Returning to the original topic: My take - smaller wings in high winds aren't always a solution

Do other foilers have similar experiences?
Having gone through NP Freefoil 130 and NP Glidewind Large and Medium front/rear wings, I bought the Slingshot Wizard 130 L V4 with the Slingshot Phantasm 103 W alu mast, 872 fuselage and PFI 730. As a beginner at 85 kg+ I found the PFI 730 difficult to master, so last year I also bought the Slingshot E 990 at 1800 cm2: slingshotsports.com/collections/foil-front-wings/products/e-990-1800-cm2-front-wing-v1-foil

I use the Slingshot E 990 series (1800 cm2) with Goya Banzai/Guru x sails from 2.7, 3.4, 4.2 and 5.3 in winds from about 8 m/s (15 knots) up to 15 m/s (30 knots) without foiling out, with the placement of the foil and UJ as shown in the pictures below. (With more practice I hope to handle lighter and stronger winds and my goal is to get closer to the riding style of Azymuth).

I now do large S turns and have begun practising gybing.

My take is that the large E 990 front wing seems to work better all over. Not being so prone to foiling out, even in high winds as my previous gear. It also seems to handle pumping up on the foil better and feels stable at high and low speeds.

My new setup - having a carrying handle really makes moving in and out of the water a hell of a lot easier.

4,5 cm from the rear seems to be the sweet spot for my setup at all sail sizes?


The distance between the markings is about 5 cm, and I still play with moving the UJ a bit at 1 cm increments.

If I had known how difficult this would be to learn (and gradually master) I would probably have gone for winging.

norwegianblue said..
Returning to the original topic: My take - smaller wings in high winds aren't always a solution

Do other foilers have similar experiences?
Having gone through NP Freefoil 130 and NP Glidewind Large and Medium front/rear wings, I bought the Slingshot Wizard 130 L V4 with the Slingshot Phantasm 103 W alu mast, 872 fuselage and PFI 730. As a beginner at 85 kg+ I found the PFI 730 difficult to master, so last year I also bought the Slingshot E 990 at 1800 cm2: slingshotsports.com/collections/foil-front-wings/products/e-990-1800-cm2-front-wing-v1-foil

I use the Slingshot E 990 series (1800 cm2) with Goya Banzai/Guru x sails from 2.7, 3.4, 4.2 and 5.3 in winds from about 8 m/s (15 knots) up to 15 m/s (30 knots) without foiling out, with the placement of the foil and UJ as shown in the pictures below. (With more practice I hope to handle lighter and stronger winds and my goal is to get closer to the riding style of Azymuth).

I now do large S turns and have begun practising gybing.

My take is that the large E 990 front wing seems to work better all over. Not being so prone to foiling out, even in high winds as my previous gear. It also seems to handle pumping up on the foil better and feels stable at high and low speeds.

My new setup - having a carrying handle really makes moving in and out of the water a hell of a lot easier.

4,5 cm from the rear seems to be the sweet spot for my setup at all sail sizes?


The distance between the markings is about 5 cm, and I still play with moving the UJ a bit at 1 cm increments.

If I had known how difficult this would be to learn (and gradually master) I would probably have gone for winging.

1800 mm2 is a very big foil. Azymuth's largest foil is ~900 mm2 but higher aspect. Have you tried the Slingshot PTM series. I almost exclusively use the PTM 899 from 12 to 25 kts. It's 925 mm2 high aspect foil. It takes more board speed to fly, but once up it just wants to keep on gliding. Once I learnt to trust the glide it made transitions much easier. The added bonus of high aspect foil is that they point well.

There seems to be a sweat spot in foil design with span between 900 to 1000 and area between 900 and 1100 and aspect ratio around 9, that a lot of brands offer . Eg the Sabfoil Masuda 909, PTM 899, Duotone Aero Glide 905, Axis Art 900.

jksmurf said..
Hi,

Great comments here, thank you for all the tips.

My wife has been Windfoiling a JP Freefoil with a Sabfoil W799/399 combination, 110 cm fuse, 93cm Mast. Loves it, foils a lot on it.
Bit scared to jibe due to what happened to my ankle a year ago but that's another story :-).

She's light, only 59kg and we get 20-25 knots in winter with a decent swell, if sometimes ugly and messy due to a bay with some small islands. She goes high up and down wind to bleed off the power, low boom etc but we're on our smallest sail (a NP Combat 3.3) and she's still overpowered and getting a heck of a lot of lift (no shims ... yet).

I am positive she'd be more comfortable on a smaller 2.9m2 sail (smallest NP make in the Combat) but before we go down that route, is there anything else you'd recommend? Options so far:

a. How about (-ve) shims (I have downloaded a 3D Printer profile)?
b. A W699 foil to replace the W799 (with what stab?) or is that just going to be too fast?
c. A smaller sail as mentioned above (my pref but the most exxy... and hard to find)?

cheers,

k.

FWIW,
I'm a smaller guy @5'8 64Kg. I use a 3.0 when winds are >25 knots. I had been using the PFI 730, and could manage, but found when overpowered I sailed at slower speed, struggling balancing the sail when jibing down the back of a swell. The wing would "surf out" of the the back side of the wave followed by a crash. I'm using a 700cm foil now (Sabfoil 769) with the SS360 vtail. Less lift in those conditions help maintain speed through the jibe and doesn't try to foil out. It's a bit faster the the 730, but very managable at low speeds. The only downside with the 769 is a little more speed to launch is required, but with the right tail has a very low stall speed. As a smaller/older guy, big gusts tend to pull me over the front of the board with the reistance of a larger wing (PFI730 and G800). I just don't have the core strength to sheet in in extreme conditions (Like Greg Glazier ) The smaller 769 just slips up to speed with no drag/Hesitation. It will go fast, but you don't have to. It's just easier for me to manage in high winds.