Hi everyone. I have acquired all new windsurf foiling gear to try and get myself back on the water again. I windsurfed from about 1982 through 1996 on a pretty regular basis, and only occasionally since then. For the past 6 years I've been chasing downwind paddle boarding conditions on Lake Michigan.
I haven't got the time to chase that anymore, so I am hoping that lighter wind wind-foiling will help me get my stoke back.
I am 50 years old, 6'4" tall and weigh about 225lbs.
My recent gear purchases: Fanatic Falcon LW, Sailworks 7.0 Flyer, Ezzy Cheetah 8.0, an RDM 430 AND 490 mast and a Chinook adjustable boom. My foil is a Slingshot with the Gamma 68 and Infinity 84 front wings and I believe the 42 rear wing, and the Switch fuselage.

I have not been out under wind power yet, as me and a friend have been tow foiling behind my Seadoo to get the feel of foiling and controlling the flight.

Looking for input on how I should set up my foil and where I should start with mast position in the mast track.

Cheers!

Too many depends except for your weight.
Set mast track centered for uphauling lots.
Ecerything else depends.

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excav8ter said..
Hi everyone. I have acquired all new windsurf foiling gear to try and get myself back on the water again. I windsurfed from about 1982 through 1996 on a pretty regular basis, and only occasionally since then. For the past 6 years I've been chasing downwind paddle boarding conditions on Lake Michigan.
I haven't got the time to chase that anymore, so I am hoping that lighter wind wind-foiling will help me get my stoke back.
I am 50 years old, 6'4" tall and weigh about 225lbs.
My recent gear purchases: Fanatic Falcon LW, Sailworks 7.0 Flyer, Ezzy Cheetah 8.0, an RDM 430 AND 490 mast and a Chinook adjustable boom. My foil is a Slingshot with the Gamma 68 and Infinity 84 front wings and I believe the 42 rear wing, and the Switch fuselage.

I have not been out under wind power yet, as me and a friend have been tow foiling behind my Seadoo to get the feel of foiling and controlling the flight.

Looking for input on how I should set up my foil and where I should start with mast position in the mast track.

Cheers!

I started with the mast position in the center, harness lines more toward the front of the boom, shorter if you can adjust, and take off the back straps!

The current Falcon LW has markings of 125 and 130 cm on the mast track. 130 usually works for foiling, so the middle should be a good starting point.

The foot straps on the FLW seem to be quite far back. You'll probably want to move your front straps as far forward and inward as possible, at least at the start. If you're planning to use the straps, then use the B position , or possibly even the A position. On my slalom board, I use the C position, but it's narrower and longer, and the straps are more forward. For your gear, I'd consider the C position only if you're not planning to use the straps, and/or you find you don't get enough lift.

Which mast length(s) do you have? For your larger sails, a longer mast (90 or at least 71 cm) should be a better match than the 60 cm mast.

This stuff seems to be more weight-specific than most people assume. I'm also a beginner on somewhat similar gear - 95cm Formula board, Infinity 84 and I'm also a heavyweight at 230+. I've found C position to be by far the easiest to get going on without any sacrifice of control, and I like the mast foot all the way back as far as it will go. I pump with my front foot in the strap but don't use the back straps yet at all - back foot wants to be more centered with the 84 it seems. I also run my booms pretty high and my lines pretty long.

Here are some key things that helped me progress a lot.
1) Keep your harness lines more forward on the boom than regular
2) If you breach a lot then creep your mast foot forwards. If you have difficulty flying the foil with decent power move wing forward (aka "switch fuse") or mast foot back.

Step 1: go windsurf your new rig first. Just get used to everything again and don't worry about flying initially.
Step 2: Watch as many windfoiling tutorials as possible. The Sam Ross ones are good, windfoil zone, and heliboy (the flying gwen) have some good ones.
Step 3: drink beer, enjoy the journey.

OK, you're a big dude, so you have the right big floaty board, big lifty wing, and the right 7.0 Flyer sail. I have the 7.0 Flyer, too.

