I've only been foiling for a few months on a formula board & NP foil. I've spent most of the time with the board just off the water & the tail still touching. Now after some advice from a good foil rider, I've moved the front strap to its rearmost position and am able to get the board right up out of the water. I've had the sail mast in most rearward position the whole time.

It seems pretty obvious that that to foil well, the riders feet need to be balanced fore and aft of the foil's centre of lift - mid span or toward the front of the main wing. Most windsurfing foil boards use Tuttle mounts which don't allow any adjustment of foil position on the board.

Why don't more windsurf foil board manufacturers use track mounts on their boards? It would provide a lot more adjustment of board setup. Slingshot seem to be one of the few that provide tracks on their boards and as far as I can see there are no Slingshot windsurf dealers on the East Coast.

I realise a track mount doesn't allow a fin to be fitted, but personally I only want to foil, so will use a smaller main wing in stronger winds.

What do you think?

Cheers,

Greg

For me I don't see any point if we are talking about purpose design foil boards
Manufacturers put the Tuttle box in the right spot, matched with suggested foils
But if you do want one off the top of my head
Fanatic Stingray and JP Foil Slate + FreeFoil offer tuttle and track mount combo,

tonyk got it right. I had a friend who bought a Stingray just because it had the dual set up and then proceeded to worry himself to death where to put the foil in the tracks. Months later he ends up with a nice carbon fiber foil with a tuttle head. I don't think he's worried about it since. It just works because Fanatic put the tuttle box in a good spot.

That said, which NP foil are you using? Also, old Formula mast tracks are pretty far forward compared to more modern gear. It might be easier to put in a new mast track.

I like the adj foil tracks.
You can use Bahne box fins for windsurfing, SUP, and surfing, plus there might be just enough adj for winging.
My 1220 and my 600 use about 2.5" different mast positions. The track covers 4" of adj.
As for stock setup...I was maybe 15lbs. heavier than Robbie, and 40 over his team rider in the '18 video for Naish, so I use the straps more forward to keep from sinking the tail. Newer Naish Hover 122's have 3 liters volume added to the tail.

I have been using this years model (green) NeilPryde glide surf with a large front wing. I've just got hold of a slingshot foil with two different sizes front wings and it's Centre of the wing appears to be about 30 mm further forward Of the mast than the NP. It should help.

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gregwho said..
I have been using this years model (green) NeilPryde glide surf with a large front wing. I've just got hold of a slingshot foil with two different sizes front wings and it's Centre of the wing appears to be about 30 mm further forward Of the mast than the NP. It should help.

Greg sounds like your problem is that you were using the Surf fuselage instead of the Windsurf fuselage on your Neil Pryde
That would have made it very hard to use for windsurf foiling
Whoever sold you that should have informed you it was unsuitable for windsurf foil

Yes, track mounts are great for allowing you to move the front wing fore and aft to get it centered between front and back feet.

Yes, tuttle finboxes are fixed. However, purpose-built foil boards already have their tuttle finboxes in the right place for correct geometry.

With tuttle, you can use a Power Plate to move things fore and aft or you can use the ABC positions of Slingshot fuselages.

Boards with tuttle boxes originally for fin windsurfing generally have the finboxes too far aft for balanced foiling, as Greg has noticed.

Another more expensive solution is to have a tuttle finbox moved forward by a board guy. I had this done on my Mike's Lab formula board three years ago. The result is amazing. It is balanced.

It is helpful to use a track when switching between wing sizes. For instance when I switch from Moses 790 to the 1100 I move the whole set up forward about 2-3". Before I got my 1100 wing I would use a 7.5 meter sail with my 790 wind in ight air. I would slide the foil forward to balance the down force of the bigger sail. I like adapters with slotted holes, it makes it way quicker to install the bolts. When you un-rig leave nuts and bolts in the track, just tighten them down.
To cover a big range you need to adjust something either fuse length, footstraps, sail location or foil location.
For me sliding the foil in the tracks is easy. I am patienetly waiting for the industry to offer one piece flanged carbon masts to windfoilers. I also plan on giving strapless riding a go and in that mode I may find the foil can stay put just move the feet a little.

I do have the longer NP windsurf fuselage. As others have said, the problem has most likely been the location of the Tuttle box in my formula board. I have a Slingshot Foil now & realised the fuselage could be used in either direction but I hadn't heard of it's A B C positions. I'll investigate that.

It looks like the Slingshot foil will solve the problem of having the Tuttle behind the rear straps with position C.

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gregwho said..
I do have the longer NP windsurf fuselage. As others have said, the problem has most likely been the location of the Tuttle box in my formula board. I have a Slingshot Foil now & realised the fuselage could be used in either direction but I hadn't heard of it's A B C positions. I'll investigate that.

No problem Greg, PM me if you want to sell the Neil Pryde setup, have guy here looking for one right now

Shimming your rear stabiliser will also help.