Select to expand quote

Dar said..

I really started getting confidence in foiling when I did this and use my harness lines to create mast base pressure, along with keeping your weight forward to keep speed and the foil down. Move harness lines forward when feeling overpowered and vice versa.
Keep the review of the l-99 coming

I finally find out the balance point and started to get foiling long distances in light days. I am on 160 levitator with 84/48 infinity and 7.0 Flyer. Despite others recommendation, my set-up ended up as top plate of mast/foil is 1 inch away from the front of the foil track and using "C" position in contrast to others using mast all the way back. Sail mast is 3 inches away from the insertion site. I am using the front foot straps and pumping until I start to lift off. Foot straps did help me to find best position as I was putting my feet too far from where the straps are located. I think finding the best set-up might be weight related as I am heavier than most windsurfers. But I am excited to see that I gifted my 9.5 sail to a formula windsurfer friend and I was foiling on 7.0 while he was occasionally plaining on the 9.5. I felt that I will never go back to a large sail/formula set-up as it is very exhausting for me and glad to finally figured out my setting for foiling. Now, I will work on my speed to sustain long runs and eventually progress to foil jibing. Those new beginners checking this site, I want to share that for the intermediate sailors like me; try to put time to learn and figure out the best setting for your own skills, board and weight. If you can, you may consider putting a track under your own board to use slingshot system or buy the Levitator. However, despite Levitator track system is good for adjustments, it is somewhat cumbersome each time to put a heavy foil especially if you a limited beach access. It is also heavy to carry the board with foil together into the water. I hope they will eventually put a system similar to Naish easy installation with tracking system. I have never used the Naish foil but there are other you tube sites with extensive reviews and one of the sites has a very detailed comparison that was very informative for me.
Now I am waiting for my 99 inch wing apparently back ordered and looking forward to extending our light wind seasons.

Select to expand quote

SA_AL said..

Dar said..

I really started getting confidence in foiling when I did this and use my harness lines to create mast base pressure, along with keeping your weight forward to keep speed and the foil down. Move harness lines forward when feeling overpowered and vice versa.
Keep the review of the l-99 coming

I finally find out the balance point and started to get foiling long distances in light days. I am on 160 levitator with 84/48 infinity and 7.0 Flyer. Despite others recommendation, my set-up ended up as top plate of mast/foil is 1 inch away from the front of the foil track and using "C" position in contrast to others using mast all the way back. Sail mast is 3 inches away from the insertion site. I am using the front foot straps and pumping until I start to lift off. Foot straps did help me to find best position as I was putting my feet too far from where the straps are located. I think finding the best set-up might be weight related as I am heavier than most windsurfers. But I am excited to see that I gifted my 9.5 sail to a formula windsurfer friend and I was foiling on 7.0 while he was occasionally plaining on the 9.5. I felt that I will never go back to a large sail/formula set-up as it is very exhausting for me and glad to finally figured out my setting for foiling. Now, I will work on my speed to sustain long runs and eventually progress to foil jibing. Those new beginners checking this site, I want to share that for the intermediate sailors like me; try to put time to learn and figure out the best setting for your own skills, board and weight. If you can, you may consider putting a track under your own board to use slingshot system or buy the Levitator.

Here is picture of my final set-up:

Select to expand quote

SA_AL said..

SA_AL said..

Dar said..

I really started getting confidence in foiling when I did this and use my harness lines to create mast base pressure, along with keeping your weight forward to keep speed and the foil down. Move harness lines forward when feeling overpowered and vice versa.
Keep the review of the l-99 coming

I finally find out the balance point and started to get foiling long distances in light days. I am on 160 levitator with 84/48 infinity and 7.0 Flyer. Despite others recommendation, my set-up ended up as top plate of mast/foil is 1 inch away from the front of the foil track and using "C" position in contrast to others using mast all the way back. Sail mast is 3 inches away from the insertion site. I am using the front foot straps and pumping until I start to lift off. Foot straps did help me to find best position as I was putting my feet too far from where the straps are located. I think finding the best set-up might be weight related as I am heavier than most windsurfers. But I am excited to see that I gifted my 9.5 sail to a formula windsurfer friend and I was foiling on 7.0 while he was occasionally plaining on the 9.5. I felt that I will never go back to a large sail/formula set-up as it is very exhausting for me and glad to finally figured out my setting for foiling. Now, I will work on my speed to sustain long runs and eventually progress to foil jibing. Those new beginners checking this site, I want to share that for the intermediate sailors like me; try to put time to learn and figure out the best setting for your own skills, board and weight. If you can, you may consider putting a track under your own board to use slingshot system or buy the Levitator.

Here is picture of my final set-up:

How much do you way and how tall are you?

Select to expand quote

How much do you way and how tall are you?

225 lbs 5.11

I have been trying my i99 for couple of runs and my impression, compared to i88, it lifts earlier and breeches are very rare. If someone starting for the first time foiling, I would recommend i99 for light wind foiling. I think the learning curve is much better. Wyatt Miller says that this foil is like training wheels. I don't think it is as easy for me like that but it is much more friendly than i76 and i84 foil that I tried for learning during the past several months.

Select to expand quote

SA_AL said..
I have been trying my i99 for couple of runs and my impression, compared to i88, it lifts earlier and breeches are very rare. If someone starting for the first time foiling, I would recommend i99 for light wind foiling. I think the learning curve is much better. Wyatt Miller says that this foil is like training wheels. I don't think it is as easy for me like that but it is much more friendly than i76 and i84 foil that I tried for learning during the past several months.