Like another person said here, first go out and windsurf your gear without trying to fly it. Go slow. The i84 wing will fly with very little speed. Keep it down in the water until you get the feel of the gear. You can slog around nicely since the foil mast acts like a giant fin.

Then make sure your gear is all balanced. Since the Slingshot mast is 90 degree straight up and down, this is easy.

The goal is to get the center of lift of the front wing at the midpoint between front and rear footstraps. Too far aft, it won't lift. Too far forward, you can't control it.

Mount the foil to the board. While upside down measure the distance along the fuselage from the front leading edge of the mast to the center of lift of the wing. Note, this front leading edge is about one inch further forward of the front fin screw.

Flip the board upright and measure forward from the front fin screw, allowing for that one inch.

If the center of lift of the wing is not at the midpoint, adjust with the A, B, and C positions on the switch fuse to get it there. This is really important.

Then, for the 7.0 Flyer, set the mast track at about 42" in front of the front fin screw. You will later fine-tune this setting until things work easily.

For starting out, leave off the rear footstraps, but definitely USE the front straps. They will locate your body position relative to the balance point. Your rear feet can hunt for the best position for balance, then you can later install the rear straps at this position.

A couple years ago I made a youtube about this. Since your mast is 90 degrees straight up and down, you don't need to use a 90 degree tool like I showed in the youtube.

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segler said..
OK, you're a big dude, so you have the right big floaty board, big lifty wing, and the right 7.0 Flyer sail. I have the 7.0 Flyer, too.

Like another person said here, first go out and windsurf your gear without trying to fly it. Go slow. The i84 wing will fly with very little speed. Keep it down in the water until you get the feel of the gear. You can slog around nicely since the foil mast acts like a giant fin.

Then make sure your gear is all balanced. Since the Slingshot mast is 90 degree straight up and down, this is easy.

The goal is to get the center of lift of the front wing at the midpoint between front and rear footstraps. Too far aft, it won't lift. Too far forward, you can't control it.

Mount the foil to the board. While upside down measure the distance along the fuselage from the front leading edge of the mast to the center of lift of the wing. Note, this front leading edge is about one inch further forward of the front fin screw.

Flip the board upright and measure forward from the front fin screw, allowing for that one inch.

If the center of lift of the wing is not at the midpoint, adjust with the A, B, and C positions on the switch fuse to get it there. This is really important.

Then, for the 7.0 Flyer, set the mast track at about 42" in front of the front fin screw. You will later fine-tune this setting until things work easily.

For starting out, leave off the rear footstraps, but definitely USE the front straps. They will locate your body position relative to the balance point. Your rear feet can hunt for the best position for balance, then you can later install the rear straps at this position.

A couple years ago I made a youtube about this. Since your mast is 90 degrees straight up and down, you don't need to use a 90 degree tool like I showed in the youtube.

This. Is. HUGE! Thank you for posting this.

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I feel like I have gained a lot of insight into my beginning attempts at learning to wind foil. I am super stoked because the wind forecast for this Friday evening and Sunday morning are looking SWEET.
We've been tow foiling behind my Seadoo once or twice a week and I really am feeling comfortable on foil. Carving gentle turns and doing takeoffs and landings seem easy on the 24" mast I've been using. I just went and grabbed a 35.4" SS mast last night.
Here's hoping I can FINALLY get out and try this setup.

