When wind increases 5 knots, you might consider windsurfing.

ZeroVix said..

Paducah said..

Swindy said..
100euro, that's a rip off.

It may be the freight company rate by default in their shopping cart. I'd contact them directly. I used to get wings from Horue shipped by postal service for about 50euro, iirc. Took about a couple of weeks.

OTOH, getting a sail from France/Germany to the US can be absurdly expensive - 250 euro. There aren't that many brands distributed here.

Times are different. Since the beginning of 2020, international shipping rates have gone up a lot. Prior to 2020, I purchased items from Europe to USA and wasn't too bad. Now I got a few quotes for some goods (both located in France) and it is no longer feasible.

If Bruce & Brit don't have anything in the AFS, last resort is Andy with Wind NC. He used to carry some stuff. GL

I got my AFS foil from Andy, he no longer sells them. I just got something from Slovenia, about a 1 lb package, $14.50 US (DHL shipping company), got something from Poland recently too, less than 1lb package $18 US.

Wondering if AFS gives tours, would be cool to go there and buy a Foil and then fly back with it!

michaelpaf said..

Sandman1221 said..
When the wind picks up 5 knots past the top end range for my sail, I have to either sit it out or rig a smaller sail. Thinking of getting a smaller front wing for my AFS foil (F700 versus F800), anyone doing that? Wonder if the sail will still be too big for the wind.

I don't want to define how many knots the wind needs to increase.
My standard Wing is the Slingshot Infinity 76.
I completed it with Infinity 65 Wing.

In our gusty conditions it can happen fastly that the wind increases a lot and then I would need to rig a smaller sail.
Depending on the sail I need to unrigg then also my previous sail. To much time lost.
To have to sails rigged to much stuff needed.
Have 1 Board, 2 masts (370 and 400), 1 boom, 3 sails from 3,7 to 5,6 and 90 kg driver weight.
The change of the wing is done in 2 minutes, rigging needs much more time and efforts.

Also the smaller wing make lot of fun in moves and jumping. So for me the perfect set up with a smaller wing instead of changing the sail.

thanks, very helpful

LeeD said..
Yeah, same problem I had all summer.
At least 25 days started with 4.7 and foil, wind comes up to "18-23", but I always carry an 85 liter board besides the big 100.
More than half my foiling days I have to switch to a windsurf board.

I am usually on a bay, if wind is out of North water is pretty flat up to 18 knots, same for East, but anything from the South kicks up 1-2+ foot waves, can windsurf the wave trough in, but rough ride out.

Scary fast is relative to experience. When I first started 19-20kn was scary fast and usually ended in a big stack. That is now a comfortable cruising speed. It took a long time but I now have everything dialed in to how I feel most stable and it's a breeze. On the gtr up to 25kn is quite comfortable now but over that starts to get scary still. I'm just shy of 27 top speed on it now and I'm aiming for 30. I know the foil is capable of it but I'm not as yet.
As for needing to be overpowered to get up on a small wing, that's not true. I had the 550 wing for the gtr for a good few months before I plucked up the courage to use it. As long as you are nicely powered up, as Lee says it only takes a few more pumps to achieve enough board speed to lift. Because a small wing has a lot less drag it's easier to pump onto the plane. Once up I had no trouble maintaining flight and it was surprisingly easy to use. Gybing with it takes a bit of commitment because you have to maintain good speed to stay up. That is a work in progress.

Keep trying for that F700 (not the s). It's a great wing for the windier conditions you mentioned. But watch out, it's quite lively. Fast, but not scary fast.

If I am foiling my AFS-2, I switch between F700 (779 cm2) and F800 (1120 cm2) depending on conditions. Sometimes I get lazy and just stick to my LP FRS (940 cm2), which is pretty much goldilocks most of the time. I weigh 195 lb and foil in the far east gorge.

Update on AFS shipping costs, need to contact Antonin to get an accurate shipping rate for your location. Wing to me in Florida US is 60 euro and then I made the mistake of asking about a complete foil, it is 120 euro, so now I opened the possibility of getting their new foil with wings to cover my range. And the prices on the AFS website are "with VAT", on a complete foil that adds about 400 euro which comes off in the shopping cart when I select US for shipping!

Paducah said..

