I was a Tectonics virgin

    Starting out a week at Lake Isabella with all the Trailer Trash regulars waiting for the Isabella "magic" (as Chris N. likes to call it) to happen. Wind switches and starts to build.
    I start out on the faithful Echo, antique though it may be, and the new Gaastra 6.5. Sailing around happily, then more wind, and I switch to the new JP Free Ride Carve 91, my husband's new baby. But wait, what's this? He's put his $200 Tectonics Spitfire 34cm fin in it!! I look around, no one seems to be watching. Does he realize I plan to sail it? With the new fin in there? Me, who is barely to be trusted not to punch holes in sails by placing them carelessly on top of sharp gear trailer doors (a true story, a previous trip, after all, I AM the sofa queen), me, who has a habit of crunching fins on rocks that just happen to appear below me as I jump off my board? Hmmm. Dare I? Yep!
    So, off I go. It's windy, I should be on my own JP Free Ride Carve 86, but I am too lazy to go in and get it. As is usual, when I get going too fast for comfort, I tend to load up the fin in terror and usually spin out, But what's this? I load the fin, the board makes a slight sideways move, but then corrects itself and I'm still planing!! I must be mistaken, that wasn't a real spin out. Again it happens!! This time I'm going sideways but all I have to do is tilt the rig a little forward and pull the back of the board back underneath me and I'm no longer going sideways but straight ahead and still planing!!
    So this is what all the fuss about these Tectonics fins is about!! I come into shore wanting to share this extraordinary experience with anyone who will listen, and they all nod and smile knowingly, and tell me I am no longer a virgin (Tectonics, that is). It's good to be one of the ones who knows!

--Linda

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