MidAtlanticFoil forum posts in last 60 days

Had my first 2.7M session yesterday in solid 26mph average with gusts mostly in the 35mph range. 635 Manta F4 foil. Smallest BRM harness line with a reverse hook. Swell chest to neck on the sets.


Absolute beast of a little wing. Extremely easy to get on foil. The S3 provides the nicest steady tension so it’s really easy to pop up to my feet and just accelerates onto foil with very little leg action needed, maybe an ollie or two. The steady tension is huge for getting to feet in swell, a big balance aid for sure.



Going upwind it just points and accelerates. The Brm harness line is perfectly balanced. I didn’t need to micro manage the trim at all. Even going toeside it was just grip it and rip it upwind. I’m a toeside rider, so I basically had to adopt a downhill skateboarder stance with both knees bending forward. My free hand was almost able to drag the upwind water surface. Felt sick!



2.1M is the only one I don’t have, and I think I may want one, just for the epic storm days. The 2.7 could handle the gusts fine, but there certainly was some pressure on the harness.

MeonAsh said..
I weigh 83kg and ride a 68L board to parawing.

The reason why is the bumps i ride are usually not big or powerful. So I want a really efficient and reactive board for pumping.

I have a 6'8" x 19 x 92L board, i rarely use it because it is way harder to pump.

Yeah exactly. My old 55L is the same ratio (82% of my 68kgs). Even bumping up 3” and a couple liters to 85% ratio board is a noticeable increase in size and feel. The inability to easily grab the board’s nose when going from standing to seated is a major bummer. That alone means more swimming and climbing on the board after a botched start or stall off a swell.

Impressive. Like he said in the vid. He was scared to try his sinker. I’m still in that zone. I have a 45L and a 40L just begging for a turn. Water is warming up, so it’s time soon.


He was using quite a large foil however.

foilthegreats said..
If you're interested in watching the 5.3m fly:

You were cooking upwind in those gusts!

CFL Foiler said..

BWalnut said..

MidAtlanticFoil said..

CFL Foiler said..
Those that have ridden the S3 curious to hear if you were able to comfortably find a one handed riding position/grip. Sounds like if the handle continued the sweet spot would be in the middle of the D.

Full hand grip behind the handle sounds like too much backline tension for powered riding. Full hand on the outside D handle sounds like full depower and you need to use your fingers on the bar to power up.
Is riding with your hand inside the D Handle the comfortable one handed position or is it still providing a little to much rear line tension?

I can say that riding overpowered with one hand is not really doable with the S3 (without a harness). Under the sweet spot conditions, maybe riding with your hand just up against the D may be perfect. Just haven't had the chance to try yet.

Hooked in, 25-30 knots with the 3.4m was a dream. I was riding one handed pointing at friends, goofing off, it was STABLE and easy to ignore.

Definitely get how hooked in riding will not be an issue. Just concerned about the comfort of unhooked one handed riding as that's how I ride most of my dw sessions. Only go two handed on upwind legs and hardly ever hook in

One handed going DW starts isn't really a problem. Its just going upwind for long distances where it can be an issue.

I tried out my 4.3M again today in honking 20-30MPH winds with my D Handle Spreader Line with my Stringfellow hook and it worked great! I was able to fly comfortably one handed on my heelside tack. Toeside was a bit slower and more cautious (13-15mph vs 9-10 mph). Really making me consider taking a couple days to learn switch stance.

I also can't wait to fly the wing in it's sweet spot lol.

After my first (overpowered) session with the 4.3M, I’ve been brainstorming around a good reverse harness hook solution for the S3 and the D handle. Hooking in at the shaft side of the handle means full on power, while hooking in to the front of the handle means full on depower.


I’ve yet to try this, but I used a 12” or so piece of dyneema and a clove hitch and a random hitch knot to make this small line that bridges the gap of the handle. I’m hoping that this makes the perfect catchers mitt for the hook to reside.

I almost always ride one handed, unless I’m really focusing on most efficient upwind angle.



Only downside I see is though can’t fully put your hand inside the handle. That’s a good thing in my opinion. In Jeremy’s vid above, he showed one technique of putting your hand up inside the handle, but that could be pretty dangerous in a wipeout and could easily lead to a broken hand due to the lever moment of something (board/knee) hitting the end of the bar.

Here’s a clip of the 4.2 in some very light conditions:

Had my first session with the 4.2 S3. Wind was too strong, so I started with the 3M Kanaha with the S3 in my pack. Wind dropped a hair so I got the S3 out and it ramped back up and I was littttt. Wind was gusting to 33mph and I hadn't sorted my reverse hook out quite yet. No bueno! It could handle the wind, but not being able to comfortably hook in was...physical, especially toeside. I ran in to swap out my 3M and bring the 4.5M Paia into the rotation.

Then the wind proceeded to see-saw over and over and I kept changing out between the Paia and S3. Extemely frustrating! I was riding a 635 Manta surf wing, so not super lifty, but the Paia was struggling to get me on foil - may have been the ripping flood tide making it difficult to get good laminar flow. I'd pop out the S3 and BAM - on foil with excess power to spare. I was hoping the 4.2M S3 would work through when the Paia could take over, but there was a gap.

I eventually figured out that I could hook the front of the handle and just use my one hand to manage the sheet in/out. This worked extremely well and I was able to ride toeside upwind in overpowered conditions.

It was a challenging session, but I was able to get some amazing DW runs with the Manta. Can't wait to try it within it's normal range!

slowmotion160 said..
What do people recommend for 50% parawing and 50% Winging. 795 or 865? Does the 795 go up wind ok with a 770 or 880?

If you don't want to worry about breaching going DW, the 865 is good. Also allows for some serious steep angles when carving.

The 795 size works great as well with those wing sizes, just can be more demanding going upwind if the swells line up perpendicular to the upwind line. Definitely easier to keep the foil in the sweet spot and feels a bit less precarious compared to the 865.

Urgull said..
Alright, I had the chance to sail it.
PROS[/b]
Much better upwind angle compared to the KANAHA
Incredibly lightweight material. Shockingly thing.
Stiffer ride (less vibration)
Even easier to stash and pack. It felt so so nice
Even thinner lines (how do they do it?)
CONS[/b]
Trickier to jibe
Sizes over 4.5 are even[/i] trickier to jibe
The material is so light that if the tip touches the water, the shape collapses

I haven't tried it myself, but they say the 4.0 is really, really good.
The handle looks like a shovel?? guess it's a matter of tastes but I prefer simple stuff. But it pulls you upwind like a bull.

Can you comment on riding toeside with the D-Handle? I don't switch stance and kinda concerned. Hopefully I'll just be able to hook in and put my one hand just behind the harness point to control the sheet in/out.

BWalnut said..
Does anyone know what foils Greg uses most days?

Armstrong HA1080 if my memory serves me correctly. I believe he mentioned it in a podcast.