We had quite an experience last week as Hurricane Irene made a nice stop in Quebec city.  We sailed our 3.7 POINT 7 sails until the wind reached 50 knots .. It was great to test the KAKU wave fin and we felt the need to make a smaller one the 20 cm especially Rider Michel Dube with his lightweight ! I had the chance to test our weed wave twins protos and behaved pretty well so they should be in production in 2012 with some modifications in terms of stiffness.  The Fall season is just starting and we should hit Hatteras if we can in a few weeks. Louis will be in the Magdalen Islands working on the designs as well and more epic sessions should be on our way til November in Cape Cod and Sandbanks

Alton Ing from BC about the Mano’s weed fins

MANO 23 AT THE GORGE
Scored a couple of 5.2 days at the Gorge. Most memorable was riding
3km upwind (see http://g.co/maps/ad4y ) from the Hook W18 knots
(Oregon – where I left my daughter in windsurfing lessons) to the
Hatchery W25 knots (Washington – to ride with friends). Pinching
upwind with only 18 knots at the Hook was effortless. Riding
overpowered in 25 knots at the Hatchery was also effortless. Most
memorable was half-way (north of Wells Island on the Washington side)
where super smooth 5′ swell made gybing down backside swell a dream.

MANO 26 IN LIGHT AIR
Had a couple of light air sessions SW 16-18 at Squamish and the Mano
26 performed well on 6.0 and 5.2 with my 2010 JP 93 Freestyle Wave.
The Mano 26 delivered plenty of lift when pumping in marginal
conditions. I would recommend getting the same quiver (Mano 23 and 26)
to benefit from minimal transition effects when changing fin sizes.

1- Switch pour la 95l et la Koyote 5.9 et decide de mettre le Mano puisqu’il y a un peu de foin (c’est Mtl apres tout non?). Je ne sais pas comment ca va se comporter, j’utilise habituellement mon G-Sport 26cm avec la 5.9. Je me croise les doigts pour ne pas deriver trop (je sais-tu encore comment faire du pres moi???) et c’est la deuxieme fois dans ma vie que j’utilise un weed fin… Embarque sur l’eau, pogne une poff drette au bord (pas besoin de niaiser pour sortir). Enwoueille dans le tapis, full full full, mais tellement ben “tunee”!!! Tout etait “smooth”!!! Le Mano rentre dans le chop sans hesiter, remonte au vent les deux doigts dans le nez, et quel controle! Et puis Mon Dieu! QUELLE VITESSE!!! J’ai ete TRES TRES agreablement surprise!

Une belle heure dans le “tape”, hyper confortable, rien a redire contre le Makani Mano, juste du bon!!! POLARBEAR

2- à Châteauguay, je ne suis pas non plus team rider Makani. Le hahalua a completement changé le comportement de ma planche préféré (qui est une JP slalom pro edition 93 litres). J’ai un excellent aileron JP avec la planche mais je n’ai jamais été capable de mettre un aileron weed sur cette planlche qui m’a satisfait (j’en ai testé 5-6). Là c’est le paradis, je peux enfin plancher n’importe où avec cette planche et en profiter sans avoir à sauter à tous les 10 secondes pour enlever les algues.

Très bonne performance, vitesse max avec appuis sur l’aileron presque comme un race droit… p-t un peu d’entrée d’air dans l’écoulement mais c’est plus à cause de la forme de ma planche qu’autre chose.

Bref !!!!!!!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS ARPIX

3-Après plus de 10 heures sur l’eau ces 4 derniers jours avec cet aileron, je suis épaté!

Je ne prenais plus ma Tabou Pocket 69 sur le fleuve, car j’étais pas mal décu de sa performance, comparé à ma Quatro 62 litres pour les surfs et le controle.
Par curiosité, au lieu de mettre le petit aileron de compagnie de 20 cm à peine, j’ai pris le Kaku 22 cm , avec des conditions de 4 metres ( 25+ noeuds) et 4.7m ( 20+noeuds).

CHANGEMENT RADICAL: ce n’est plus la meme planche! Les surfs sont plus faciles, avec beaucoup moins de perte de vitesse, fluide et agréable! Je pouvais faire parfois 10 cut backs/ Bottom sur certaines vagues. Remonter à St jean est un charme et confortable, la planche est plus sortie de plane au-dessus du clapot.

