- what year did they become single foiled , and thin
and ,
-
WHY ??
cheers
ben
Single foiled became prevalent mid 1980s, although they were around earlier
MR twin fins with single foiling on 1977 (although the foil is not comparable to the foils today).
Thin…fins have always been as thin as possible while maintaining adequate stiffness. Even if you look today the vast majority of thruster fins are close to 0.25" thick, and single fins 0.400" thick. If you make your own fins and try any thinner than that, they really start to lose a lot through flex. People who prefer thicker fins often argue that fins are thin for weight considerations - thick fiberglass fins just weigh a lot. I don’t think they are right, but there are applications for thicker and thinner fins and I know for mine I want as thin as possible without giving up too much due to flex.
The switch to all single foiled rail fins came before FCS, in the 80s, there was just more ooomph off the bottom turn with single foiled fins. It was one of those things…bam…you tried it and it was obvious there was no turning back. Plus, at that time, the glasser was foiling the fins, so it was half as much work. A win for everyone!
Fin foils really took off with the 90s and removable fin systems. But the improvements in foiling, en todo, have made less of an impact than the change from double to single foiling.