damaged fin,

Question
hi windlover, that bic 283 is working a dream, i think today was actually the best day of my life, just spent the afternoon blasting back and forth at crazy speeds in the sun, anyway as i started i chipped my fin on a rock due to my carelessness, took about 7mm off it, its a little rough which i thought i could touch up with epoxy? how much of a differance will it make? oh and ive heard others say it before but even though i was really tearing along, th straps just seemed really far back, i could move the mastfoot  back maybe 2 inches which will help a little but its still a bit of a stretch, and i dont want to move the harness lines because they feel quite nice the way they are, anyway, any comments? thanks windlover

Answer
Hey Aaron,

Great to hear that the new board is working well for you. As for the damaged fin, you can probably just use a fine file and smooth out the end of the fin. Blend off the damaged area and shape the tip as best you can for smoothness and contour. If there are file marks, use some fine sandpaper to smooth them out. The little amount you lost shouldn't have much affect on the performance.

As for the footstraps/harness/mastfoot.
There is a little known rule of thumb for all this.
If you have your footstraps in the most forward position, and the harness lines are comfortable with the sail feeling balanced, then the adjustment will need to be at the mast foot. So, get your footstraps as far forward as you can. If they are there, then here is the next step. Rig your sail and mount it to the board (minus fin). Lay the sail down as though you are going to rope start. Slide the sail back until the foot of the sail is against the board (very much like the sailing position). Now step back from the board on the opposite side from the sail and see where the harness lines are in relationship to the footstraps. They should be lining up fairly close to between the straps. If they are forward, move the mast back a bit. If they are back, move the mast forward. This rule of thumb will position the sail/harness lines so that your body is inline with the footstraps and harness.

This works fairly well for most set ups because the harness lines will be a little different for each sail you rig. If you are rigging the right sail for the conditions, then the position of the harness lines and mastfoot should work with this rule of thumb. Be sure to make small changes until things are feeling comfortable.

Hope this helps.
Keep on sailing,
Windlover