Because I will be making one ,
What is the ideal length for a beginners fuselarge ?
I have a large slingshot foil and 30' mast , 76 cm.
Competent sailor , 115 kg , using a older hack ,1m wide Starboard formula board . Straps are a bit more inboard .
I know front wing is to be in middle of front and back straps .
Any tips other than wearing a helmet ?

bend ze knees and hold on to boom ?

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Imax1 said..
Because I will be making one ,
What is the ideal length for a beginners fuselarge ?
I have a large slingshot foil and 30' mast , 76 cm.
Competent sailor , 115 kg , using a older hack ,1m wide Starboard formula board . Straps are a bit more inboard .
I know front wing is to be in middle of front and back straps .
Any tips other than wearing a helmet ?

Depends.
i would be inclined to go longer than shorter. A longer one will slow pitch movement down which gives you more time to deal with the up and down, and also provides more leverage to the wings which helps to maintain lift when the wind backs off. The flipside is that giving the stabilizer too much leverage can cause a "passenger" type situation when the wind gets up and the speed starts increasing


1m is a nice square nom. I reckon if you could measure up a starboard 95+ fuselage and duplicate, that'd be a good start point. Keen to hear how it goes

Edit: should've added why i said depends what kind of wings do you anticipate putting on it? And what do you plan on doing with said foil? Because any thing other than freeride/freerace its a different answer. Also most bigger shovel shaped front foilwings form part of the the fuse length, thats why people generally use the leading edge of the wing as the reference point as opposed to the fuse length itself

It's the large shovel wing .
Purely beginner going cross wind .
So 1 m from tip to tail ?
1.1 ?

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Imax1 said..
It's the large shovel wing .
Purely beginner going cross wind .
So 1 m from tip to tail ?
1.1 ?

Which Slingshot foil wings do you have, front and rear?

Speed is your friend. Do not try to get on the foil at the slowest possible speed. Once your up, try to generate a bit more speed. You should not try to race on your foil, but to slow, it tends to wobble and especially we more muscular :-) guys tend to turn windward with too slow speed. Especially if you are in both straps and can't get out fast enough. Others than that: smile

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azymuth said..

Imax1 said..
It's the large shovel wing .
Purely beginner going cross wind .
So 1 m from tip to tail ?
1.1 ?

Which Slingshot foil wings do you have, front and rear?

I believe it's the biggest they made a couple years ago , 66 cm wide shovely.
44 cm rear
Blue with a sand through carbon look.

^^^


I'm not familiar with wings of those dimensions - perhaps post a couple of pix and I'll be able to comment.
We all use the standard 78cm Slingshot windfoiling fuse.

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seanhogan said..
bend ze knees and hold on to boom ?

+1
First rule of Foil Club: never let go of the boom. It's the only thing that keeps you and the foil on opposite sides of the board.
Second rule of Foil Club: you can talk about foil club; we all do.

Also consider removing the back straps until you can comfortably fly straight. Being able to move the back foot around (start it towards the center for those first flights, imho) helps a lot in finding the balance point. Otherwise you are forced into immediately doing it by body weight and rig shifts which is a whole new thing from your normal windsurfing experience. You'll eventually learn it but this prevents info overload as you start out.

Third rule of Foil Club: Don't hesitate to ask questions as you have. We love to share the joy.

What is the ideal length for a beginners fuselarge ?

I actually don't think it needs to be large.....

What criteria for "ideal"?
Some want stability....sluggish response.
Some want quickness, pumpable, and short turns...quick response.
We are not exactly the same.

Also, low aspect front wings can be stable, while hi aspect wings generally are more twitchy.

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azymuth said..
^^^


I'm not familiar with wings of those dimensions - perhaps post a couple of pix and I'll be able to comment.
We all use the standard 78cm Slingshot windfoiling fuse.

So how long from tip to tail ?

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Imax1 said..
What is the ideal length for a beginners fuselage ?
I have a large slingshot foil and 30' mast , 76 cm.
Competent sailor , 115 kg.

