Hi all,
very new to foiling (prone / kite) and am looking for advice on foil size please.
What is the difference ebtween using a foil with 150 square inches over 200 for example ?
Also, what influence does aspect ratio play ?
Thanks.
Select to expand quoteau_rick said..
>>What is the difference between using a foil with 150 square inches over 200 for example ?
>> what influence does aspect ratio play ?
Bigger foil wings will lift you sooner, but be harder to hold down from breaching.
Higher aspect foil wings will go faster but will also need to go faster before they take off.
Wellcome to foiling I hope your progress is rapid and enjoyable.
Comparing foil size across the board is going to mislead you especially across manufactures. Within each brand there are design types for different purposes. So you need to compare those specific areas.
A good place to start can be
IE. Axis PNG range. 1300. 1150 1010, 910. Have a look at some reviews of these in particular: note rider weigh and discipline. For reference Wake Thief and Dominick Hoskins. You will learn a lot by studying those Youtube articles.
There are quite a few 'experts' around who can explain well, but I would say in a very general sense the bigger the surface of a foil the more lift it will have (ie it will lift in lighter wind or it will lift a heavier rider)
but the surface is one factor among others, like you mention aspect, then shape, design, thickness
- foils seem to fall into categories
- they have a lot of lift
- they turn easy
- they have speed
- they have glide
- they pump easy and keep the board up for long distances
most foils try to hit one area and then add as much of the other factors as they can
for example the gofoil maliko 280 vs the 200 will lift a heaver rider in the same wind or will lift a light rider in even lighter wind
the lower the aspect ratio the foil appears to offer better initial lift and lower speed vs lower initial lift and higher speed the higher the ratio, most low aspect ratio foils are 'fat' and the high aspect ratio are very 'slim'
- if you watch some gofoil videos where the specific foil is mentioned then check the gofoil foil info page you can see what the foil is doing in the video with reference to the specific foil design. As they function much like airplane wings they tend to do the same as the various airplane types that we maybe more familiar with.
For another example the gofoil NL210 will lift earlier in light wind and fly slower than the NL190 which has less surface area
however some riders will get a RS1150 with less surface area and a higher aspect ratio flying because they have skill to maximise the reduced drag and get all the performance out of the wing
anyway I'm sure someone can explain better than me
