Vector Canefire Carbon and Gregor Carbon Fins - 1

Hi

Following my last post, Juan from Spain dropped me an e-mail suggesting that I try his Vector Canefire Carbon fin.  I had not included this fin in my list of advanced fins and Juan really rates it.  Of course I agreed to give his fin a go – what an opportunity!  About 10 minutes after my responding e-mail, Juan was back on e-mail saying that he had sent the fin off to me (Juan either lives right next to a DHL office or he drives a really fast car).  He also reported that he was including a Gregor fin in the package for me to try as well (more about Gregor later).  Both fins are 40cm/normal Tuttle so perfect for the Falcon 113.   

Anyway the fins arrived from Spain today.  They both look awesome and I will describe them in this post.  I was unable to sail either of them today because there was no wind so the second post dealing with this topic will cover the performance of both fins on the water.  I can only do this when we have wind.  I am holding thumbs for tomorrow but our season is really finished so I may have to wait a few more days.

  

Vector Canefire Carbon Fin

This is a serious machine.  It is feather light being carbon, and is extremely thin.  I visited Joos who has the G10 version of this exact fin so we were able to compare the two.  The G10 model is much thicker and heavier but the thinner carbon fin seems the stiffer of the two.  The colour of the fin is old school pastel blue and extremely cool.  It reminds me of the paint found on some old Chev Corvettes from the 50’s and 60’s.  

Vector’s standard G10 Canefire is the one most people buy but the shape is so good that they decided to do it in carbon as well.  Given the materials and craftsmanship involved, the carbon models are rare and expensive so I need to ensure that I look after it while it is in my care.  The shape of the fin suggests ample low end power to me but this will be confirmed on the water.  

Vector Canefire Carbon 40cm 

The Gregor 40cm Slalom Fin

The Gregor’s shape is completely different from the Canefire.  The bend and twist characteristics seem similar though.  The finish on this fin is a high gloss clear coat over carbon weave.  The clear coat is diamond hard and the whole thing seems bullet proof.  I don’t like a high gloss on a fin so I scored it with fine sand paper (I would have been much more aggressive if it were my own fin).  Juan can very easily buff this out if he wants the shine back but in my experience, a shiny fin is bad news.

Gregor fins are Spanish and reasonably new on the block.  I understand that they are gaining some recognition among the PWA guys.   Juan tells me that some of them use Gregors for training.  This is obviously to spare their expensive fins which are kept purely to race with.  The fact that Gregors are used in this way indicates that while they may not be on a par with the top fins, they are good enough to train at the highest level.  We shall see...   

Gregor Slalom Carbon 40cm

Talk to you soon