Sandman1221 said..
Update on AFS shipping costs, need to contact Antonin to get an accurate shipping rate for your location. Wing to me in Florida US is 60 euro and then I made the mistake of asking about a complete foil, it is 120 euro, so now I opened the possibility of getting their new foil with wings to cover my range. And the prices on the AFS website are "with VAT", on a complete foil that adds about 400 euro which comes off in the shopping cart when I select US for shipping!

Save some of that VAT reduction for customs.

Update, when I bought my Wind95 foil with F800 wing from Andy at Wind-NC.com for around $1800 US it was shipped directly to me from AFS in France, and I did not pay a customs fee, but it was shipped to my door, so the carrier (I think DHL) dealt with US customs.

Really?, I did not think of that, bought three different items over the internet from Europe but no customs charge, though they were all under $100 US. I now do see that "most" internet purchases shipped to the US for my own personal use and under $2000 are duty free. The new AFS 95 cm foil with wings is just under $2000 US depending on wing choice.
www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-import-export/internet-purchases

r3st0ck said..
i changing wings and sails depending on windforce. from 12kts up to 17kts use of a smaller wing reduces uplift and i can still hold the sail, from 17 to 22kts i need to change the sailsize because a smaller wing would make the whole gear difficult to controll. its then less a problem of to much uplift as holding the sail (from a maneuver oriented sight)

Well the AFS F700 wing-770 cm2 (not F700a that came stock with the 85 cm foil) is supposed to be good for 15 knots and above, so if I was on my F800 wing-1120 cm2 and 7.2 sail in 14-17 winds and the wind popped to 18-23 (which it does a lot) I would switch to the F700 wing and keep the 7.2 sail. I have used the 7.2 sail for windsurfing and for me its range was 18-23. So I know I can handle the 7.2 sail in subfoiling 18-23 wind, but once in the air I was thinking the significantly higher speed of the F700 wing would reduce wind pressure on the sail in-flight and so make it easier to handle in-flight compared to the slower F800 wing which creates more wind pressure on the sail in-flight.

Had the perfect day today to test out the AFS F700 wing. Was 12-16 knots and 7.2 sail and F800 wing worked, but gusts started going to 18 and had to fly unhooked and my forearms were getting tired, so I switched from the F800 to F700 a lot less pressure on the sail and my forearms could feel the difference. Then it went to 18-22, rigged my 5.8, now I know what that sail is like in those conditions with the F800, so kept the F700 and one stab shim (forgot), and it was so easy compared to the F800. So F800 is my light wind wing (8-14), 15 and over and its the F700 from now on!

Thanks for all the advice!

Dcharlton said..
I keep the sail and go to a smaller wing. 99 infinity wing for light wind then go to the H4 (space skate) when it picks up.

Never tried the spaceskate. How does it compare to the infinity 76?

Cool, thanks for the info. and video, now that I have a smaller wing can experiment! Your run looked pretty stable compared to some of mine on my biggest wing, had a habit of windsurfing overpowered, need to unlearn that for foiling.

Sandman1221 said..
Cool, thanks for the info. and video, now that I have a smaller wing can experiment! Your run looked pretty stable compared to some of mine on my biggest wing, had a habit of windsurfing overpowered, need to unlearn that for foiling.

I only got the smaller wings recently and have foiled in similar conditions with the Large, but the extra lift makes the swell harder to manage. The smaller wing tends to drive through the swell on the the way out and less sensitive lift when riding the swell (and subsequent crashes).

Segler, that was the first use of a GoPro 7 silver, straight out of the box (half the price of the new Black models). Will investigate the GPS capability.
Cheers, Mort.
Happy New Year everyone

I go for a bigger wing before rigging a bigger sail when I am underpowered, but if I am overpowered I prefer to rig a smaller sail first. Probably because I use freeride gear and need to improve my skills.

Sandman1221 said..
Was out and forecast was for increasing wind in afternoon, wind was picking up so went with my 7.2 and F700 wing, but after 10 min. it dropped back down and stayed there, so put on my F800 wing and was flying again. Nice to have the option to switch wings, instead of derigging/rigging a different sail.

Yeah. I had a similar but reverse experience today. Initially on 6.5m and Infinity 76 wing, then as wind picked came in a switched down to infinity 65