A lot.
It's one of the basic phenomena that exists across all windsurf disciplines. Weight and height = more control/speed on bigger kit.
As a smaller rider on course race gear I find the best thing I can do is try to out point them upwind/downwind.

berowne said..
Manilo 25kt on a big foil - I only managed about 25/26 on my F4 course racing foils, but it has kind of fallen out of favour around here.

Agree with subsonic, leverage helps. Short of this, railing the board so you can control the lift,... because you need power to point but then it isn't as easy to control off the wind. Let us know how you go!

Yes I think I have room to improve a bit still on downwinds. Railing more to Windward and trying to keep the apparent wind. A friend (one of the big fast guys) told me to hang more over out of the board, not just hang below the boom. Take my body out, like when going upwind.

I have a 750 FW too, but racing it's critical when the wind fluctuates too much. Below 15 knts, the 900 wins (better VMG). It should blow steady 15-16+

Manilo said..

berowne said..
Manilo 25kt on a big foil - I only managed about 25/26 on my F4 course racing foils, but it has kind of fallen out of favour around here.

Agree with subsonic, leverage helps. Short of this, railing the board so you can control the lift,... because you need power to point but then it isn't as easy to control off the wind. Let us know how you go!

Yes I think I have room to improve a bit still on downwinds. Railing more to Windward and trying to keep the apparent wind. A friend (one of the big fast guys) told me to hang more over out of the board, not just hang below the boom. Take my body out, like when going upwind.

Yep, thats solid advice. Hanging under the boom you loose all your forwards/backwards mobility because you're all crouched up over the board.

For almost three months, my average speeds have varied between 26.5 and 28 knots. Somehow, I've clocked just over 29, but I haven't yet broken the 30-knot barrier.
Despite everything, I still have some problems I can't solve.
I don't use the harness efficiently and effectively.
Having overcome the fear of "binding" myself to the lines while precariously balanced (compared to windsurfing fins), I can fly hooked even in winds of around 20 knots. This seems fairly normal to many, but the problem is that in this mode, the speeds remain well below what I can achieve without being hooked.
Trying to describe what often happens, I remember the fact that when a gust hits, the nose of the board tends to go down (despite i'm well balanced on both feet).
To moderate this reaction, I now place the base mast further back. But this exposes me to the risk of excessive lift if and when I'm not fully committed.
Furthermore, this setup is too extreme if I want to fly unhooked (for many different reasons).
Another problem is finding the right length for the harness lines. Or rather, making them work throughout the entire speed range along the edge. Since I'm not very good at it, acceleration isn't instantaneous. Therefore, in the first part of the run, relatively shorter lines work quicker and better. But as the speed increases, they become too short to send it.
If, on the other hand, I adjust them to be correct when I'm in the range of my target speeds, I find it very difficult to fly hooked at low speeds.
During my best runs, I often have a good setup but unhooked...
Finally, how do you manage to generate momentum to increase speed in low-power conditions? For now, I can only achieve decent numbers if aided by strong winds.

BulSurf said..
Finally, I've tuned my F4 foil for 30+ knots.
Now I'm just waiting for the right
wind .
😉





Is that AI stuff or is it for real? In this last case how have you tweaked a stiff and reliable connection?

Wow what a hybrid

Freeflight said..

BulSurf said..
Finally, I've tuned my F4 foil for 30+ knots.
Now I'm just waiting for the right
wind .
😉

Looking forward to a post with your new top speed now you are on the cross breed foil 😎

Unfortunately no good wind to progress over 30+ kn .
My best with this hybrid is 26 kn.
I thinking to buy 365 DNA-X and 150 back and give a try with them.
Some video with this Foil:

Ok sad news today…
I sold my 2x Windfoil sets…

1. The Cobia 870 CR set on GP100 super stable mast, and
2. The awesome Wahoo 540 TE (2nd edition since the fuselage was a bit thinner), and super skinny GPTE95 mast. This was my favourite foil set of all time.

End of an era.

As most here would know, I’ve been hooked since a
1. slingshot got me started then a
2. thin fast AFS, but I was porpising and thought it was the 88 fuselage so got
3. StarBoard 900 almost iQ setup… but hated the thick profile and flex… so searched and compared (big write up comparing foils back in the day),
0. I nearly bought the phantoms but there 900 was the same profile as iq,
4. so I went with F4CA set which I eventually upgraded to the
5. Wahoo/GP series. Sold that and bought the
6. Wahoo GP TE set.

I probably would have stayed WindFoiling - fixing my race starts so I could actually reach along side Byron before gybing faster than 22kt alphas and end 1st, instead of coming 2nd all the time….

But Memo (for all his sins) convinced me to try winging with the Mya wing, Emona board and early GP Bonito wing foil setup. I got the gist of it, and...

Then the Orca hype started and didn’t stop… and the narrow board phase hit so I just had to upgrade… and the dual skin wings came out and they looked sexy, and somehow ended up with way too much gear.

So, I had to let something go! I was going to keep the 540 setup for posterity, but 5 complete sets is way too much carbon to sit in a garage.

I'm glad the new owners got great foils, and I hope to see you on the forums, on the water, and at the slalom races!

Send It!

As I’m moving to wing foils I’m selling my used Windfoil gear. Chasing 30 knots, these little babies will get you there!!!!


😀Wahoo 290
😘Wahoo 366
😜XL Tail 170WS
😱M tail 170 tips down super rare rear

half retail price.