Sonntag Fins

Fin reference list Fanatic Falcon Slalom & Speed 2012

2012-02-08T01:06:00.002+01:00

As special service for the Fanatic Falcon customer we created with input, review and approval of our team rider and Fanatic the reference list helping to chose the best fin model, length and rake out of our model range.

Fin reference list Fanatic Falcon

The list can also be a first but good indication for other boards&brands to chose the best fin model, length and rake. We recommend to follow these links to the Fanatic Falcons specification page to compare your board data with that of the Falcons.

Fanatic Falcon Slalom Specifications

Fanatic Falcon Speed Specifications

Zara Davis: Queen of Speed 2011

2012-02-03T22:00:00.002+01:00

ZaraDavis had a great competition year in 2011. Congrats from the complete team!!!!

Zara wonthe ISWC European Speed windsurfing Championships for a second time. The tourtook place all over Europe starting in the south of France, Sweden, Germany andfinished in the UK on the legendary Weymouth Speed strip. The women’s Europeanfleet was dominated by Zara who missed the 1st event due to injury butconvincingly won all the remaining three rounds including the UK event, to takethe Women’s European Speed title for a second time.

Zara waselected to windsurfer of the year 2011 by an online voting carried out by UKWA.

Also2012 started with a drumbeat when she broke the GPS Record with 40.99 knot onthe West Kirby speed strip on 21st of January 2012. She used a Mistral Speed42, a Simmer Sails SCR 5.0 and our GPS_5 200.

Here youwill find data, pictures and videos:http://www.zaradavis.co.uk/News/Zara%20sets%20new%20GPS%20womens%2040%20knot%20average.html

Support from Down-Under

2011-05-06T07:21:00.000+02:00

Since several weeks we get support from Australia. Pierre Milutin helps us in testing our fins in Australia.

Pierre is a very experienced and excellent windsurfer with the skills to analyze and describe precisely how a fin is influencing the complete windsurfing set-up. He is living near to the east coast in Australia with very good windsurf spots nearby. Here some speed results of Pierre with our SL-S_r2 and GPS_5 (Proto “B” 23cm) in average conditions.

Pierre is actually going with Nude/KA/JP and NP EVO3.

Greetz

Alexandra & Joerg

Gruissan Speedweek 2011

2011-04-28T01:25:00.000+02:00

A nice week in Gruissan is over. We met friends after a long winter time and also made a lot of new acquaintances.

Unfortunately we got no Tramontana winds, the onshore Marin was following us over the complete week. This let us move to a salt water lake at La Nautique. Here one valid session could be done Wednesday afternoon.

Pat van Hoof

Here are some pictures from the competitions at spot La Nautique and the award ceremony.

David Garell

Thorsten Mallon

Nicky van Hoof won the lady’s competition; men’s competition won David Garell, at the 2nd place is Thorsten Mallon and at the 3rd place our team rider Patrick van Hoof.

Hope to see you all again in Gruissan next year!!!

Alexandra & Joerg

GPS_4 and GPS_5: New Speed Fins released for production

2011-04-20T11:02:00.000+02:00

After testing the last 8 month we now do the production approvals for our new GPS_4 and GPS_5 Speed Fin models.

GPS_4

This speed fin design has a conventional aspect ratio but is very well balanced in profile type and thickness distribution over the fin length. The profile type is the result after plenty of hours doing CFD simulation on the computer with verifications afterwards on the water. It is performing over a wide AoA range with an excellent lift2drag ratio. The base2mid section has a high bending stiffness but the last 25% to the tip are a bit more flexible giving the rider a better feedback of the flow conditions on the fin surface and smoother ride in choppy conditions.

We recommend the GPS_4 design for universal usage in most speed surfing conditions. The characteristic is high efficiency (= low drag but high lateral lift) and usability also in choppy conditions where ventilation is not allowing the usage of short and wide based speed fins. For flat and shallow water the GPS_5 design has benefits on smaller speed boards (see below).

The GPS_4 is available in a length range of 23 to 32cm; we recommend rakes of 16° to 13° depending on the length and special customer requirements.

GPS_5

The concept of this design is as old as surfing&windsurfing is. Also looking to the build of many fishes you can find adequate paragons.