Well, we finally got some wind that lasted today, in fact, it actually built to a strength I could not handle on the 7.0 Flyer with the 84 wing. Started out under powered with the Gamma 68 wing and swapped to the i84 and had immediate success. The rig came up on foil much quicker than I thought it would, and it caught me off guard a bit. I settled in somewhat with my front foot in the strap and my rear foot almost naturally finding its place. I made several good runs, getting on foil in the gusts, and was able to maintain being on foil much longer than I thought I would. I have been very nervous about how I would do on port tack versus starboard tack. Luckily I had to start on Port tack today, so I immediately found out I CAN foil on Port tack and soon enough I found I can foil on starboard tack. Because of the slightly sheltered area I was in, port tack proved to be most successful for me today. Being that it was my first real venture out in good wind, I didn't go too far (West Grand Traverse Bay is about 3 miles or so across where I was sailing). My starboard tack return trip was tricky, as I tried to get on foil quickly and work to maintain being on foil as far as possible I felt much more comfortable than I ever thought I would on my first time windsurf foiling. My buddies were quite shocked I looked as comfortable as I did.
One buddy still does downwind paddling on an SIC Bayonet and the other is working hard at SUP foiling downwind, with some pretty good success. I decided to the windsurf foiling route because I have less time to chase downwind conditions across the western and northern part of Michigan, and because I figured windsurfing would come back to me relatively easily, even though I haven't been out in many years.
Needless to say I am STOKED about today's windsurf foiling. Now I need to figure out if I need a smaller sail for the 20 mph wind we had, or if the smaller SS gamma 68 front wing and more out haul to flatten the sail a bit would extend my range of wind? Also I think the new SS 99 front wing is going to be on the list of things to buy this winter. I think that will help lower the threshold of wind I can get out in.
Sorry for the long post.

I also have the Flyer 70 and foil with it a lot. Ideal winds for it are 13-15 mph for my 195 lb weight.

20 mph is too much wind for the 7.0 Flyer. At 20 mph I am going down to a 5.0 or 4.5. You don't need big sails for windfoiling, especially if you are using big wings.

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segler said..
I also have the Flyer 70 and foil with it a lot. Ideal winds for it are 13-15 mph for my 195 lb weight.

20 mph is too much wind for the 7.0 Flyer. At 20 mph I am going down to a 5.0 or 4.5. You don't need big sails for windfoiling, especially if you are using big wings.

Foils are a bit different than normal boards in that, as the wind rises, you can pretty quickly get on much smaller sails. It would not be unreasonable to be able to go from a 7.0 to 5.5/5.0, or as segler suggests, 4.5 depending on your weight and skill - better foilers can get up more quickly in marginal conditions. We often don't do the 0.7, 1.0 or even 1.5 gap that regular boards do, ie most freesail windsurfers wouldn't want a gap of 7.0-5.5 in their quiver but it's pretty easy to do on a foil.

I'm smaller, and although I can hang onto my 7.7 to about 20 (swapping wings makes that easier), I can easily just skip down to a 5.4 around 15-16.

Sounds like your outing went well and was fun. Thanks for sharing the results.

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excav8ter said..
Now I need to figure out if I need a smaller sail for the 20 mph wind we had, or if the smaller SS gamma 68 front wing and more out haul to flatten the sail a bit would extend my range of wind?

You don't need a smaller sail, but you'll probably have more fun with it. The option to use small sails when foiling is pretty cool. I've had 2-3 hour sessions where I rarely hooked in, which is easy to do with a small sail. Can't imagine a long session on a regular windsurfer without being hooked in all the time!
Once the wind is around 20 mph, you may find the gamma 68 easier to handle than the i84. May be worth trying it before you order another sail.

Thanks everyone. I pulled the trigger on a Flyer 6.0, I hope that is something I won't regret. If I went smaller, I'd need a mast too.
When rigging a Flyer sail, can you increase outhaul tension to flatten the sail so it doesn't "catch" as much wind, like we did in the old days? I will definitely be trying my smaller front wing when it gets closer to 20mph.
I am so STOKED about getting back out windsurfing. From what I hear at the local wind sports shop, MacKite, (which only sells Kite board equipment and now the Slingwing, Naish handkite as well as the Duotone kite, as well as E-bikes and battery powered skateboards), I am the only person they know of who has been getting into windsurf foiling, let alone to have success. Hopefully there is someone else, but needless to say, I don't have many people to talk story with about windsurf foiling.

*edit.... one big mistake that I made was wearing my seat harness. Every time I tried to pump the sail (before the wind had really kicked up) I was accidentally getting "hooked in". That was not smart, and actually caused me to have a pretty wild crash.

