Foil Boarding - Loyal to the Foil

[giroux68]

Totally not boat related, but has anyone tried the slingwing? Or windsurf foiled? The YouTube rabbit led me to some amazing video. I'm headed to the outter banks in a few weeks gonna find a place and rent a windfoil.

 

[Nauti-Nurse]

@giroux68 Hey I see you are a Lake Lanier Foiler! Same here. I hate that we are getting towards the end of the season but we should get together for some foil time one day. I don't have anyone to foil with most of the time, my wife and oldest daughter are learning to tow/drive but they are still a ways off in making a consistent tow pilot for foiling. How late in the year do you still hit the lake usually?

 

[Nauti-Nurse]

I tried moving the mast to the most forward position today. Holy crap what s difference. Tried midway as well. Might settle on 3/4 to the front. Getting lots of slack rope, but every time i try to toss it....Wipe Out!

What position do you have the fuselage, forward or at the second attachment point? I moved it to the second position and then the mast 1-2 in from the rear and I liked it much more. It made it quite a bit more responsive.

 

[Nauti-Nurse]

Can i get that wing on my fuselage? Or do I need a new stab wing and mast too? I would love to buy a whole new set up and dual foil with the kids.

I'm running the 2019 slingshot with the 76 foil, be happy to let you get some time on it to try and see if you want to go bigger on the foil.

 

[giroux68]

I didnt notice you were on lanier too. I usually have the same problem, solo foilng is hard to do. I keep my boat at baldridge marina. I have my mast 1/4 of the way back. Not sure what number setting without looking. We tried full fw and it was squirrelly. I love to try out the 76 for sure. I'm trying to convince myself I need one. And after watching lots of windfoil videos, that is the right wing for that too. As for late into the year, i have a wetsuit, kids usually don't like the cold...

 

[Scott Huse]

Would love to try one, maybe someone will have one at Shelbyville this year. What speed do you tow at?

Scott I have both the 68 and 84 setups, if you ever want to try let me know.

 

[SCP1]

Scott I have both the 68 and 84 setups, if you ever want to try let me know.

Sweet!

 

[Nakk]

Just a couple of notes to clear up some confusion about mast position. If you're riding strapless, you have a lot more freedom to move the mast fore and aft. The limiting factor is related to getting up. If the mast is too far forward, you'll tend to pearl the board before you can get up. If the mast is too far aft, it will be hard to get up at all or ride in a balanced manner.

Changing mast position does not directly affect handling as the video a few posts up suggests. It will feel like it, but you need to understand what is really happening. Once you're up on the foil, the board has only one effect on handling: rotational moment of inertia. By moving the mast forward you reduce that moment by decreasing the radius of the mass. Reducing the radius reduces the rotational moment of inertia and improves your foil's handling. Great! One thing though, there's a lot better way to do that. Switch to a smaller board.

When you're learning, you need a bigger board to be able to get up easier. You can ride the board itself before engaging the foil. As an added bonus, that big board with lots of nose rocker makes recovering from touchdowns way easier. Having the mast further back on that big board puts more nose out front and puts your center of balance further back. This makes everything easier, but that big board is really slowing things down. Good for a beginner, less fun for the advanced. Going to a smaller board reduces the rotational moment WAY more than moving the mast forward on a big board. This will make the foil incredibly nimble and fun. Expert Kite foilers will use a board barely big enough for their feet!

Once you've mastered foiling on a big wake foil board--longer than four feet--try a smaller board. The Slingshot Dwarfcraft or Dwarfcraft Micro are excellent boards to try. (They're in the kite foiling section of the web page.) These are NOT good boards to learn on. You'll most likely just get frustrated trying to learn on one of these. But once you can ride the foil at will and not touch down unintentionally, you'll literally be amazed at the difference in your riding.

EDITED TO ADD: Sorry, I forgot there were two different Dwarfcraft sizes. I'm talking about the 3'6" version here. the 4'6" one is still a big board. The 3'6" one is a medium sized board. 3' and smaller are "pocket" boards. Small enough to fit in your pocket, LOL.

 

[J-RAD]

For what I think is my 3rd time on the Infinity 76 wing I'm happy with the progress. Unfortunately the GoPro cut short my lengthier ropeless run, but I did catch one moment. I'm not sure I'm going to get to try again this season, I can't wait to play more.

I lengthened the rope probably 4 ft from before, which helped a lot. It seemed there was less turbulence further back. I could maybe shorten it a bit more. I was running the mast in the furthest back position. I do think I'll move it forward the next time I get on it.

 

[giroux68]

How does it compare to the 68?

 

[J-RAD]

How does it compare to the 68?

I didn't spend a lot of time on the 68. The 76 definitely has more lift for surfing and I'm finding it to be as stable. In 2018 the 68 was sold as the surf wing option, so it is a wing that provides decent lift. Since the introduction of the larger 76, 84, and 99cm wings the 68 has replaced the 57 as the wing of choice for the wake wing. I think it's well suited for learning and progressing towards surfing. Lightweights like your kids will be able to surf it.

 

[jcyamaharider]

Had a good productive weekend with our foil. I need to change out to the larger wing now but I think our foiling is done for the season also.

 

[J-RAD]

How does it compare to the 68?

@jcyamaharider has been learning/riding the 68cm and progressing towards the 84cm surf wing. Maybe he has some wisdom to share?

 

[jcyamaharider]

LOL, not much wisdom unless you want to learn to fall....

 

[J-RAD]

LOL, not much wisdom unless you want to learn to fall....

I think that's true of any wing it seems...

 

[Nauti-Nurse]

October 1st... definitely could tell the seasons are changing.... trying to push out as far as I can before, not having a wetsuit, temps outweigh the fun!
getting longer and longer rides and starting to play in the push of the wake. Feel like one good season of falling... i mean learning to foil is what it took to feel normal on it and not like a rag doll! lol
I really hate putting my boat away in the winter.

 

[Nauti-Nurse]

For what I think is my 3rd time on the Infinity 76 wing I'm happy with the progress. Unfortunately the GoPro cut short my lengthier ropeless run, but I did catch one moment. I'm not sure I'm going to get to try again this season, I can't wait to play more.

I lengthened the rope probably 4 ft from before, which helped a lot. It seemed there was less turbulence further back. I could maybe shorten it a bit more. I was running the mast in the furthest back position. I do think I'll move it forward the next time I get on it.

What speed are you running in the vid?

 

[J-RAD]

What speed are you running in the vid?

My wife is the holder of that information and she can't remember exactly. If I were to guess right around 10.5mph.

 

[Nauti-Nurse]

My wife is the holder of that information and she can't remember exactly. If I were to guess right around 10.5mph.

wow.. ok I'm running 10.5-11.5mph
I guess different angle of perspective and the twin engine just makes it look faster than mine.

 

[Chillypilot]

@J-RAD any chance of a group buy this spring???