Using a short and widebase fin has advantages in flat & shallow water conditions when going on speedboards (<=54cm width) with enough wind power. Now this design becomes more and more popular when people explore new spots with limited water depth and trying to shift the speed limit to the next level. The short fin is causing only a small momentum (by short lever and most area near to the base) giving MUCH OF CONTROL and by that the confidence the fin gives to you when going really fast is definitely higher. Besides all physical effects, this psychological effect is of importance.

Limits: In choppy conditions ventilation is an issue for all short fins by air that is sucked from the base area to several centimeter in tip direction reducing the area of the fin that is taking lateral loads. Although we minimized the effect by a harmonized pressure profile along the section the physical effect cannot be eliminated completely.

Zara Davis won the production board record end of summer 2010 in Lüderitz with a first prototype of the GPS_5. Since that we did several enhancements on the profile and others by CFD simulation work and retesting on the water resulting in a wider usable AoA range and a very "robust" flow also in difficult conditions.

This design has 30° rake and is available in the length range of 19 to 23cm. A GPS_5 230 can be used by a 85kg rider with 7.0-7.5m² Race/Speedsail under boards up to 55cm width.

Alice Arutkin joins Sonntag-Fins

2011-01-22T20:42:00.002+01:00

We are pleasant to announce that Alice Arutkin (FRA111) joins the Sonntag-Fins Team.

Alice will participate in several Slalom and Wave events of PWA, AFF and other in 2011.

She will compete with Starboard, North-Sails and Sonntag-Fins.

We wish Alice success for all competitions in 2011!

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year 2011!!!

2010-12-23T23:05:00.000+01:00

By that occasion we want to say “Thank You” to our team riders Sarah Hebert, Zara Davis, Erik Loots, Patrick van Hoof and Wolfgang Draschner. We also want to thank our customers from all over the world who gave us their invaluable feedback and trust in our products.

A busy year is nearly at the end and we are already looking to 2011. We have lots of ideas and plans for new and exciting fin types (we will give a detailed outlook with a roadmap in the next weeks). To extend the range of spots & conditions our fins are tested, we’re now also getting help by Pierre Milutin from Australia and Yoshi and Katsumi from Japan.

In the next weeks we will update our website to give you more information about the different fin types and prices. So stay tuned!!

But surely we are looking forward to all the events next year, starting for us in Gruissan with the BK Speed Week. We will be part of the Speed Week and we like to see our friends again after a long winter with lots of snow.

Alexandra & Jörg

SL-P new range for 2011

2010-11-05T01:36:00.000+01:00

Good news for all waiting for smaller SL-P sizes.

In the last month we got many requests from our customers already racing with the longer SL-Ps to get also smaller ones.

To cover that needs we finished sets of new moulds allowing us to produce the SL-P in the range of 33cm to 53cm.

We designed different carbon lay-ups allowing you to select bending and torsion stiffness to your needs. If not sure what's best for you contact us and with a few input parameter of your use case we are able to recommend size, rake and carbon lay-up.

Weymouth Speed Week 2010

2010-11-02T21:09:00.007+01:00

The legendary Weymouth Speed Week is over for 2010. Our team rider Zara Davis and Patrick van Hoof were in competition to many other speedies coming from different countries around the globe.

Zara Davis, the Women's No 1 Speed Sailor, wins the women's fleet and Patrick Van Hoof, Belgium's No 1 Speed Sailor, misses out on the Men's top spot by just under half a knot and finished as No 2 in the windsurf fleet and No 1 in the Master class overall. Details you can find on: http://www.speedsailing.com/2010Results.htm

Unable to use their true speed fins due to the choppy conditions in combination with the moderate winds they used 31cm and 34cm SL-S Slalom fins with 7.0-7.6m² sails to fly down the 500m course.

Patrick hit a peak speed of over 33 knots and Zara over 29 knots in 18 knots of wind gusts.

This moves Patrick to 3 rd place overall in the ISWC world rankings and Zara maintains her No 1 spot.

Pictures by David White and Tim Daish

Patrick van Hoof now with FANATIC

2010-10-15T18:59:00.000+02:00

Patrick van Hoof is now going with Fanatic boards after a long period he went with F2. You can find background information about this change on his new website http://www.patvanhoof.com/

We wish him a good start with the new boards and will help to get the boards tuned with our fins.