I rig my flyers with no loose leech and very little outhaul but then again I would normally be out on a 7.8 overdrive when I'm on my 6.0m Flyer. I don't have the sailworks masts and have used both Severne and Duotone masts with the Severne seemingly feeling slightly better which is strange as the Duotone is closer in bend curve than the Severne. Just make sure that both cambers have the same tension on them to make rotation effortless.

I always use seat harness. My lines are 9" away from the hook, exactly like windsurf..
Bought our Naishfoil from McKite year before.

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excav8ter said..
Thanks everyone. I pulled the trigger on a Flyer 6.0, I hope that is something I won't regret. If I went smaller, I'd need a mast too.
When rigging a Flyer sail, can you increase outhaul tension to flatten the sail so it doesn't "catch" as much wind, like we did in the old days? I will definitely be trying my smaller front wing when it gets closer to 20mph.
I am so STOKED about getting back out windsurfing. From what I hear at the local wind sports shop, MacKite, (which only sells Kite board equipment and now the Slingwing, Naish handkite as well as the Duotone kite, as well as E-bikes and battery powered skateboards), I am the only person they know of who has been getting into windsurf foiling, let alone to have success. Hopefully there is someone else, but needless to say, I don't have many people to talk story with about windsurf foiling.

*edit.... one big mistake that I made was wearing my seat harness. Every time I tried to pump the sail (before the wind had really kicked up) I was accidentally getting "hooked in". That was not smart, and actually caused me to have a pretty wild crash.

Yes on the outhaul. I find a lot of modern sails don't need that much tweaking with the downhaul and just an inch or two with the outhaul will give you decent range. Specific sails may vary. As I haven't personally sailed the Flyer, I might be totally wrong but outhaul is usually the go-to adjustment unless you have a big change in wind.

Down south, we are windfoiling like mad - we're close to a dozen in a backwater of the windsurfing world. It's an blessing since we live in a low wind location. PM me if you don't want to feel lonely. Also, the folks in Texas have a windfoiling group on FB. Florida is also thick with windfoilers.

btw, I started with mostly a seat harness but use a waist harness. The seat harness helped starting out because it's hard to get the rig far enough away from you and the seat harness effectively shortens the lines. As I've progressed and moved my mast base back, I'm using longer lines with my bigger sails and the waist harness.

You'll have fun with the Flyers. Good luck!

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excav8ter said..
Well, we finally got some wind that lasted today, in fact, it actually built to a strength I could not handle on the 7.0 Flyer with the 84 wing. Started out under powered with the Gamma 68 wing and swapped to the i84 and had immediate success. The rig came up on foil much quicker than I thought it would, and it caught me off guard a bit. I settled in somewhat with my front foot in the strap and my rear foot almost naturally finding its place. I made several good runs, getting on foil in the gusts, and was able to maintain being on foil much longer than I thought I would. I have been very nervous about how I would do on port tack versus starboard tack. Luckily I had to start on Port tack today, so I immediately found out I CAN foil on Port tack and soon enough I found I can foil on starboard tack. Because of the slightly sheltered area I was in, port tack proved to be most successful for me today. Being that it was my first real venture out in good wind, I didn't go too far (West Grand Traverse Bay is about 3 miles or so across where I was sailing). My starboard tack return trip was tricky, as I tried to get on foil quickly and work to maintain being on foil as far as possible I felt much more comfortable than I ever thought I would on my first time windsurf foiling. My buddies were quite shocked I looked as comfortable as I did.
One buddy still does downwind paddling on an SIC Bayonet and the other is working hard at SUP foiling downwind, with some pretty good success. I decided to the windsurf foiling route because I have less time to chase downwind conditions across the western and northern part of Michigan, and because I figured windsurfing would come back to me relatively easily, even though I haven't been out in many years.
Needless to say I am STOKED about today's windsurf foiling. Now I need to figure out if I need a smaller sail for the 20 mph wind we had, or if the smaller SS gamma 68 front wing and more out haul to flatten the sail a bit would extend my range of wind? Also I think the new SS 99 front wing is going to be on the list of things to buy this winter. I think that will help lower the threshold of wind I can get out in.
Sorry for the long post.

