Even if this rider is good at riding a typical windfoil set up there will be an adjustment period. It is not so much the shape of the board as it is where the foil and rider are placed. The distance between the front wing and the sail is much smaller on these sup foil setups. The main thing this does is reduce the effect that mast foot pressure has on pitch control. This can be a good thing for riding waves where you are constantly switching between a flagged out sail and sheeting in. You don't need to move your weight as much with sail load changes. It also helps make it easier to contour the large waves sailing into the waves because it is looser in pitch. You have to adjust your style to use your weight more to keep the foil down because the sail load has less effect. Also there is less board weight in front of the wing. Your stance needs to be more upright and feet further forward. Watching Casey Treichler sail, his front foot is often at the mast base when riding waves or sailing off the wind. The rounding up into the wind is happening for similar reasons, the foil mast is closer to the sail (more weather helm) so you have to transmit more of the sail side force through your front leg and perhaps bear off the wind more prior to lift off, so there will be an adjustment period for that. This has its benefits as well, the board should slog upwind better and yaw on foil will be very loose and easy to turn. These set ups are very weatherly in marginal winds with out large sails.
To ease into it this new style, move the foil mast all the way aft in the tracks and use the switch fuse to move the wing closer to the foil mast thereby increasing the space between the wing and the sail. Also I bet sailing strapless would be easier because it give you the ability to move your feet around to control pitch and keep your legs loaded evenly. As you progress you can move the foil back forward and enjoy a looser ride that is quicker to foil.
I have been wake foiling a bunch using my 7' windfoil boards and have gotten to a decent ability. I recently added a 5.5' prone foil board to the quiver to use mostly for wake foiling. I really floundered for a while, purposing widely until it finally clicked. I am using the same foil, same boat and driver just a different board and it makes a massive difference. The main difference here is that there is less board weight levered out in front of the wing. Now that I have it sorted I love it! Because of the reduced nose weight the board flies sooner (a couple knots slower!) and it such a direct connection of your body weight to the foil. I am building a higher volume flatter rocker version of these sup foil boards to use for windfoiling, I am looking forward to it! I will keep ya'll posted, even if it doesn't work!

Probably just setup and acclimation.
5' 10" RRD Pocket works well as a windfoil board.
Gwarn uses really tiny windfoil board for his weight, as does the Gorge foilers.

Hi Heliboy
i have one of these boards.
Because the foil mast is so far forward compared to a normal windfoil board it is a bit different as you cannot push against the the foil mast like a fin as it will weather cock. However, with a change a technique where you pump against the wing it actually flies earlier than my windfoil board. The sloped tail lets you get back early and it drags less as the board angles up to fly. I have only tried it without footstraps as the footstrap position seems too close to the sail mast base. The foil mast being so far forward effectively means the board is very short with very little swing weight. Much easier to pump the foil than a windfoil board It is quite fun and also makes a great learner wing foil board and even a learner wake foil board. Compared to my prone foil board I can start on my feet behind a boat and I'm packing 94 kegs. I have not tried it as a foil sup in the surf yet but I'm sure it would be suited to that too. As with all multi use boards there are compromises but I think this is quite well thought out. Hope your friend persists and gets to know the little differences.

My mate is rocking on this thing. I was certainly skeptical of the sup design for windfoil initially, but as stated above its about balancing all those forces.

Its also a little deceptive as the long chined tail means you can stand behind the foil mast and generate unsustainable angles of lift.

simonp123 said..

Heliboy999 said..
Hi.

Been to the beach today and met up with a friend who purchased the Fanatic 6'11" Sky SUP Foil Windsurf Board just before lockdown. He was mega keen to try it out and unfortunately it turned into a bit of a night mare. Kept lifting him and chucking him off as well as constantly screwing into wind and railing him off.

Does anyone know if there is a good way to set these up? They are similar to the JP SUP foil boards with beveled rails and tail kick. The foil track is pretty long but the sail mast track is very close to the front foot straps. He was powered enough to get up on the foil with a i76 but it just looked awful. I would have thought that once up and foiling it really shouldn't make too much difference what the board shape is as long as you stand balanced.

Anyone?

I had a similar experience on a 7" JP SUP foil board. It would sort of spin round on the spot because the mast foot was so close to the foil. After a couple of attempts I gave up trying to use it with a sail.

I've been using the 7' JP SUP foil board for wind and wing sailing. Its a fantastic board for WWF Style, strapless. The advice given above is spot on. First thing I have to train people to do is not hike out, everything is finesse. Once it clicks, you'll never go back. ;)

If they would of just put a windsurf insert on the two smaller models, they would of been my next WWF style board. Fanatic are you listening? ;)

Hi all, I bought this board a few months ago and I am learning to SUP foil on it. I normally kite foil the wind swell with surf foils but when the wind goes under 13kn my kites just fall of the sky. A 7m hand wing is not something I want to get into but I was wondering if I could get a 6m Fanatic Ride rig to start learning how to eventually wind foil in sub 13kn

www.fanatic.com/windsurf/boards/entry-kids/ride-rig

The other option I am looking into is a Simmer Style 6.2

simmerstyle.com.au/collections/2020-sails/products/2020-aim-rig?variant=28797618258004&fbclid=IwAR3XqN6SqvvJOvXNMAGF2LeyC5hje-WtB91BC-A3aNpUFEP9vguIBudmVo4

mindhoc said..
Hi all, I bought this board a few months ago and I am learning to SUP foil on it. I normally kite foil the wind swell with surf foils but when the wind goes under 13kn my kites just fall of the sky. A 7m hand wing is not something I want to get into but I was wondering if I could get a 6m Fanatic Ride rig to start learning how to eventually wind foil in sub 13kn

www.fanatic.com/windsurf/boards/entry-kids/ride-rig

The other option I am looking into is a Simmer Style 6.2

simmerstyle.com.au/collections/2020-sails/products/2020-aim-rig?variant=28797618258004&fbclid=IwAR3XqN6SqvvJOvXNMAGF2LeyC5hje-WtB91BC-A3aNpUFEP9vguIBudmVo4

I think you have identified one of the windfoil v kitefoil advantages: we can schlog.

Those rigs would probably work but you could also get away with any 6m non-cambered sail. The potential downside to those rigs is that the components may not be usable for other sails. Most sailors have used equipment that they will be happy to offload that would be equally as good. Did you chat with your local sailors to see what they recommend?

If I was going to spend $1k I would make sure I got a good quality mast. The performance really drops if the mast isn't good enough, whereas people are making 20 year old sails work fine. Look for a chinook pro alloy boom used or on sale (just make sure it has the boom length to cover the sails you are looking at-probably the 135 to 197cm), any 30cm mast extension would be fine and then just buy a used 6 m non-cambered sail.

re the mast you will probably have to choose between a 430 and a 400cm. It would be ideal if you could rig multiple size sails (eg 6ish and 5ish) on the one mast you purchase

Thanks guys. I've been looking around and still learning. It seems like I could get away with a 400cm mast with extensions. A few 5m - 6.5m sails can be rigged from 400 to 430. Simmerstyle even has a 4.7 that can fit on a 400cm. Shopping around to get all the components is defintely going to be a challenge though .