Zara Davis breaks women's production board record

2010-10-15T00:40:00.003+02:00

Lüderitz/Namibia: Sonntag-Fins teamrider Zara Davis broke the women's outright production board record on the Lüderitz speed strip. The conditions were really difficult for the windsurfer caused by the sand banks produced when making the channel wider and deeper. This caused serious turbulences making a perfect ride for a windsurfer nearly impossible.

Zara used a Mistral series speedboard, Simmer SCR 5.0 sail and our brand new GPS_5 220 widebase speedfin.

C O N G R A T S to Zara from the complete Sonntag-Fins team.

Zara is now on the way back to compete at the famous Weymouth Speedweek.

You can also find a nice video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIS_xwOlkvk

Erik Loots: New Sponsors Starboard & Severne !!!

2010-06-17T23:11:00.001+02:00

Erik Loots made a big step forward by starting the sponsorship with Starboard and Severnebeginning of June. He will be going with the iSonic Speed Specials and the 111. The Reflex 5.1 - 7.0 m² are the engines he selected. Great choices!

New equipment is as usual the point when lots of tuning and fine-tuning sessions starts.
As more it's astonishing that Erik already had excellent runs resulting in a personal spot record (Het Kuitje) 16th of June. He went with Starboard iSonic Speed Special 49 together with Sonntag GPS_2 270 and a Severne Reflex 6.2.

Congrats from the Sonntag-Fins Team!

New personal Long Distance Record

2010-05-20T01:16:00.000+02:00

On Wednesday, 19th of May, Sonntag-Fins teamrider Erik Loots did a new PB on Long Distance and One-Hour. He did 253km in a bit less than 8 hours at Strand Horst. The One-Hour average speed was near to 25knt/h.

Weather conditions were good with winds between 12-18knt and sun shining warm.

Erik used a Falcon91, RSS6.2 and a SL-S340.

http://www.speedsurfingblog.com/

DWC Fehmarn 2010

2010-05-17T23:14:00.000+02:00

The second tour stop of the German Windsurf Cup (DWC) was on Fehmarn / Wulfener Hals. Temperatures were more like February or March, but the wind during the 4 competition days was good so that 5 racing and 3 slalom competitions were possible. First time in this seasion Gunnar Asmussen (GER-88) won the overall competition.

The SONNTAG-FINS team rider WOLFGANG DRASCHNER (GER-3333) won the overall competition as Grand Master participating Formula and Slalom Racing.

Congrats from the complete team!!!!!

Mondial Du Vent 2010: l'Orange Speed Crossing

2010-04-20T17:13:00.002+02:00

An interesting competition kiter against windsurfer held during the Mondial Du Vent is over.

ANTOINE ALBEAU won the man's class and SARAH HEBERT took the 1st place in the women’s competition. Overall the windsurfer dominated this competition.

SARAH used two different sets of equipment:

1. Naish SP110 & Naish Stealth 7,8 together with our SL-S390

2. Naish SP95 & Naish Stealth 7,0 together with our SL-S350

SARAH was quite happy with the set-up, she said

“My speed was perfect, I feel really good with the fins. The chop was big and the sea not easy to ride, but with the Sonntag Fins I could close my eyes. I was happy to see that I could go upwind very easily if needed, I haven't done any spin out.”

CONGRATS to SARAH for her successful competition from the whole Sonntag-Fins-Team!!!!

Gruissan Speedweek 2010

2010-04-14T10:44:00.002+02:00

We had a great time in Gruissan during the BK speed, many people were interested in the fins. Also nice data from testing with our teamriders. Hereby some photo's we took during the event:

Fin Models

2010-04-13T11:36:00.000+02:00

Each model has a specific range where best performance is delivered. To characterise the range we developed a Performance Graph reflecting the most important windsurfing characteristics valid for Slalom, Speed, Formula and also for Freeride.

A fin that has 100% performance at each characteristic is not available (… we think that this will not be possible …). But you can read in the Performance Graph (spider diagram) what the fin can do best. As more outside the red graph is running as higher the performance for a specific characteristic.

Depending on the windsurfing discipline different characteristics are important. A 100% speed fin does not need to perform as good as a slalom competition fin in upwind or early planning conditions. Also a slalom competition fin does not need to have the same performance as a speed fin should have in downwind speed conditions.

