Hi
I windsurf but I am thinking of going hydrofoil. I can't afford a foil-dedicated board, though, just a regular shortboard.
Given the fact that some do not recommend, regular, non-dedicated boards because of the high stress generated by the foil, I'd like to know what are the real risks, keeping in mind that I'd sail in light winds ( 10-15 knts) and I am not a speed or acrobatics buff, as long as the board planes above the water.( not necessarily 80 cm, though..If I could plane 1 ft above it it would be great..)

I wonder if there is a correlation between the size of the sail ( =the power) and the stress in the finbox. If this is the case, to minimize the risk of breakage, I could perhaps rig the smallest possible sail, as long as it gives sufficient lift to raise the board above the water.

At 85 kg, I normally windsurf in light winds ( 12-15 knts) on my 11 ft Bic with an 8.0 or a 6.3 m2 sail. Below 12 knts it is almost mission impossible and this is why I was thinking hydrofoiling..

Here are my questions:

1.In these conditions, if a small sail really reduces the stress on the fin box ( which I am not too sure about, maybe an engineer can tell.) can I still expect to foil in light winds with a 5.0 or even less, given the fact that for foiling you can safely scale down the sail by two sizes?

2.As I understand, the lift of the foil is also in function of the wing's size. Can somebody give me the wing size range of the commercially available foils? What size is considered more " powerful"? If I am to shop for non-dedicated 2nd hand board, which one is recommended in terms of length, width, finbox, etc. Is a Deep Tuttle more recommended because of the depth of the box?

Thanks

Francone