PommyMike said..
Looking at the learn to fly school mast setup has made me wonder what the advantage is of having a longer mast on a foil?

As long as you're off of the surface then I'd have thought it's just as efficient on a shorter one so is it just a case of it feels 'cooler' being higher up?

I suppose riding over waves/chop might be a plus point...

I learnt on a 750mm mast and then got a foil with a 950mm mast. It definitely feels much nicer in my opinion.... I'm not completely sure why other than it gives more headroom (against high foil cavitation), even when its only a couple of hundred mil.

You can't bank a short mast over. You can't crank hard carving turns. You can't keep the wings as deep. Almost every error in technique results in the wings breeching.

The only thing shorter masts are good for is riding in shallower water.

RussKraut said..

Gorgo said..
You can't bank a short mast over. You can't crank hard carving turns. You can't keep the wings as deep. Almost every error in technique results in the wings breeching.

The only thing shorter masts are good for is riding in shallower water.

Couldn't agree more. Even learning is fine on the long mast, with the right board. Yes crashes are harder from 1m above the water. But nose dives can be avoided with the right board (bit of rocker and boyancy) and technique. But yes the first 2-3 sessions may be more painful but it's worth it and saves money too. I learned on the good old LF Fish and of course being straight as a piece of wood it loved to just nose dive and throw you off. But one figures out how to avoid this before even properly riding the foil, so not a drama. Shorter masts are a marketing thing to increase revenue. And as Gorgo said, it's handy for shallow spots of course.

I have learnt on a Jshapes foil + 950 mast and now I am getting somewhere with it ... if it has been tricky to learn I would not say it is because of mast length.

I agree with all of these comments and I think they sum up the whole discussion about foil mast length choice in a nutshell .
The whole learning on a short mast thing is way over stated IMO .

You only really need one for shallow conditions - and it would have to be reasonably flat water for all the reasons Gorgo and Russkraut and others describe above. You will be quickly looking for a longer one as you progress

Darwin is almost always choppy ( some places 3ft chop and 5 ft interval) and I often need every bit of the 950 mast plus some adjustment to full depth and it cruises through smoothly.

It has been a constant issue for me learning to control a good gybe in In our normal choppy conditions .... breaching wings +breach forward wing as you navigate the turn + the chop ... so the longer mast helps a lot .... it would be much more difficult with anything much shorter for me

cheers

I learnt on a Slingshot short mast and have enjoyed foiling from the first day. It got me riding up on the foil for 100m + within a few hours and I never looked back. I was lucky to get a good deal on a second hand Hover Glide and got the whole set up with 3 masts for under $1k. I still use my 24" mast a lot due to the shallow water at my local and love it. It teaches you better pitch control because you have less margin for error than on a full length mast. When I jump on the 35" mast, it feels so easy.

I use both - yes I found a short mast easier to learn on, but I agree with Drew, you can learn on a long mast, just more perseverance required.

Short masts - mine is 40cm
You are less likely to fall onto the mast or wings if you fall off the downwind side of the board with a short mast - less scary start to foiling.
Useful in shallow water spots when wind is light - water is normally smooth then anyway!
Control of flying is critical when you only have a small window of flying height - agree with Dukesilver!!
Good when you start touch and go transitions to go back to the small mast.

Long masts - mine is 90cm
The best sense of flying high in silence.
Great for cranking over for upwind legs (when leaning over against foil instead of riding on top of it).
Best in choppy conditions or in swell.

My only wish was that I bought two base plates to make swapping masts easier - is a pain to take the mast out of my board mount plate when I want to swap sizes.

I also found now using all foot straps, not just the front ones I used when learning, gives me the confidence to start jumping with the foil.

The learning curve when starting on a short mast is quicker to a point. But in the overall scheme of learning to foil, you lose out in the time you take to relearn when going to the long mast. I call long 90cm and over.
the stage of learning that a short mast helps in is maybe only less than 1hr of going through that stage with a long mast ( actual on water time).
in flat Shallow waters where you want to ride more upright rather than leaning into it, a short mast maybe useful but when comparing roll stability having half a 90cm mast in water is a lot better than half a 70cm mast and your ankles and knees will know before you do.