Foil gear

tm00 · Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2023 8:12 am Post subject: Foil gear

I have slingshot set-up. Hover glide 90cm mast, Infinity 76cm front wind and 42cm rear wing. Using a Wizard 150 board.

I feel like this set-up is hard to get up on foil. It moves along nice when foil is 9/10th of the way up. Getting that final bit of launch is work.
The whole set-up weighs a lot.
Wondering if new foils and lighter equipment make a difference.
(don't blame the sailor.... blame the gear)

tm00

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

Depends how much you weigh.
I76 is a Lightwind foil for anyone under 175 lbs.
I84 is good for 200 lbs guys.
I99 is mostly for 200-250 lbs guys for windfoil.
If you have enough wind to get up without pumping, you are overpowered when up on foil.
Correctly powered means you need to pump 2-5 times to completely clear.
Talking recreational foiling with the gear you have.
My case, 165 lbs rider on 1150 foil, 10-17 mph wind.
4.0 is plenty with no downhaul, slightly loose outhaul.
5.0 is fine.
6.0 is fine with full downhaul.
6.7 is fine fully fowngauled and slightly flat.
All would require 2-5 pumps of the sail to fully foil.

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

For WINGfoiling, board weight is everything for foiling, because the wing does not generate the power of a sail, and big wings are much harder to pump.

tm00 · Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2023 5:46 pm Post subject:

I weigh around 145lb so the gear I have should work fine. So it is the sailor not the gear.

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

I 76 is 1500 sq cm, so you need to pump the sail a couple of times, unless gusts come thru at 20 mph.

NOVAAN · Joined: 28 Sep 1994 Posts: 1551

The 76 wing is a great all-around wing. Lots of lift, pretty fast and stable.
I'm not sure what you mean by 9/10ths up. If you are up that high, you are ready to foil out and crash. If you mean your almost ready to lift but can't come up, then you need more board speed or get more weight back. Learn to turn off wind and pump your rig. Once your on foil, you don't need a lot of sail to stay on foil. Your gear is plenty good to learn on. No need to spend more money on gear until you get the basics down and making foiling turns.

tm00 · Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 8:30 am Post subject:

Thanks for the information. Need to focus on my sailing skill versus worrying about the equipment.
When I mentioned 9/10th up I was referring to the board being off of the water except for the tail section. Was trying to break it loose by sail and foot pumping but I think I need to pump harder and bear off.

coachg · Joined: 10 Sep 2000 Posts: 3551

Very common to see beginners in both windsurf & wing foiling in your "9/10th" position. Too much weight on the back foot plowing along in a near stall. The solution is counter intuitive but you need to get the boars/foil to go back down to gain speed & thus more lift. With winging that means more weight on your front foot &/or stepping forward, with windsurf foiling that means sheeting in more with your sail to apply more MFP &/or moving forward (Your straps forward or your foil back).

Coachg

tm00 · Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2023 5:53 pm Post subject:

May be a bad question but is there something else at play to get the foil to fly? I have heard that getting on foil is not like an airplane taking off. Pumping increase speed but does it also make the board livelier? And, does that helps the foil lift?

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

In order to actually foil, pumping is used 90% of the time to unwet the drag from the board. The foil is always dragging.
Quite words....if you don't need to pump to get up on foil, you are overpowered once up.
If you choose not to pump, you will spend 80% of your foiling time dragging your tail around.