point where a Carbon Composite Blade will flex substantially more and then rebound faster. The additional flex or "give" at the end of the turn with a Carbon Blade dampens the hookup just enough to give the skier a chance to improve body position and prepare to head for the wakes. This slight delay also allows the ski to finish with more angle. The "Feeling" is like you have a softer tail ski at the ball (without a loss of acceleration at the wakes).

Converts:
Converts to the Coyote Brothers Research Carbon Composite Blades include, 2006 Men III National Champion Greg Badal, 2006 Men V National Champion Ed Hickey, world renowned slalom coach Chet Raley, the Men's 3 Midwest Regional Slalom Record holder Scott Tynan, Girls 2 National medalist Hannah Fielding, eight time U.S. National Overall Champion Dr. Jack Horton,  Slalom powerhouses Paul Crawford, Brad Hartwell, Mark Scheewind, Scott Gurnett, Brian Hockenbery, Will Bush and Bob Edie.

[Horton]

A Carbon Fiber fin that is well taken care of will outlast a modern ski. In the 4 years that CBR has been working with Carbon Fiber Fins there has not been one fin that has broken or shown damage from normal on the water use. Of course there have been a few fins that have been destroyed when they impacted a magnet or piece of debris. If you are concerned about debris impacts at your lake then I do not recommend a CarbonFin. Debris impacts are extremely rare on most tournament ski lakes so for most skiers this is not an issue.

Flexing back and forth will slowly degrade the strength of an aluminum fin.  With enough use any aluminum fin will eventually fail from fatigue. Within the last 10 years at least one ski company tried to use a thinner blade stock or softer grade of aluminum that caused numerous catastrophic failures.

The good news is that as of summer 2005 none of the big ski manufactures are currently shipping skis with fins that appear to be at risk. All of these fins look like they will outlast the normal life of the ski. To achieve this level of safety the big factories have gone to stiffer blades and that gets me back to performance…...

[Horton]

Your current blade: HO and O'Brien have adjusted their blade thickness somewhat over the years. Goode, KD, Connelly and D3 appear to have settled in on relatively thick (Stiff) blades. As the Aluminum fin blade thickness varies the skier may feel that the ski is faster or slower and or more or less forgiving. Conventional Wisdom says that these perceived changes are because of the width of the leading edge. This is not completely untrue but the performance characteristics that are associated with thickness are actually more a function of flex. (With Aluminum as thickness increases the blade becomes stiffer.) It is true that the as frontal surface increases so does drag as well as lift but these factors are not the source for most perceived difference.

Flex Matters: An extremely stiff blade like those made from stainless steel or titanium will result in a very fast feeling ski that offers very good performance but only if the skier is in 100% perfect body position. By comparison a overly soft blade will most likely make the ski feel sluggish and cause the skier to be narrow. Another analogy is that a overly stiff blade feels like a very aggressive and fast Cruse Control setting and a overly soft blade feels like a slow boat time. The optimum blade for any skier is somewhere between these two extremes.

[Horton]

Note: comments above are 5 years old

[Ali]

So have you anythng to add with 5 years more knowledge?

cheers

Ali

[jdarwin]

I don't know about all that but my oldest daughter can tell the difference and she is oblivious to most things regarding her ski.  But take the CBR fin off her D3, and she's looking for someone to hit!!  On certain D3's, it makes a dramatic difference.  I hate the fact that JTH no longer produces the fins but I understand the economic realities of the decision.

[ForrestGump]

On my old D3 Custom X I could tell the difference with JTH's fin compared against the stock one. 

[Steven]

I'm glad I have 2 CBR Fins as this is the only fin I've used in the past 7 years. http://www.ballofspray.com/vanillaforum/js/tinymce/jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-cool.gif

[RichardDoane]

I sold mine to Boody last year, that's one of the reasons he's skiing so well

[oxmach]

I have a CRB fin from my old Monza, any thoughts on putting it in an A1?

[Horton]

Yea. Try it. Always try it. If it rocks you win. If it sucks you lost a ride or two. Used exact same settings as you have stock fin.

[Ali]

When I went from Monza to A1 the carbon fin came with me.

cheers

Ali