How much wind did you need in order to fly on the i84 wing?

Select to expand quote

MagicRide said..

excav8ter said..
Well, we finally got some wind that lasted today, in fact, it actually built to a strength I could not handle on the 7.0 Flyer with the 84 wing. Started out under powered with the Gamma 68 wing and swapped to the i84 and had immediate success. The rig came up on foil much quicker than I thought it would, and it caught me off guard a bit. I settled in somewhat with my front foot in the strap and my rear foot almost naturally finding its place. I made several good runs, getting on foil in the gusts, and was able to maintain being on foil much longer than I thought I would. I have been very nervous about how I would do on port tack versus starboard tack. Luckily I had to start on Port tack today, so I immediately found out I CAN foil on Port tack and soon enough I found I can foil on starboard tack. Because of the slightly sheltered area I was in, port tack proved to be most successful for me today. Being that it was my first real venture out in good wind, I didn't go too far (West Grand Traverse Bay is about 3 miles or so across where I was sailing). My starboard tack return trip was tricky, as I tried to get on foil quickly and work to maintain being on foil as far as possible I felt much more comfortable than I ever thought I would on my first time windsurf foiling. My buddies were quite shocked I looked as comfortable as I did.
One buddy still does downwind paddling on an SIC Bayonet and the other is working hard at SUP foiling downwind, with some pretty good success. I decided to the windsurf foiling route because I have less time to chase downwind conditions across the western and northern part of Michigan, and because I figured windsurfing would come back to me relatively easily, even though I haven't been out in many years.
Needless to say I am STOKED about today's windsurf foiling. Now I need to figure out if I need a smaller sail for the 20 mph wind we had, or if the smaller SS gamma 68 front wing and more out haul to flatten the sail a bit would extend my range of wind? Also I think the new SS 99 front wing is going to be on the list of things to buy this winter. I think that will help lower the threshold of wind I can get out in.
Sorry for the long post.

How much wind did you need in order to fly on the i84 wing?

I'm not exactly sure. When I went out I was guessing it was around 12-16mph. I am going to buy an anemometer to get a better idea of the wind speed.

Select to expand quote

excav8ter said..

MagicRide said..

excav8ter said..
Well, we finally got some wind that lasted today, in fact, it actually built to a strength I could not handle on the 7.0 Flyer with the 84 wing. Started out under powered with the Gamma 68 wing and swapped to the i84 and had immediate success. The rig came up on foil much quicker than I thought it would, and it caught me off guard a bit. I settled in somewhat with my front foot in the strap and my rear foot almost naturally finding its place. I made several good runs, getting on foil in the gusts, and was able to maintain being on foil much longer than I thought I would. I have been very nervous about how I would do on port tack versus starboard tack. Luckily I had to start on Port tack today, so I immediately found out I CAN foil on Port tack and soon enough I found I can foil on starboard tack. Because of the slightly sheltered area I was in, port tack proved to be most successful for me today. Being that it was my first real venture out in good wind, I didn't go too far (West Grand Traverse Bay is about 3 miles or so across where I was sailing). My starboard tack return trip was tricky, as I tried to get on foil quickly and work to maintain being on foil as far as possible I felt much more comfortable than I ever thought I would on my first time windsurf foiling. My buddies were quite shocked I looked as comfortable as I did.
One buddy still does downwind paddling on an SIC Bayonet and the other is working hard at SUP foiling downwind, with some pretty good success. I decided to the windsurf foiling route because I have less time to chase downwind conditions across the western and northern part of Michigan, and because I figured windsurfing would come back to me relatively easily, even though I haven't been out in many years.
Needless to say I am STOKED about today's windsurf foiling. Now I need to figure out if I need a smaller sail for the 20 mph wind we had, or if the smaller SS gamma 68 front wing and more out haul to flatten the sail a bit would extend my range of wind? Also I think the new SS 99 front wing is going to be on the list of things to buy this winter. I think that will help lower the threshold of wind I can get out in.
Sorry for the long post.

