I picked up a new set of Turbofins recently and noticed a subtle difference from the old Turbos. The only visual clue is a slightly darker color, as shown in the picture (right side) below. All other markings are identical.
In performance both fins are comparable. The new fins are a bit more flexible and easier to push. They produce a slightly faster cadence for a given speed, but in several speed and distance runs they appear to be equivalent. The big difference is that these new fins are tougher.
Wanting to see just how much tougher, I got to compare both an old and new fin against a standard issue Hobie fin. Each of the three fins was evaluated for resistance to
stretch, gouge, scrape, cut, puncture, tear and monofilament penetration.
Here's a brief description of each:
Deflection memory: pliers grab the trailing edge of the fin and twist 90 degrees
Gouge: a 5/16 drill bit point was passed over all three fins in one sweep
Scrape: a course semi-round file stroked the trailing edge of each fin 15 times
Cut: the trailing edge of each was cut twice with a hack saw, one pass in each direction
Puncture: resistance to puncture using an awl; resistance measured by postal scale
Tear: pounds of resistance to ripping 1/4 inch using a fishing scale
monofilament sea saw: depth of penetration by 20# fishing line; 10 passes
The standard fin was given a reference score of 5 for each event and each comparison fin scored from 1 (worse) to 10 (better). Here's how they compared.
...........................Standard fin......"Tough"Turbo ......Old Turbo
Deflection memory..........5.......................3.......................3
Gouge.............................5.......................5.......................3
Scrape............................5.......................5.......................3
Cut.................................5........................5.5....................3
Puncture.........................5........................4.9....................3
Tear................................5........................4.5....................2.8
monofilament sea saw...5........................4.7....................3
Totals............................35.....................32.6..................20.8
Normalized totals.........100......................93.....................59
I don't know how they would do scraping along an oyster bed, but on this scale, the new "Tough" Turbo (TT) fins were a huge improvement over the older Turbos. Their only major shortfall is the deflection memory test. Aside from trailing edge stretch, the TTs appear to be virtually on par now with the rugged standard fins!
On the water, I have hit a few submerged objects with the TTs and managed to bend a mast but nothing more than a few scuffs so far on the fins.
Interested in getting a set? You may already have them. Apparently they replaced the old fins over 6 months ago!
