Did not get to foil today in 8-10 mph wind

nodak · Joined: 13 Nov 2012 Posts: 130

Today it blew a constant 8-10 mph. I expected to get hydro foiling but alas I shlogged the entire time. I'm 200 lbs and my setup is pretty light. I pumped and applied pressure on the foil to exhaustion then I took out my '98 Fanatic 250 L X-Cat and cruised to save the day.

For condition I have:
147L Starboard Foil board with the GT foil
8.5 sq m Hotsails Speedfreak, 100% carbon mast, carbon mast extension
Chinook 100% carbon boom

I suppose I needed at least low teens to get hydro foiling.

wsatl · Joined: 30 Sep 2014 Posts: 66

Is that the 800cm2 wing on the GT? Stock 75cm fuse?

Generally speaking - 8-10 (with no golden puffs to get going) is the province of light weight, 1000+ wings and very good pumping technique. Cambered sails (imho) help also - (imho) significantly.

joethewindsufa · Joined: 10 Oct 2010 Posts: 1190 Location: Montréal

this discourages me and yet i JUST received an email from jlooby

"I have a slingshot infinity 84 wing on a slingshot dialer 145 with a sailworks flyer 8.2. Great combo. Flying in 7-8 knots and so much fun.
Best light wind combo I have had by far!"

Both joe and i are constantly looking for the greatest light wind setup
and have done the longboard, wide semi-formula boards, BIG sails, etc etc

wsatl · Joined: 30 Sep 2014 Posts: 66

boardsurfr · Joined: 23 Aug 2001 Posts: 1266

Gusts. Skill. Weight.

With regular pumping skills, it seems the gusts rather than averages will determine if you can fly. They need to be strong enough to get the foil to a speed where the apparent wind lets you keep flying.
With excellent pumping skills (being able to pump onto the foil and then accelerate the board significantly when on the foil), the gusts needed will drop. But it will still be easier to get going in higher puffs.
I can usually pump the board onto the foil even when it is light, but I still need quite a bit of wind to stay foiling. I can accelerate a bit by pumping after the board comes up, but there's plenty of room for improvement left.

After a few weeks of foiling, I'm happy that I can now foil on the days where the light weights can plane using their bigger sails (and the 200 lb sailors might plane every now and then on their biggest gear). The threshold will drop over time as skills improve, but 8-10 mph sounds like perfect for light wind freestyle. It's a bit like foiling - the better you get, the more fun it is Smile

NOVAAN · Joined: 28 Sep 1994 Posts: 1551

My foiling buddy has that wing on the 122 board. Its a great set up for windy days. He needs 15mph to get going. He bought the larger surf wing and now he is the first guy flying on the smallest sail. Its a big wing around 1600 cm. or more

d0uglass · Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 9:46 am Post subject:

At 200 lbs you're going to need about 10.3 knots (11.8 mph) to foil with the 8.5.

With a 10 meter sail the threshold would be a little lower, like 8.7 knots (10.0 mph), but I'm not sure you want to mess with a double digit sized sail.

dllee · Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 5329 Location: East Bay

Bigger foil is the key. Inf 84 or equivelents.

nodak · Joined: 13 Nov 2012 Posts: 130

Are larger wigs available for purchase for my GT setup. I assume I need both front and back. I looked on Starboard site but haven't seen anything.

cgoudie1 · Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2019 6:59 pm Post subject:

Yep that kettle is 7 knots = 8MPH and 8 knots =9.2 MPH so 8 t0 10 is pretty close.

-Craig