How much wind did you need in order to fly on the i84 wing?

I'm not exactly sure. When I went out I was guessing it was around 12-16mph. I am going to buy an anemometer to get a better idea of the wind speed.

Also curious how much board speed you need before the i84 wing lets you take off in flight? I'm thinking of getting that wing for my 130L Slingshot Dialer.

On i84 I am flying from 10 mph board speed. I am 88kg.

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sl55 said..
On i84 I am flying from 10 mph board speed. I am 88kg.

I'm 78kg. Sounds like the i84 is the wing of choice. Thx!

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MagicRide said..

excav8ter said..

MagicRide said..

excav8ter said..
Well, we finally got some wind that lasted today, in fact, it actually built to a strength I could not handle on the 7.0 Flyer with the 84 wing. Started out under powered with the Gamma 68 wing and swapped to the i84 and had immediate success. The rig came up on foil much quicker than I thought it would, and it caught me off guard a bit. I settled in somewhat with my front foot in the strap and my rear foot almost naturally finding its place. I made several good runs, getting on foil in the gusts, and was able to maintain being on foil much longer than I thought I would. I have been very nervous about how I would do on port tack versus starboard tack. Luckily I had to start on Port tack today, so I immediately found out I CAN foil on Port tack and soon enough I found I can foil on starboard tack. Because of the slightly sheltered area I was in, port tack proved to be most successful for me today. Being that it was my first real venture out in good wind, I didn't go too far (West Grand Traverse Bay is about 3 miles or so across where I was sailing). My starboard tack return trip was tricky, as I tried to get on foil quickly and work to maintain being on foil as far as possible I felt much more comfortable than I ever thought I would on my first time windsurf foiling. My buddies were quite shocked I looked as comfortable as I did.
One buddy still does downwind paddling on an SIC Bayonet and the other is working hard at SUP foiling downwind, with some pretty good success. I decided to the windsurf foiling route because I have less time to chase downwind conditions across the western and northern part of Michigan, and because I figured windsurfing would come back to me relatively easily, even though I haven't been out in many years.
Needless to say I am STOKED about today's windsurf foiling. Now I need to figure out if I need a smaller sail for the 20 mph wind we had, or if the smaller SS gamma 68 front wing and more out haul to flatten the sail a bit would extend my range of wind? Also I think the new SS 99 front wing is going to be on the list of things to buy this winter. I think that will help lower the threshold of wind I can get out in.
Sorry for the long post.

How much wind did you need in order to fly on the i84 wing?

I'm not exactly sure. When I went out I was guessing it was around 12-16mph. I am going to buy an anemometer to get a better idea of the wind speed.

Also curious how much board speed you need before the i84 wing lets you take off in flight? I'm thinking of getting that wing for my 130L Slingshot Dialer.

The 84 will lift off well below 10mph and will stay up at pretty low speeds so long as you can put the power down to keep it flying and avoid stall. I was out with it the other day on a Levitator 160 and 4.5 in 15-20 knots, carving in the waves. I was overpowered most of the time so I could sheet out and hover along at low speeds to carve, then sheet in slightly to build speed when I needed. I'm 200 lbs. If you don't have much wind you can stay flying on the 84 through holes by bearing off a little and pumping.

A 4.5 in 15-20 knots? That's amazing to me. I ordered a Flyer 6.0 for "breezy" days. I hope to get the Gamma 68 wing out to see how different it feels on flight.