I am similar in weight and struggled with foiling in the beginning. For me Slingshot infinity 99 foil with 78 cm fuselage worked the best. i76 was more difficult to learn and I sold it which in retrospect was the correct decision. i99 with regular fuselage was the easiest to make progress. So keep in mind that if you do not see a good progress, get the i99 wing, you will immediately see the difference in your foiling balance. Now I am using Armstrong CF2400 and HS1850 and quite happy with my switch to carbon foil. 80 cm fuselage had been very stable for my set up while 60 cm is better for turning but not stable requiring more attention during the run. So I would recommend 80 cm minimum for fuselage. Starboard set-up for recreational (supercruiser with 87 cm fuselage) and race foil are different and as I understand 115 cm fuselage for race foil is very stable but that set-up requires a larger race sail (usually 8 and up for bigger guys). I personally do not want to carry larger sails but I may be missing low end wind foiling (<10 knots) and speed is lower on the recreational foils.

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LeeD said..
Also, low aspect front wings can be stable, while hi aspect wings generally are more twitchy.

??? Isn't it the opposite? I thought in aeronautics low aspect wings are generally more manoeuvrable. eg B52 wing (high aspect ratio) vs F18 wing (low aspect ratio).

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SA_AL said..
I am similar in weight and struggled with foiling in the beginning. For me Slingshot infinity 99 foil with 78 cm fuselage worked the best. i76 was more difficult to learn and I sold it which in retrospect was the correct decision. i99 with regular fuselage was the easiest to make progress. So keep in mind that if you do not see a good progress, get the i99 wing, you will immediately see the difference in your foiling balance.

He is 115 kgs. While the bigger wing will make things easier I would be concerned about the fuselage breaking. The forces on the i99 are significantly higher especially when combined with a higher body weight.

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stehsegler said..

SA_AL said..
I am similar in weight and struggled with foiling in the beginning. For me Slingshot infinity 99 foil with 78 cm fuselage worked the best. i76 was more difficult to learn and I sold it which in retrospect was the correct decision. i99 with regular fuselage was the easiest to make progress. So keep in mind that if you do not see a good progress, get the i99 wing, you will immediately see the difference in your foiling balance.

He is 115 kgs. While the bigger wing will make things easier I would be concerned about the fuselage breaking. The forces on the i99 are significantly higher especially when combined with a higher body weight.

Fuselage wont break . It will be solid.

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stehsegler said..

SA_AL said..
I am similar in weight and struggled with foiling in the beginning. For me Slingshot infinity 99 foil with 78 cm fuselage worked the best. i76 was more difficult to learn and I sold it which in retrospect was the correct decision. i99 with regular fuselage was the easiest to make progress. So keep in mind that if you do not see a good progress, get the i99 wing, you will immediately see the difference in your foiling balance.

He is 115 kgs. While the bigger wing will make things easier I would be concerned about the fuselage breaking. The forces on the i99 are significantly higher especially when combined with a higher body weight.

I did not break my Slingshot foil and I am now using Carbon fuselage which is likely better than the Aluminum set-up for handling stress. I think for his weight, he needs a larger wing surface in order to lift, infinity 76 is definitely too small for him for 12-18 mph range. Going to race set up might be OK for him but then he has to decide whether to use larger race sails which is not attractive to me due to larger gear more tiring for me.

Here are the wings , a lot of area . Slingshot Hover glide H4 , it is 66cm wide . Apparently good for learning with a lot of lift . The fuselage your looking at is from a earlier experiment . It is strong and overall length from front wing tip to end of tail wing is 1200mm . I need a tip to tail measurement because I don't have the original fuselage to take measurements from . So I will first mount the mast to fuselage so the front wing is in the middle of front and back straps . Then chop off the back so the total length from tip to tail is ?????
^^^
?????

94 cms from the tip of my Infinity 76 (which I imagine would have a similar lift profile to your Space Skate H4) to the rear of my tail wing (didn't include the pointy shim - mine isn't standard).

