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Lightest wind speeds for foiling?
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rtz



Joined: 31 Oct 2010
Posts: 296
Location: Oklahoma City

PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 5:56 pm    Post subject: Lightest wind speeds for foiling? Reply with quote

So just how light are you able to get out in?

Last edited by rtz on Fri Jan 11, 2019 6:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
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dllee



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 5328
Location: East Bay

PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 6:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

App. To get up, 9mph.
To glide thru, 6 mph
To hold onto with that setup, 14mph.
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NOVAAN



Joined: 28 Sep 1994
Posts: 1541

PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 6:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Different type and size of foils require more or less speed to fly. I use a sling shot board and foil. I would call it a mid size freeride foil. This set up with a 5.2 meter sail gets up and flying at about 6mph board speed for me. The question is how do I achieve the board speed to fly. If i head off wind and pump the sail and foil I get flying at about 10mph winds on a 5.2. rigged for lite wind. Others who don't bear off or pump up to the take off speed might require a 7.0 at that wind speed. Or 15mph winds to get the 5.2 going. Like planning on a windsurfer, once up on the foil, you need less apparent wind to keep going because of reduced drag. This is really exaggerated on the foil. Some of the new larger surf foils, people are talking about 6mph winds to foil. The issue then would be top speed and control of a big foil. I hope this helps. I'm pretty new to foiling and have a bunch to learn. If its windy I'm going windsurfing. For people that work or don't live in a windy place, foiling will greatly increase time on the water.
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NOVAAN



Joined: 28 Sep 1994
Posts: 1541

PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2019 6:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I forgot to mention that its fun. I had a picture of me foiling up on the foil and the water is so smooth you can see my reflection. I'll post it if i still have it..
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Wind-NC.com



Joined: 30 May 2007
Posts: 980
Location: Formerly Cape Hatteras, now Burlington, VT!

PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 11:40 am    Post subject: Re: Lightest wind speeds for foiling? Reply with quote

rtz wrote:
So just how light are you able to get out in?


Getting going in 12-15 mph winds is reasonably easy for just about anyone on just about any foil/board combo. Getting going in less wind than that starts to require more specifically chosen foils, boards, and sails, and better pumping technique and fitness. The lower the wind speed, the more important all of those choices/factors become. Especially the pumping part Laughing

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coachg



Joined: 10 Sep 2000
Posts: 3546

PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 12:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

do not know how accurate the GPS is on the Gopro Hero 6, but that is what I used last summer for a little experiment. I also do not remember what the wind speeds were when I did the experiment but it was a light wind day & I was using a 5.7 sail & I remember not having to pump very much that day. I used a clew view mount for the video session. On the Gopro video the speedometer showed consistently the board start rising out of the water at 10 mph & be fully flying by 11 mph. I do not recall at what speeds the foil dropped out of the air but based on this little experiment it appears I just need the board to reach 10 mph to launch. This spring I will try to get better data on lifting & flying speeds.

Setup is Naish 122, Naish 90 cm Foil & 5.7 Lift sail.

Coachg
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dvCali



Joined: 23 Aug 2007
Posts: 1314

PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 12:30 pm    Post subject: Re: Lightest wind speeds for foiling? Reply with quote

rtz wrote:
So just how light are you able to get out in?

It depends on the foil and (a lot) on the weight of the rider. Just foil-wise people have been reporting close to 6 (knots) with the Horue double front wing. Check out the windsurfing33 french forum it has tons of information, goggle translated (click on Passion Windfoil)

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.windsurfing33.com%2Fforum%2F&edit-text=


Last edited by dvCali on Sat Jan 19, 2019 11:06 pm; edited 2 times in total
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jlooby



Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 69

PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 12:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Andy - curious as to what windspeeds you've had luck in foiling - I think I saw somewhere you have used the infinity 84 wing and the sailworks and naish foil sails.
How low did you go? Very Happy

Joe
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Wind-NC.com



Joined: 30 May 2007
Posts: 980
Location: Formerly Cape Hatteras, now Burlington, VT!

PostPosted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 3:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

jlooby wrote:
Hey Andy - curious as to what windspeeds you've had luck in foiling - I think I saw somewhere you have used the infinity 84 wing and the sailworks and naish foil sails.
How low did you go? Very Happy

Joe


Trying to avoid bad jokes about going low... Laughing Will just stop there and not get myself in trouble Laughing

Hmmm, tough to say, really... but we had a lot of days last summer that were like 3-10 or 4-12 mph, really up and down and not much of an average to speak of. Total glass in the lulls, and maybe a random whitecap showing in the biggest gusts.

Conditions like that tend to be a lot of bobbing around, waiting for gusts. Then once flying, you just try to connect the dots and keep it rolling as long as you can. I find it really fun. And more often than not, you might catch a good 20 or 30 minutes of sustained breeze if you're already out there. But you miss it if you wait for it to appear before rigging...

Regarding specific gear- yes, I've used quite a few combos... Too many to list here. I'm a bit addicted and can't stop buying stuff Laughing If you're dealing with REALLY light wind, the bigger the wings the better. This doesn't necessarily GET you flying at significantly lower board speeds, but it'll KEEP you flying at lower board speeds. You can generally keep using fairly small sails with the giant wings, and enjoy a really playful/maneuverable light feeling ride.

Many of the race foils will fly really early, too, but you need to pair them up with gigantic sails to see the benefit and to keep them flying. Flip side of that equation, though, is that it's really fun to go super fast in basically NO wind!! The apparent wind feels amazing when you're blasting along with big racy gear and you can really power them up if you want to. (similar to formula sensations).

In any case, the more you pump and fine tune your rig and work on your technique, the lower the wind speeds you can enjoy. Best way to do that is to just get out there and work on it. Cool

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PCfoiling



Joined: 23 Oct 2015
Posts: 65
Location: Dallas, TX

PostPosted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 11:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Many variables to light wind foiling!

Pumping, equipment and observing what’s going on around you are probably my top 3.

This evening the wind started super light 5-10 and increased to 14 mph puffs
(Very short gusts but enough to foil up and glide through the holes).

https://youtu.be/EulcG8B0hmo

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