C’est encore un exemple que l’aileron peut faire toute une différence sur le comportement de la planche. Il faut essayer et on a des surprises!

Merci Makani! et je suis pas commandité du tout…. DOCJIBE

I got my new 26cm Mano weed fin from Makani the other day and got to take it for a quick spin before the wind died, even with only half a dozen runs I was impressed at what this fin offers.
Today I got out at Callala bay for a fully powered bump and jump session on a 6.7 and 112FSW…..Nothing short of AWESOME!
I didn’t need to use the weed fin as the spot doesn’t have a weed problem but being a new toy I wanted to give it a run and see what it could do.
This fin doesn’t feel like a weed fin at all, you don’t know its there as it feels like a normal fin. There is no feeling of sideways drift that you get with some weed fins and at 26cm enables me to launch from the shallows and sail back right up to the beach without a problem. The fin plains early but I found I had to head a little further off the wind to get it going but it pops up so quick its not a problem. The upwind performance is where this fin shines, It’s like nothing I’ve use on a FSW board before. Normally unless I’m fully powered I struggle to make a heap of gain upwind, Not so with the Mano. I can now make massive down wind runs and have complete confidence in the Mano to get me back upwind. The Mano felt nice with my 6.7 fully powered, No spinout at any point even when landing some big jumps and I can’t wait to try it with smaller sails to check it’s range. The fin generates enough lift to keep the board alive but not to the point where the board feels like it’s not in complete control at all times, It tracks well in the gybe while maintaining speed and pops out of the water nicely for chop hops and jumps. I did notice I was able to keep planning through some big lulls today, being a heavy weight I find I drop of the plain quickly but there was a noticeable difference today. All it took was for me to take my back foot out of the strap and move my weight a little forward and the board just kept gliding along.
Overall a great fin that I’m going to use all the time instead of the stock JP fin, The Mano is simply better and unless something comes to light as far as a performance drop there will be no need to switch back to the standard fin.
Do yourself a favor, If your after a weed fin for your FSW give one of these a go and I think you’ll like it, And the price is right as well. If you see me around and want to try it out just sing out and I’ll let you have a ride on the best weed fin I’ve ever used.

Check out on the forum

The Mano attached to my JP FSW 112L

“Tried out the new Naia 15 Weed fin in Hatteras and it was sick! I was a little skeptical when I first saw it, because first of all, it was a weed fin, and secondly, it was only 15cm. Then I talked with XL pro freestyle sailor, Wyatt Miller, who had sailed the fin the day before, and he said that he loved it. When I first went out, I was on a 5.0 Neil Pryde Atlas and an 89lt JP Freesytle Pro, a little underpowered, but still planing. The fin was working great. No feeling of drag from weeds, as well as some good upwind ability for only a 15cm fin. I almost think I could have gone with a 14cm or 13cm the way this one was shooting me upwind. As for jumping and spinning, there was good release, as well as a good amount of drive to get some higher jumps off the small chop. Because it was a 15cm, I was able to get pretty close to shore in the smooth water for the freestyle tricks. This had the Makani designers biting their fingernails a little bit, worrying about the fin and the bottom, but everything worked out. All in all, the fin is a GREAT fin for freestyle, especially in a location where you have weeds!”

by T. Barkitzis owner of Stonero windsurf shop and resort

..I also tried 4 times the 24 us box wave it performed even better transforming my old by trusty exocet universal wave 88 to a much friendlier board capable to cope even with my 6,6 point 7 sado(very powerful ) sail

some friends have bought the rest of the wave fins and all of them share the same feeling I do words that came from their mouths were <magic> <easy> smooth and the rest of the guys are asking what happened and they improved their performance especially in difficult seastate conditions.