^^^^
That is the magic number I was looking for .
Thanks.

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Imax1 said..
^^^^
That is the magic number I was looking for .
Thanks.

If you have the tools, why not experiment with difference size fuselage. You could either cut different sizes 94, 104, 115 cm etc. Alternatively get one piece and place wing at 94 or 104 cm. I was during my earlier time trying to find someone to get me different size custom made fuselage but he asked $450 per fuselage which was very high for me to try. If you have a machine shop to get lower cost, it might be worth investigating. By the way, I would like to know if your wing 66 cm that is very low aspect with narrow arms will be fine compared to infinity 99 which has more width (99 cm) and likely more stable.

Yeah , I could just leave it longer with a couple of options . A bit sticking out the back wont hurt , unless I fall on it .

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stehsegler said..
He is 115 kgs. While the bigger wing will make things easier I would be concerned about the fuselage breaking. The forces on the i99 are significantly higher especially when combined with a higher body weight.

How so? The upward force of the wing is always equal to the weight of sailor + equipment. A smaller foil just needs to go faster to get the same force.

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Imax1 said..
Here are the wings , a lot of area . Slingshot Hover glide H4 , it is 66cm wide . Apparently good for learning with a lot of lift . The fuselage your looking at is from a earlier experiment . It is strong and overall length from front wing tip to end of tail wing is 1200mm . I need a tip to tail measurement because I don't have the original fuselage to take measurements from . So I will first mount the mast to fuselage so the front wing is in the middle of front and back straps . Then chop off the back so the total length from tip to tail is ?????
^^^
?????

Unless you're living at a place where you often get 20 knots, and are willing to learn foiling in lots of wind, that wing is too small for your weight. Something above 2000 cm2, like the Infinity 84 or 99, would be a better match.

Longest I tried was the old RRD at 120cm.
More stable than my 64, but I would have liked to try maybe 150cm. I still road bronco in 8-16 knot breeze.
Currently on Naish 79.

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SA_AL said..
I think for his weight, he needs a larger wing surface in order to lift, infinity 76 is definitely too small for him for 12-18 mph range.

They must have incorrectly labeled my i76 then... because in 12-18 knts range I generally sail a 6.0 and I'm about the same weight.

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boardsurfr said..

Imax1 said..
Here are the wings , a lot of area . Slingshot Hover glide H4 , it is 66cm wide . Apparently good for learning with a lot of lift . The fuselage your looking at is from a earlier experiment . It is strong and overall length from front wing tip to end of tail wing is 1200mm . I need a tip to tail measurement because I don't have the original fuselage to take measurements from . So I will first mount the mast to fuselage so the front wing is in the middle of front and back straps . Then chop off the back so the total length from tip to tail is ?????
^^^
?????

Unless you're living at a place where you often get 20 knots, and are willing to learn foiling in lots of wind, that wing is too small for your weight. Something above 2000 cm2, like the Infinity 84 or 99, would be a better match.

It is 1504cm2 .It was big back in 2017 for slow speed and heavy riders , huge lift they say.

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stehsegler said..

SA_AL said..
I think for his weight, he needs a larger wing surface in order to lift, infinity 76 is definitely too small for him for 12-18 mph range.

They must have incorrectly labeled my i76 then... because in 12-18 knts range I generally sail a 6.0 and I'm about the same weight.

12 mph and 12 knot are not the same. 115 kg men could not foil with infinity 76 at that low wind. He will loose precious time in learning to foil. It is possible though with infinity 99 or Moses 1100.

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SA_AL said..
12 mph and 12 knot are not the same. 115 kg men could not foil with infinity 76 at that low wind. He will loose precious time in learning to foil. It is possible though with infinity 99 or Moses 1100.

10- 15 knts.... 6.0 Severne Foilglide, i76, Slingshot Wizard 130, 120 kgs... this afternoon on the ocean. Not a problem at all.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. More important than the foil size at that windspeed is the board size and a sail with good lift... in my opinion.

^^^
Sail with good lift , NP V8 ?