@Erik You talked in the last podcast about building a quiver of tail wings to suit different conditions. Is there any chance you could expand a bit on that with what sort of tails suit different conditions, or give different attributes, if you think there are some fixed general rules. Ideally not specifically about exact tail models because in europe we have limited access to certain brands, but more general traits of the tails. For example a wider, high aspect thin tail, vs a narrow, thick lower aspect. When would you choose which? What other considerations you think are important?
Thanks. There’s a few tail shapes I find myself going back to, and I’ll give specifics as its easier to look at those tails than to infer from descriptions. For prone I’m loving the takuma 158, kd13R and the KD Blunt which I’ve chopped. The 13r and 158 feel somewhat similar with the 158 being a touch slower but giving more front foot and low end a bit quicker in roll. For wing and downwind I’m riding the takuma 178, uni race. Also riding some protos were working on.
For building a quiver I’d start with something fast and loose and something with a bit more stability. Fast/loose would be in the 12.5-13.5 span range and stability would be about 13.5-14.
Do you ever use higher aspect tails? Seems like for winging they are quite popular, but when I tried one to prone with, it felt like I could push through the pump and nothing happened. Don’t know if that is the particular tail or a common attribute.
Definitely felt that with the SPG fusion tail which I think is designed for winging. I mush prefer lower aspect tails in the surf. The blunt seems to work really well for me for prone. Also just an aside but if you have a quiver of tails try a knife roll for keeping them in:
