Obrien 4 hole fin vs 5 hole fin

[addkerr]

So skiing on a 2010 elite, and had some recent thought on the fin. There are four holes in an elite fin compared to the five that are pretty common(d3). I have seen some people drill an extra hole in the past but left mine the way it is. Has anyone done this or Any thoughts on doing this/ pros and cons of 4 vs 5 holes.

[MattP]

@addkeer No reason to change the fin. The hole pattern and fin thickness is that way for a reason. I'm positive that other designs were tried during product testing. They (Andy, Adam, Drew, Glenn, Cale) chose the 4 hole for a specific reason. You can try a different fin. Keep in mind that it might not fit like @brent said. Once you make the slot bigger you can go back. I ski on an Elite and have thought about trying something different but was told not to mess with it.

[addkerr]

@MattP well said, as always the case its the skier not the ski.

[Bill Gladding]

I am riding a 67.5" Elite at 6'2" 205 lbs. I am using a stock fin with a few extra ventral experiementation holes. Currently running small ventral at front of fin and no wing. Tried rear ventral in addition but it was too much drag. Just knocked off my first full speed blue loop Saturday so happy with set-up. On another note I was running double Stradas but switched to Wiley rear to get my ankles closer together which has made a huge improvement in my consistency. Best I could figure the double Stradas were adding about and inch between my rear heel and front toe:(

[Bill Gladding]

I meant front heel and rear toe!

[eleeski]

Break out the grinder on the fin. Or find one of these antiques: HO pacman fin.

Eric

[addkerr]

reminds me of when we used to hack the back of the fin off on our shnitz skis :)

[SkiJay]

Or you could try to make an exact duplicate Chet Raley's fin:

 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1530989/Waterskiing/Chet's%20Fin.JPG

[MattP]

Looks like he took a knife sharpener to the edge,(does it need to be sharp at the rear? then got drunk and played with the drill near the rear, then played some video games from the 60's and cut a packman into it, and it looks like he thought about moving his front ventral forward more. Chet could ski on a 2x4 with an @eleeski triple fin and still run 39 on a bad day.

 

[thager]

I sharpened a fin once as a kid. Cut right through my cutoff jeans and a little into the skin on a fall. Experiment over!

[SkiJay]

I actually asked Drew Ross about drilling a fifth whole in my 65.5" Elite fin a couple of months ago, and he recommended against it. Jason McClintock is using the four hole fin too.