Underpowered the upwind drive could improve but if this will happen in the expense of the overall performance better keep it as it is the only thing people need to understand is that these fins are not to be confused with any other cheap brand since brand awareness is still inexistant….(more satisfied riders will do the job)

by T. Barkitzis owner of Stonero windsurf shop and resort

.. the slalom fins stupid weather(either too light or too strong) have dettered me from using them for a very long time but i have now tried them two times and feel i have a good picture of what is going on in order to give you a better idea i will report on both days since the spots were different and the testing proved itself not only with gps readings but also against serious racers. the first time i tried the fins was in our local spot in lake Volvi with a strong thermal of around 18-24 knots my <normal > fins for my rrd x fire 112 (2010model) are a 41 and a 35 select so 9 elite on that day i was using the 41 in the beginning with my 8,3 loft blade (2010) and was clocking around 30-31 knots on the small wave choppy sea state of the lake (side-side onshore conditions) after switching to my 7,0 loft blade(2011) and the 35 select my speed increased to around 31,8-32,5 but was stalling in the jibes in the lulls then

 I switched to the Makani black fin it was as fast but the jibes and the acceleration was much better control was great and although 34 I even tried it with the 8,3 for a spin clocking 32 knots on it…then I tried the <green g10> one and what a shock everything was perfect clocked 33,9 a knot and a half faster than the select feeling I could go faster 

on more wind all was perfect but did not try it with the 8,3 … 13and 14 of april was very promising for speed in the Patras area (500 km away) and i with two good and fast friends amde the trip ….unfortunately for us the forecast was not so accurate but we still managed to surf a bit on the Drepano beach (13/4)and tsimari beach 14/4 the first day after 5 1/2 hours drive (i drove) we arrived on the beach only to find 15 to 20 knots of wind the forecast was promising for thhe afternoon so we rigged 7,0 and wnet in for a little slalom i started with the 35 select and the rrd 112 …the spot is theoretically a decent slalom spot with some chances for speed but on that day the conditions were more onshore thus not good for speed runs i was clocking 31-32 and on e of the locals (top five in speed sailing in greece)was clocking 33 (was on 95 lt and 7,0 and 75 kilo)the moment I put on the makani green I clocked 33,5 so easy he could not believe it …a bit later the number one speed racer(top speed 44 +) who is also a local came too (he is on loft too and fanatic)he rigged 7,0 with a falcon 111 (2011) and a talon 38 and said he was perfect for fin size … so we started drag racing and i could easily keep up with him both upwind and downwind and believe i had more speed in the reaches… then the wind switched for about 5-10 minutes giving us two runs each ….his max speed was 35,76 and his average speed 32,89 (average of top 5 x10 secs) i got a top speed of 34,4 but my average was 33,32 which actually was the first time since a very long time anyone got a better average session than my friend.   

I then gave him my set and he came back praising how smooth everything was but could not believe his eyes when he saw his 10 sec speed (it was a knot faster than his speed from othe runs though the wind was the same….)

On the 14 after a long wait the wind came with a puff in tsimari the best speed spot in greece but only for a couple of runs with smaller stuff (i was on a 90 prototipe rrd from 2012 (hahahah) and a 32 goldwing and my 7,0 and actually kjust found out i clocked the best time of the day with 34,3 but it was like pumping all the way to keep planning the point is I later gave my slalom set rrd 112 and makani to a friend from another area to test the fin (he has the same board) and he wants to steal or buy it !!!!! I am very very happy with the way everything performed but I am not giving the green one back to anyone this is my fin charge me for it !!!and arrange the full line …….. I really think you are on to something here I wish I will have smaller and bigger ones to try a 38 a 32 a 30
April 15 , 2010

This year we are kicking off the season with a great event in Hatteras. We are organizing clinics with WYATT MILLER and TYSON POOR in Avon, Cape Hatteras. In collaboration with Andy McKinney from WIND NC we will host, fin, jibe, freestyle clinics and more !

Be sure not to miss them at WIND NC and at the Makani House !  We will also be at the CANADIAN HOLE so if you want to try our fins don’t hesitate to come and see us.

Contact us for details at sales@makanifins.com

clinics in hatteras

Our first blade weed was the PINAO and we felt the fin could be made better with a different rake, profil and trailing edge. This weed fin is fast and tracks well upwind. The wider chord helps create more lift closer to the board so you keep control even at high speeds. Claude our graphic designer gave it the looks it deserve to pay tribute to the fish that gave us our inspiration … the HAHALUA  ( Ray in Hawaiian )