16-21mph breeze, one of the best foilers in SF Bay at 195lbs. uses 4.2 , Slingshot 76 and 125 board,

16-21 mph breeze, me bad foiler at 160 lbs., Naish WS-1 setup, 4.2 with full downhaul.
Bad foiler meaning just getting foiling jibes,

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LeeD said..
16-21 mph breeze, me bad foiler at 160 lbs., Naish WS-1 setup, 4.2 with full downhaul.
Bad foiler meaning just getting foiling jibes,

Perhaps as I get more proficient at trimming the foil and keeping the sail powered properly I will be going down in sail size. The wind here in the great lakes has been pretty poor this year. Comes up unexpectedly and dies just the same. Usually pretty gusty too.
Plus... I am VERY new to windsurf foiling. Only 2 times out so far. My jibes are slowwww and not on foil... often I will tack instead of jibe. I haven't windsurfed in 18 years.

Weight and pumping skills have a lot to do with size choices.
195 lbs'er is great at small sails for freestyling, often choosing a 4.8 in winds of 15-21 mph when slalom sailors are using 7.8's.
Trick is totally tight leech, loose outhaul, and extreme pumping.
Small sail is easy to uphaul and jibe, hard to waterstart and slog.
Pick your poison.

Today, less than 7-17, 4.5 on Naishfoil up about 2/3's of the time.
The wind meter is 40' high and upwind by at least 300'.
Should a rigged 5.3, but I choose wrong all the time. Make do.

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Fast505 said..

MagicRide said..

excav8ter said..

MagicRide said..

excav8ter said..
Well, we finally got some wind that lasted today, in fact, it actually built to a strength I could not handle on the 7.0 Flyer with the 84 wing. Started out under powered with the Gamma 68 wing and swapped to the i84 and had immediate success. The rig came up on foil much quicker than I thought it would, and it caught me off guard a bit. I settled in somewhat with my front foot in the strap and my rear foot almost naturally finding its place. I made several good runs, getting on foil in the gusts, and was able to maintain being on foil much longer than I thought I would. I have been very nervous about how I would do on port tack versus starboard tack. Luckily I had to start on Port tack today, so I immediately found out I CAN foil on Port tack and soon enough I found I can foil on starboard tack. Because of the slightly sheltered area I was in, port tack proved to be most successful for me today. Being that it was my first real venture out in good wind, I didn't go too far (West Grand Traverse Bay is about 3 miles or so across where I was sailing). My starboard tack return trip was tricky, as I tried to get on foil quickly and work to maintain being on foil as far as possible I felt much more comfortable than I ever thought I would on my first time windsurf foiling. My buddies were quite shocked I looked as comfortable as I did.
One buddy still does downwind paddling on an SIC Bayonet and the other is working hard at SUP foiling downwind, with some pretty good success. I decided to the windsurf foiling route because I have less time to chase downwind conditions across the western and northern part of Michigan, and because I figured windsurfing would come back to me relatively easily, even though I haven't been out in many years.
Needless to say I am STOKED about today's windsurf foiling. Now I need to figure out if I need a smaller sail for the 20 mph wind we had, or if the smaller SS gamma 68 front wing and more out haul to flatten the sail a bit would extend my range of wind? Also I think the new SS 99 front wing is going to be on the list of things to buy this winter. I think that will help lower the threshold of wind I can get out in.
Sorry for the long post.

How much wind did you need in order to fly on the i84 wing?

I'm not exactly sure. When I went out I was guessing it was around 12-16mph. I am going to buy an anemometer to get a better idea of the wind speed.

Also curious how much board speed you need before the i84 wing lets you take off in flight? I'm thinking of getting that wing for my 130L Slingshot Dialer.

The 84 will lift off well below 10mph and will stay up at pretty low speeds so long as you can put the power down to keep it flying and avoid stall. I was out with it the other day on a Levitator 160 and 4.5 in 15-20 knots, carving in the waves. I was overpowered most of the time so I could sheet out and hover along at low speeds to carve, then sheet in slightly to build speed when I needed. I'm 200 lbs. If you don't have much wind you can stay flying on the 84 through holes by bearing off a little and pumping.

Sounding good! I have my largest sail, 6.8 available for the light days. I can't wait to see how early I can get out flying on the i84 wing with my 130L Slingshot Dialer board and 6.8 sail and my weight at 78kg. I think I will experiment with 8-10 MPH winds in order to get started. Might need more wind later on?