Author(s)

L. Sutherland & R.A. Wilson

Abstract

Fin hydrodynamics of a windsurfer L. Sutherland & RA. Wilson Department of Ship Science, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton, 1 Introduction Windsurfing is a relatively new technical sport and has advanced rapidly in the quality of equipment, with the consequent increase in speed and technique that only time can allow. The initial developments were aimed at the obvious compo- nents such as the sail rig and the shape of the board itself. The remaining item of the windsurfer, the fin, was initially thought of as providing a control surface for directional stability, similar to the effects of a tail fin of an aeroplane. Of course this is far from the truth, since the driving force derived from the sail rig, has to be resisted by the fin. Thus the windsurfer must be thought of as a combined system of a board, rig and the fin. This paper will concentrate on the fin geome- try and our ability to derive design force estimates, so that suitable matching of board to fin

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