Fin/Water Temp

[Stevie Boy]

Would it be a correct assumption that, most manafacturers test skis in florida and that the fin settings are based on testing in warm florida water, I am reading that for every 10 degrees in temp drop the fin should go back .003 thou.

Any thoughts for skiers who ski in water with a much lower temp than florida ?

[ForrestGump]

I wouldn't assume that. A lot of testing happens in the NW, too.

[ToddF]

Connelly, Radar, HO, Obrien and D3 are all based out of or around seattle, and Goode is in Utah, so I am guessing a lot of the testing that goes on is in colder water as well.

 

[Horton]

@ToddF skis are built in those places. The test teams are all over. The numbers are set where the test skiers are. California, Utah, Louisiana, Texas, and mostly Florida.

 

And Stevie Boy I do not know who gave you that 10 degree rule but I do not know ANY pro skiers who does that. Get your ski to work for you, put your caliper away and go ski.

[gsm_peter]

I find salt compared to sweet water have a huge impact but I assume that is taken care of by the wing settings?

Or??

 

[thager]

Wouldn't be nice to have fin numbers by locale and water temp? There.... I feel so much better.!

[Stevie Boy]

@horton just trying to work out what is going on, my skiing is at it's all time low, here's the link to an article written by Chris Rossi.

http://www.usawaterski.org/pages/Instructional Articles/Slalom/ColdWaterRecommendations.pdf

[MattP]

We all go through slumps. Sometimes taking a few days off can do more than a fun change. Make sure it is where you had it when things were going good.

[Stevie Boy]

Brought the ski in florida, the ski was setup in florida, back to the UK and the ski is not feeling the same, tried many fin settings, with various results, @horton I do not want to play fins any more, just ski.

But it's not right.

[addkerr]

@Stevie Boy What ski? I change from Florida to UK water a bit.

[SkiJay]

@Stevie_Boy I do the Florida/Canada swing which is probably comparable to the Florida/England exchange. I've done a lot of experimentation with ski setup in a somewhat futile attempt to recapture the Florida magic in Canada, and have come to a few conclusions.

 

- No matter what you do, cold water skis firmer than warm water. It's more viscous and has more surface tension. Nothing you can do to the ski is going to change the physical properties of cold water into those of warm water. A snow equivalent would be trying to get a pair of snow skis to ski powder snow like it's hard-pack.

 

- Cold water creates more drag, so cold water takes more effort than warm water to get wide in.

 

- Cold water is less forgiving than warm water. You can kind of mush your ski around in warm water, but in cold water, the ski tracks more like it's on rails, so you have to be more precise with your line, movements, speed and balance.

 

- Cold water usually means you are wearing more neoprene, your muscles are cold, etc.

 

It's simply harder to ski well in cold water, and all the temperature related fin tuning you read about can't fully compensate for all of the differences. Tuning can help you to adjust the ski's tendency to get pulled behind you by the firmer water, or to detune the hard-turning nature of the ski in cold water, but it can't make the water warmer, softer or slower. You simply have to be more precise and work harder to ski well in cold water, regardless of the ski's setup.

 

Rossi's excellent article is very insightful, and can be quite helpful, especially to high-time skiers who are most likely to benefit from tiny changes in drag and tracking. But these changes are not absolutely necessary to successfully adapt to cold water. Once an athletic skier realizes that they just have to work significantly harder, the rest tends to get about as good as it can get within a few sets with little to no setup changing at all.

[Horton]

@Stevie Boy

Well dude. You shut me up on this one. I have HUGE respect for Rossi. I am going to go sit in the couch, drink a beer and pretend this never happened.