The WhisperFin install and first rides

[Horton]

 

[Ryota]

That 32 with Whisper Fin looked a lot faster acceleration than stock fin.

[Stevie Boy]

I really like the look of it and idea of no calipers and would buy, but I have a issue sort of, currently skiing a Radar Pro Bulid, but liking the look of the D3 Evo, not sure if I will change, now at 299 dollars thats a big wedge for a fin when you might change ski and require a different thickness fin.

Wouldn,t it be fantastic if it came with a fin block that fitted all skis, requiring just one thickness fin.

Then I would drop the dollars.

This is not a rant , because I really do like it, just the difference in thickness Kinda puts me off.

[PatM]

During the silent movie part I was hearing ragtime piano in my head

[jimski]

Looks like your ski rides a little flatter with the whisper fin.

That's one he'll of a on side turn

[BobF]

Wow, that looks great! Drop in and go, no less.

 

@Stevie Boy I had the same thought. I'm on a D3, but considering a Radar. Given that the CG fin does not make a distinction between the thickness of their fin for D3 vs Radar, I wonder if one of them would be "good enough" for both? (and which one?)

 

Full disclosure - I already pulled the trigger and ordered the D3 version anyway. If I switch skis, I'm sure someone will take if off my hands. :smile:

[Horton]

What was amazing is that I could set up a ski without the real tools. Honestly my skiing is not where I want it to be at the moment regardless of the fin. I will ski again Wednesday and see if I can straighten me out so I can better assess the settings.

[Texas6]

You appeared to have a small hitch at the finish of your offside turn on your stock fin. It disappeared after you changed fins

[skialex]

@Stevie Boy I don’t think that a one fin block fits all is really possible, fits most yes. Goodes or older Maple skis for example have different hole pattern than most of the rest of the manufacturers.

Also usually the fin slot on the ski is cut for the specific fin thickness. It could give you some room for thicker or thinner fin but not every fin goes through every ski’s slot.

It’s a bummer to have to buy a new fin every time you buy a ski from a different manufacturer but then again a maybe 2-3 years old fin would not look good on a new ski. :)

[skiep]

He sells two different thickness One is like .080 and one .095

[ski6jones]

@Stevie Boy not sure a fin w/block would be that much cheaper than 2 fins.

[Garn]

So is it worth the money? @Horton, was there a significant difference in the feel between the two fins?

[skidawg]

After riding some of the Proto types, Jay is definitely onto something

[Jordan]

@Horton, your offside seems to be smoother and without any of the slight nose dig that I seem to remember. I'm curious, what changes would you make now?

[Stevie Boy]

So if you brought the thinner fin and had a couple of shims that you could super glue on for a wider slot would that work ,only problem is getting hold of 7 1/2 thou shims, possible ?

[mbabiash]

If I remember correctly. If in doubt buy the thinner fin. It will fit in all fin slots. Fin block should center the fin.

[jhughes]

Super cool stuff. The 19 PB is such an easy/brilliant ski to ride that I can't imagine it being any better than stock.

[evolski]

@Stevie Boy I have a thin Schnitz fin on a reflex and to manage it I took a pie tin and cut 3 small square pieces and folded it over the fin to fit snug in the slot. Works great, done it on 3 skies now. able to adjust as normal (Reflex is very sensitive to changes such as water Temp). May work here. or not.

[KRoundy]

That's really cool. A fin that is easier to set up and ski well right away is really amazing. I am becoming more and more tempted as time moves forward. Now that @SkiJay has shipped out the first batch of fins I'm sure we will be hearing more reviews here.

[SkiJay]

Most of my prototype fins were .080" or thinner, and they worked in every fin block out there. They only worked okay in the one-piece Goode fin block, but the Radar fin block fits perfectly on Goode skis if perfection is important to you. The thicker fin fits in all skis except Radar and Mapple, and it's too thick to install there, even with force.

 

I'd say there are two options. If you want one fin for all of the skis in your future, get the .080". Or use the right fin for your current ski and either sell it with that ski or sell it separately to a buddy or on Ski-It-Again.com if you think you'll never need it again.

 

Supplying two thickness is not convenient for me either. But there are good reasons for using the correct fin thickness in your ski.

[Stevie Boy]

@SkiJay thankyou for a clear explanation, I guess it,s the right fin for the right ski from my point of view.

[JC McCavit]

@Horton Any chance you can confirm your results using a Radar fin block, and are you using the fin thickness designed for the Radar in your MAD fin block mounted on your Vapor?

[Horton]

@JC McCavit good eye. Yes Jay sent me the thicker fin so I'm using my MAD fin block.

[SkiJay]

Radar skis and fin blocks are cut to very close tolerances. Occasionally, they can be quite tight even for the thinner fin. If your fin, standard fin or WhisperFin, doesn't move around easily when the fin clamping bolts are loose (on any ski for that matter), read this post to see how to make fin adjustments without damaging your fin: https://finwhispering.com/tight-fin/

[Horton]

Full disclosure.... cut @SkiJay some slack on the thickness thing. the fin I have isn't really really final production. And we probably just confused it.