Therefore it’s important that you clearly define the requirements the fin shall perform best. If you are not sure please contact us, we will help you in finding and adjusting the fin that will meet your expectation.

Link to SL-S page

Link to SL-P page

Link to GPS_2 page

Gallery

2010-04-13T10:56:00.003+02:00

Contact

2010-04-13T10:55:00.000+02:00

For more information please contact us by email: info (at) sonntag-fins.com

Teamriders

2010-04-13T10:47:00.019+02:00

Sonntag Fins Team Riders are the backbone of real life verification. Calculations and simulation helps to decrease the number of development loops, but testing on water under competition conditions is the only way to get a final design approval. The team covers important racing series like PWA-Slalom, ISWC, DWC and many national competitions.

Erik Loots

Sarah Hebert

Patrick van Hoof

Zara Davis

Wolfgang Draschner

Alice Arutkin

SL-P

2010-04-13T10:37:00.004+02:00

The SL-P is a Slalom Competition Fin for a very wide wind range giving you enough power for upwind courses. It is fast downwind and very good controllable also in rough condition. The SL-P can be loaded with lots of lateral forces without stalling or increasing drag significantly.

The softer mid2tip section generates enough vertical lift to let the board ride higher over the complete length on the water and brings the board into good balance.

The SL-P helps the rider also in rough condition to keep excellent control over the board.

This model is the first choice for Slalom Competition.

We call it our Mini-Formula Design.

Length: 300 - 530 mm
Rake: 7.5° - 12.0°

GPS_2

2010-04-13T10:35:00.002+02:00

The GPS_2 is a 100% Speed Fin for speeds above 38 knt. Profile is optimized for speeds between 42-50 knt. Very low drag at higher speeds is supported by delayed cavitation. Special lay-up with stiff base section and more flexible tip section generates enough lift and good control.

Length: 240 - 300mm
Rake: 14° - 20°

Technology

2010-04-02T18:32:00.001+02:00

Sonntag Fins are produced in full Carbon Composite technology in female-moulds only. Unidirectional, bi-diagonal and multiaxial carbon fiber is used in different textures and different carbon filament types.

A closed loop development and design system allows to control and link each step starting with the specification, simulation by CFD and FEM, 2D&3D design of fins and moulds, production of mould, lay-up definition, production and testing on the bench and on water. By that a “special” customer requirement can be easily implemented into the dedicated fin by adapting some of the variable parameter (length, rake, bending&torsion stiffness). Outcome is a real “engineered” fin with a very efficient characteristic.

Sonntag Fins owns all machinery like high speed CNC-mills, computerized and pneumatically actuated test benches, 3D CAD/CAM computer stations, etc. This allows quick design&verification loops and also reduces the costs for new designs. Each new model and lay-up has to proof its mechanical strength by long-time endurance tests. Here the fin is treated by 200% of normal load for more than 50.000 cycles; during test the bending stiffness is real-time monitored to detect weaknesses.

Each fin produced is tested on a test bench on its mechanical characteristics to guarantee that the fin fulfills the general and the specific customer requirements. Data is acquired, computed and stored by computer. The results are documented in a test certificate delivered together with the fin. The key-data are engraved onto the base of each fin by a CNC-machine.

About Us

2010-04-02T15:59:00.003+02:00

Sonntag Fins is a new brand starting design and development of windsurfing fins around two years ago. The experience in designing and producing fins is going back into the 80th when the first models were produced in glass and carbon composite.

But new materials, new research results, new machinery (CNC) and most important the usage of computer to simulate, calculate and design were the reason to come back to market.

Each fin is adapted to the customer needs. Bending stiffness, torsion stiffness and its distribution over length and the rake can be adjusted to the requirements of our customers.

The models in production and development are covering all racing disciplines like Speed, Slalom and Formula.

SL-S

2009-12-26T12:23:00.008+01:00

The SL-S is a very fast, low drag Slalom Fin that is also used by many GPS-Surfer in smaller sizes. Flextip Design in combination with full carbon construction allows foiling on that fin. You can go more than double wind speed with the SL-S.

We call it our Micro-Formula Design.

Length: 300 - 370 mm

Rake: 10° - 14°