| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
grantmac017
Joined: 04 Aug 2016
Posts: 946
|
 Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2019 2:11 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
I've foiled everything from 100.5cm down to 72cm. The MB is 60cm but supposedly has similar stability to a 66-68cm.
Really once on the foil it's the strap spacing that matters and my experience is that relates to the sail sizes you are on (plus probably the foil itself).
The 100.5cm was fine with sails above 7.5m but awkward with smaller.
The 72cm (straps on center) is fine 5.0-6.5m, barely acceptable >6.5m and brilliant <5.0m
It carves rail to rail far better than the 100.5cm, but definitely much harder to tack or gybe. Also pumping from the straps is far easier with them on center and forward. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
dllee
Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 5329
Location: East Bay
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2019 2:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Funny, I've never tried pumping from the straps.
I just start pumping from slog position, go to front then rear straps as speed increases...old ws style.
If there is a 10 mph breeze, I can get into the straps easily, but my technique has me already planing by then.
I also tried a no strap 91cm board. SAME foot position for slogging AND foiling, no need to move feet at all.
What I can't stand is pumping onto a foil and getting into straps and the wind doesn't allow flight without maintaining serious pumping. Totally annoying, and too much work.
My last foiling day was 2-17 mph on a 4.2. Wind died after I dragged everything to the water's edge. Flight time maybe 20% and LOT'S of 1-4 mph breeze slogging. Our spot takes a 2 block slog to the windline, making gear changes impossible. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2019 3:54 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| grantmac017 wrote: | | I must admit it's extremely costly for something that there is no way to demo. |
You're not missing much. Formal demos (as opposed to borrowing a bud's gear on site), especially in a sport we're not very good judges at yet, can be a giant and often unsurmountable PITA even here in Gear Heaven. Getting the right gear, the right conditions, and the right timing together at once often requires many repeated attempts That's one reason I shop swap meets so hard; I've found that just buying the damned things eliminates most of those hassles. I paid much more money for my last dealer demo than I pay for almost all my boards. New gear loses more value more quickly than does used gear (when's the last time you cleared 400% profit selling a board you bought new?) and you get to ride it for weeks to months rather than hours and in all kinds of conditions.
Windance in Hood River offers free Slingshot demos, but there are still the problems of distance (300 miles round trip), wind (ya never know), and skill level (how can a foil beginner evaluate a foil setup?)
Maybe the Try Before You Buy mantra is overrated, even if it involves highly cooperative dealers but who are not in your back yard. I have no regrets about just buying my foil gear rather than demoing it, for all the above reasons, especially because my first foil session was so misleading. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2019 4:11 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| dllee wrote: | | I've never tried pumping from the straps ... I just start pumping from slog position, go to front then rear straps as speed increases...old ws style. |
Many foiling and windsurfing gurus here and in person claim that pumping is impossible without having our front feet strapped in. I've never understood that, even in highly gymnastic pumping I may do in short bursts. Maybe if they'd wear booties rather than roller skates and extend their pads further forward for extended traction they wouldn't need to strap in first.
OTOH, isn't it Wyatt's videos that teach us to get in both straps the minute the board is moving because finding them later is very difficult?
I'm putting LOOOOOOONG straps (they span the entire corner-to-corner strap insert range on my 2018 Wizard) on mine so even in the straps I still have a wide range of foot location options. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
grantmac017
Joined: 04 Aug 2016
Posts: 946
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2019 4:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I've done strapless on the 100.5cm and 4 straps on the 72cm. My preference is for 2 straps with the fronts fairly tight and backs in the car.
For whatever reason it does pump better in the straps and I can be in them long before I could without the foil. This is on a board with far less tail volume than a foil specific design.
The foil pump starts with a push down on the rear and pull up with the front. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2019 5:43 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| grantmac017 wrote: | | The foil pump starts with a push down on the rear and pull up with the front. |
I don't remember encountering that very sensible advice anywhere until now. I'll try it next time out ... probably when the weeds retreat late this fall. Thanks. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
dllee
Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 5329
Location: East Bay
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2019 9:15 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Bad foiler here, but it seems speed is stable, and foiling before speed is not stable.
Lotsa talk about getting into straps before pumping. I don't buy it because to get into straps, you need steady 10 and mast foot weighting. By then, I'm already planing and looking for the straps. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
grantmac017
Joined: 04 Aug 2016
Posts: 946
|
| Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2019 9:54 pm Post subject: |
|
|
When foiling I'm in the straps at about 5mph board speed. Long before I could with a fin.
I'm far from an expert, but I'm pretty darn efficient. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
cgoudie1
Joined: 10 Apr 2006
Posts: 2599
Location: Killer Sturgeon Cove
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2019 5:30 am Post subject: |
|
|
There are a couple of guys here that seem really good foilers. They get in both straps(yes they have and use both) before they foil up, pump about 5
times and are foiled and rocking. Maybe it's the wind. I see them in 18MPH
regularly (actually I see them in all kinds of wind from 12-28MPH). They're also both small and light weight (as in about 140lbs). They both run sails that are at least 1.5M smaller than what others their size are riding on a
regular windsurfer, and they both water start their boards. They've usually got that steady 10 (or more) that you mentioned, but they are almost
immediately strapped up before they start pumping.
Just an observation. I don't foil.......yet
-Craig
The | dllee wrote: | Bad foiler here, but it seems speed is stable, and foiling before speed is not stable.
Lotsa talk about getting into straps before pumping. I don't buy it because to get into straps, you need steady 10 and mast foot weighting. By then, I'm already planing and looking for the straps. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
boardsurfr
Joined: 23 Aug 2001
Posts: 1266
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2019 10:06 am Post subject: |
|
|
| grantmac017 wrote: | The 100.5cm was fine with sails above 7.5m but awkward with smaller.
The 72cm (straps on center) is fine 5.0-6.5m, barely acceptable >6.5m and brilliant <5.0m
|
Interesting observation.
Balz Muller seems to foil on the 92 l MB, which is 55 cm wide. The typical max sail size for freestylers is 5.2. My wife just foiled on her Skate 90 (~60 cm) with a 5.2 yesterday for the first time, and said it was not more difficult than the 71 cm slalom board. But then, that's the board she uses almost exclusively, and it still floats her by ~ 20 l.
I wonder how foil specific this is. The guys who foil with big sails and wide boards are usually on faster foils. Do big foils like the Infinity 84 take larger sails as well as smaller foils like the i76 or racier foils? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You can attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
|
|
|
Search
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Register