[Horton]

So we're going to continue this review without calipers.

 

My feeling after two rides on the original settings is that the ski is a little loose at apex but if I ride the middle of the ski and don't push turns are pretty darn amazing. I notice that I'm not carrying as much line tension out to the ball and my trusty boat driver @Rico Suave commented that he doesn't feel me past centerline. I'm totally tempted to make multiple changes but for now I've moved my bindings forward 1/10"

[ozski]

Spoke with a guy a few weeks ago in Florida that made similar comments about the turn stability. If it's loose at -32 its going to be interesting at -38 so it will be interesting if you can tune it or adapt. Maybe a bit less DFT :)

[Horton]

NOTE: I am really trying to keep my experience and ideas out of the tuning process and only do what the instructions say. Jay and I have agreed that I will not ask him directly for his opinion.

---

 

The above changes were better. I am going to leave it like that for a few rides. This weekend I may add some depth. I have to read the instructions again a few times first.

 

The biggest positive I have felt so far is smoother on side turns. I think one of the biggest issue in my in skiing is mistakes I make at centerline through 1/2 way to the ball line. This fin seems to open up my margin of error in this phase. Less fin is almost always a good thing at On Side so this is not a surprise.

 

Another thing I feel but am unsure if I am going to tune out or not is the way the ski casts out. With the Whisper Fin the ski moves out earlier and faster. For a lot of skiers this would be a really good thing. Skiers whose stack and general technique at the wakes needs work often find the ski will not move out enough. Personally I like the ski to stay under my mass longer and flow out slower. I may end up adding depth to slow this down.

[paul413ski]

A without calliper set up and the ski and skier look really balanced

[JAS]

Looks like reduced fin surface area. Other than holes, is the size and shape it whisper fin similar to this fin from 25 years ago?

 

[Horton]

 

In the above video I am still following the instructions that come with the fin. I have basically inched my front binding forward every couple of rides and at this point I feel like I've gone too far. My next move is to move the bindings back a click and add some depth.

[Rednucleus]

From 3 to six you were early, earlier, earliest!! Can I borrow that fin please??

[Wish]

.

 

[Than_Bogan]

@wish Can you be a little more specific? Don't know what you're referring to.

[Jordan]

@Horton That was smooth!

[skiep]

One other note: I'm not seeing the spray in your eyes on 1-3-5 anymore either.

[skidawg]

Let’s see some 38’s

[6balls]

1,3,5 were awesome!

[paul413ski]

Nice skiing

[Horton]

Here is some footage from yesterday. I do not think the settings are final but it is for sure not bad. The settings for this ride 95% Jay and 5% me.

 

[GaryWilkinson]

@Horton For me the holy grail of ski/fin tuning is apex to first wake, specifically does the tip stay down through the finish of the turn and the ski keep its angle.

 

In the previous video “Test ride #7” your turns start out the same in the your pre-ball, turn to apex look the same, but it’s after apex that in the last video posted this morning where at almost every turn your ski pops up and out a bit, and thus producing a “reset” of angle and push of the middle and front of the ski back into cross course position. It looks like the ski is not liking the angle you’ve set, going too fast or you’re too much on the back foot.

 

All that to say whatever your settings were in the earlier video seemed to be working better than the latest ones.

 

Makes sense?

 

Btw, (I have no idea how to fix that situation, I only am providing an observation).

[Horton]

@GaryWilkinson short answer is the rope is shorter in newer video. First video is my mid summer opening pass.

[paul413ski]

1 3 5 looks good 2 4 looks grabby at apex ski looked better with the bindings further back in my humble opinion

[SkiJay]

Hey @Horton, 95% me and 5% you is kind of out of context.

I'm with @GaryWilkinson (good eye Gary). The previous setup was much better at keeping the tip down and locked. This setup was an experiment on both our parts to see what would happen if we replicated the same (leading edge location) LE as your standard fin. It did what we thought it would do, but didn't I say that ideally, LE needs to go forward from there to keep the tip down, way forward from there?

[BuckeyeBoy]

@ Horton, Can you share your fin measurements?

[Horton]

@BuckeyeBoy I have been changing my settings every ride or two since I put the fin on. If you go down the path of using a WhisperFin you are going to want to follow the process to find the settings that are right for you personally.

[aupatking]

Was that 3 @39?

[BraceMaker]

@Horton are you measuring yet or still doing the no caliper mode?

[Horton]

@aupatking I wish

@BraceMaker calipers for sure

[BobF]

I'm surprised by the absence of feedback from others. It's been a couple of weeks since the first shipments started, right? I'm getting kinda excited to hear from everyone. New thread?