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I'm in East TN, mostly hit the reservoirs over here. I upgraded to the turbo fins on my kick-up 180s and also the larger sail rudder. The best straight line tracking has been with the large sail rudder and the skeg installed. With the skeg it does take a little bit more diameter to turn around. Without the skeg the sail rudder has better straight line than the original small rudder. Still some slight course corrections when out in open lake without the skeg and using the sail rudder but up in the coves it will spin on a dime. Way more maneuverable. Seems to spin faster doing a shallow flutter kick. When cruising with friends I can spin it, flip the 180 and cruise backwards talking face to face. Friends paddling usually jokingly cuss me at that point.
With the turbo fins it will JUMP on acceleration. Some paddle yak fishermen were overheard exclaiming "F--K that's fast!!" As I cleared out of their fishing area after pulling the drives to clear some green growth and needing to catch up with paddling friends.. Drag racing a friend in a 14' paddle yak, I would get the jump up to about 4.5mph then hit a brick wall maxed out at 6mph when he would walk off from me. Dang you hull speed limits!!! Friends said the bow and stern wakes were impressive. I can cruise for hours at 2 to 3mph. I have hit 6.2mph catching a wake off a cabin cruiser which is technically illegal in TN... sshhhh.. lol but the 6mph is not sustainable for any length of time. Talk about a workout!
I like the seat in the low position but can see underwater stumps, submerged trees and rocks better in the high position. My repaired torn meniscus knee also prefers the high position so I have reluctantly kept the seat high.
In short. Yes the sail rudder and turbo fins are worth the expense to me. Add the skeg on windy days or when straight line tracking is needed.
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2020 i11s with kick-up fins. Whew, timed that perfect!!
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