Never lost kite equipment to Davey J's locker...
(Plenty small stuff sunnies watches)
Today my foil board combo stayed on side and angled off upwind faster than I could body drag.. Prob 15 mins later.. Luck has it the jetski patrol was on-hand....

After chatting with KBGhost few weeks back take small set flippers in backpack.. usually take clothes in this for bus trip back after a downwinder. Was just about to get them out.. Phew..

Moved to carbon setup for weight saving.

Suggestions on solution... ?? (Fishing sinker on base of mast ??)
Cheers
AP
FWIW.. Armstrong 85 mast.. 1550 wing.. Was the problem
Went out and tested 1200 and 850.. Both these wing combo s did the usual foil down and flew off downwind in the swell..

I'm not a fan of setups that float on their side, call me lazy but I like a foil that's returns to me.
Maybe the aluminium fuse isn't such a bad thing after all.
In saying the wing construction plays a massive part.
When I ding a leash is a no brainer, the lake of kite lines makes it possible.

This is a common problem with very light setups. I have a full carbon foil (Armstrong hs850/hs232 85cm mast) on an Axis 125 Tray. No problem here with tracking up wind since it does not sit on its side. This was the main reason I chose the 125. Smaller boards may be an issue.

It's not a problem, it's a feature.

If your foil floats it pretty much stays near you. You only have to drag back to it if it's upwind of you. Even then it's no harder than dragging back to a TT or surfboard. In shallow water the foil can stay up away from contact with the bottom.

If the foil is down and you lose contact with the board then it will shoot off downwind faster than you can swim after it. Every wave gives the board a push and it rises up a little on the foil and accelerates away. It's not a problem if your kite is in the air. It's a massive problem if your kite is down and you can't relaunch.

Foil down is a bit of an issue if you drop your kite in lighter winds. It's tempting to try and quickly relaunch the kite. If you fail and your board is out of reach and the foil is down you will never catch it.

Conversely, if you're practicing tacks or other looping moves it's great to have the foil down. It comes back to you like a naughty puppy as you wait downwind for it.

I think the foil sailing off upwind thing is a bit of a myth. It just looks that way when you're down in the water. The solution is to get more foiling experience and learn to deal with all the little glitches that can happen.

Gorgo said..
It's not a problem, it's a feature.

If your foil floats it pretty much stays near you. You only have to drag back to it if it's upwind of you. Even then it's no harder than dragging back to a TT or surfboard. In shallow water the foil can stay up away from contact with the bottom.

If the foil is down and you lose contact with the board then it will shoot off downwind faster than you can swim after it. Every wave gives the board a push and it rises up a little on the foil and accelerates away. It's not a problem if your kite is in the air. It's a massive problem if your kite is down and you can't relaunch.

Foil down is a bit of an issue if you drop your kite in lighter winds. It's tempting to try and quickly relaunch the kite. If you fail and your board is out of reach and the foil is down you will never catch it.

Conversely, if you're practicing tacks or other looping moves it's great to have the foil down. It comes back to you like a naughty puppy as you wait downwind for it.

I think the foil sailing off upwind thing is a bit of a myth. It just looks that way when you're down in the water. The solution is to get more foiling experience and learn to deal with all the little glitches that can happen.

Uhm, not so. I have witnessed personally an Axis board and foil sail upwind out of reach from the foiler and keep heading out to sea. I had to chase it down for my friend. He was not happy as it had already happened once before. Had I not been there I would have thought that it could never happen. Until it did. I have an Armstrong all carbon setup on 1 meter pocket board and it has not happened, thought the biggest wing I use is a 1250. I could see it happen with some of the bigger wings, though saying that the dude who nearly lost his rig had an aluminum mast and a smaller front wing, I would guess around the 900 size. This phenomenon is real.

Bit more grms than anticipated
Thoughts on options??
Cheers
AP

Almost there..Boat prop shaft anode..
In sea water.. Didn't quite drop foil .. In pool a few sloppy waves and bingo. No noise.. Infact didn't notice at all when foiling.. But hate to get that cracker hitting my head.





Cheers
AP

AquaPlow said..
Almost there..Boat prop shaft anode..
In sea water.. Didn't quite drop foil .. In pool a few sloppy waves and bingo. No noise.. Infact didn't notice at all when foiling.. But hate to get that cracker hitting my head.





Cheers
AP

is this a joke?

Re.. Noticing ..
I swapped kit same session.. Moses racing setup.. Way smaller wing probably 5-700 cms2. First I was a bit under powered (8m Peak4) on start constantly stalling out till dialled in wind angles and speed.. Then the humming first time come across this.. Noisy as... But not annoyingly so...

I added strip of board protector tape to leading edge on my first rig SS INFINITY 76 No noise or obvious consequence.
Reason.. gob smacked end one early session when found the wing tip missing.. Lake weyba is basically sludgey cling on mud once u get waist deep.. touch depth everywhere.. And assume occasional rock..

The position of weight which is streamlined on Armstrong fuse is optimal.. I plan to glass correct weight on under surface of wing close as possible to centre as possible mimic ing camber on top surface.. In Qld often dealing with bottom end marginal conditions... So 1550 is g8 4 this...
Cheers
AP

Floating foils and light wind is a real issue. Luckily I learned about it with others around. I was out on a 15mtr Sonic and a floating foil in the light stuff, came off the foil, nothing unusual. Tried for awhile to body drag back to the board but there wasn't enough power in the wind to get to the board. Luckily a mate saw my problem and brought the foil downwind to me.

Now I always use a thin non floating wing from Lift in the light stuff, it's still just over 800sqcm so still gets me going easily.