The new FreeWEED has been one of the most interesting projects we have completed. Having enjoyed great success with our WEEDspeed which holds the One Hour World Speed Record we were keen to expand more into this market and offer a high performance, high quality and premium weed fin for big wave boards, freewave boards and smaller freeride boards. We made a few designs but the project didn’t move forward as fast as others until September 2013 when Chris, while judging and competing at the American Windsurfing Tour Hatteras event met withAndy (Wind-NC) who wanted to help kick start the project. His input was invaluable in defining the specifications in terms of rake and depth required to shed the heavy weeds and cope with the shallow waters which they experience on the Outer Banks.

Through testing, discussion, theory and experience we decided on a 45 degree rake (from vertical) at the base and progressively more raked from there as you move towards the tip. This makes the FreeWEED it the most raked fin in the range. The WEEDspeed has a rake of 40 degrees (from vertical) which combined with the faster speeds typically associated with slalom boards (also used on Freeride and Speed boards) sheds the weed with ease. The slower speeds experienced on Freewave boards call for a more heavily raked design.

The FreeWEED is available in XS (22), S (24), M (26), L (28), XL (30) & XL (32) which correspond to our Freewave range, so if you use a Freewave 28 in normal conditions then choose a L (28) when using the FreeWEED. During testing it was very hard to notice the difference between riding the Freewave or the FreeWEED which is what we wanted, the FreeWEED performs the same as its upright counterpart. Safety is always paramount and weed fins thanks to their shape can typically provide ample opportunity for cuts and wetsuit damage from the tip when compared with regular freewave fins, to solve this issue we slightly increased the thickness of the trailing edge and worked with the angles to minimize issues

So that we can best optimize the user friendliness of this fin the standard US base had to change too. Those who are familiar with inserting a heavily raked US box fin will know that it is hard to get the fin into the box without either damaging the board and/or the fin, to make adjustment easier and eliminate damage we increased the size of the cut out, now you can slide your fin in, tune to the correct position without fighting the angles, this might seem like a small point for some but it is the attention to detail in design which sets Black Project apart. This is now something that we will roll out on our SUP weed fins too.

Bringing new products to the market is the most rewarding part of being involved with a windsurfing brand and we are thrilled that a whole new group of riders will be able to experience the benefits of a Black Project designed fin. We thought that it was only fitting that Wind-NC would be the first dealer to receive the new fins and if you are keen to try one out and get one on your board then please contact Andy at Wind-NC or get in touch with us.

More to follow…