I am SO glad I was able to buy the i99. I have the i84 and I believe the gamma 65(?) too. I have only used the 99 and 84 as I am still learning. I went out yesterday afternoon with the i84 on my Levitator 160 and rigged a brand new Duotone super session 4.8. Turned out to be a great combination. Had about 2 hours of foiling and was rarely overpowered. Wind was around 18-23mph. I notice a big difference between the i84 and i99... the 99 is such a cruiser. I love that. The 84 definitely feels faster, as it should. It's also a bit more sensitive to forward and rearward foot pressure.

Select to expand quote

SA_AL said..
I have been trying my i99 for couple of runs and my impression, compared to i88, it lifts earlier and breeches are very rare.excav8ter said..

I am SO glad I was able to buy the i99. I have the i84 and I believe the gamma 65(?) too. I have only used the 99 and 84 as I am still learning. I went out yesterday afternoon with the i84 on my Levitator 160 and rigged a brand new Duotone super session 4.8. Turned out to be a great combination. Had about 2 hours of foiling and was rarely overpowered. Wind was around 18-23mph. I notice a big difference between the i84 and i99... the 99 is such a cruiser. I love that. The 84 definitely feels faster, as it should. It's also a bit more sensitive to forward and rearward foot pressure.

I had the same feeling about i84 and definitely I would go back when my cerebellum learns to ride on a balance board using i99. I am curious if you are able to sustain your height once you start foiling. I am going gently up and down and with water surface touch and sustain rarely >150 meter rides without surface touch . Are you having this issue or find the remedy?

Select to expand quote

SA_AL said..

SA_AL said..
I have been trying my i99 for couple of runs and my impression, compared to i88, it lifts earlier and breeches are very rare.excav8ter said..

I am SO glad I was able to buy the i99. I have the i84 and I believe the gamma 65(?) too. I have only used the 99 and 84 as I am still learning. I went out yesterday afternoon with the i84 on my Levitator 160 and rigged a brand new Duotone super session 4.8. Turned out to be a great combination. Had about 2 hours of foiling and was rarely overpowered. Wind was around 18-23mph. I notice a big difference between the i84 and i99... the 99 is such a cruiser. I love that. The 84 definitely feels faster, as it should. It's also a bit more sensitive to forward and rearward foot pressure.

I had the same feeling about i84 and definitely I would go back when my cerebellum learns to ride on a balance board using i99. I am curious if you are able to sustain your height once you start foiling. I am going gently up and down and with water surface touch and sustain rarely >150 meter rides without surface touch . Are you having this issue or find the remedy?

For me, I try to find my balance point between my front and rear foot as soon as I get on foil. Since my front foot is in the foot strap, this means i make some subtle movements with my back foot. Usually in a hundred yards or so i have it figured out. Hard to really say how far I go once on foil. I know I've flown over a half mile without really touching down. It's harder in real gusty conditions though. I still go up and down a bit, mainly because I'm trying to head up wind, or bare downwind a bit to get the feel for carving.

In the gusts I sometimes I feel like I can't get my back foot far enough forward to stop from over foiling, so that makes it tough to maintain a level flight. Yesterday I toyed with moving the mast further forward in the mast track (1.5" ahead of center). That seemed to make a big difference in keeping the foil flying more level and controlled in the big gusts.

I hope that makes sense.

Select to expand quote

excav8ter said..

For me, I try to find my balance point between my front and rear foot as soon as I get on foil. Since my front foot is in the foot strap, this means i make some subtle movements with my back foot. Usually in a hundred yards or so i have it figured out. Hard to really say how far I go once on foil. I know I've flown over a half mile without really touching down. It's harder in real gusty conditions though. I still go up and down a bit, mainly because I'm trying to head up wind, or bare downwind a bit to get the feel for carving.

In the gusts I sometimes I feel like I can't get my back foot far enough forward to stop from over foiling, so that makes it tough to maintain a level flight. Yesterday I toyed with moving the mast further forward in the mast track (1.5" ahead of center). That seemed to make a big difference in keeping the foil flying more level and controlled in the big gusts.

I hope that makes sense.

Moving the mast forward! I will try in my next run to see if that adds more stability. Eventough we are in similar weights, my foil position appears more forward than your set-up. I am also trying to find the best sail position for up-wind run. It seems I need to close the sail but the mast foil is put into an angled position rather than completely vertical when I am trying to go more upwind to make up the distances lost during in open sail foiling.

Select to expand quote

SA_AL said..

excav8ter said..

For me, I try to find my balance point between my front and rear foot as soon as I get on foil. Since my front foot is in the foot strap, this means i make some subtle movements with my back foot. Usually in a hundred yards or so i have it figured out. Hard to really say how far I go once on foil. I know I've flown over a half mile without really touching down. It's harder in real gusty conditions though. I still go up and down a bit, mainly because I'm trying to head up wind, or bare downwind a bit to get the feel for carving.

In the gusts I sometimes I feel like I can't get my back foot far enough forward to stop from over foiling, so that makes it tough to maintain a level flight. Yesterday I toyed with moving the mast further forward in the mast track (1.5" ahead of center). That seemed to make a big difference in keeping the foil flying more level and controlled in the big gusts.

I hope that makes sense.

Moving the mast forward! I will try in my next run to see if that adds more stability. Eventough we are in similar weights, my foil position appears more forward than your set-up. I am also trying to find the best sail position for up-wind run. It seems I need to close the sail but the mast foil is put into an angled position rather than completely vertical when I am trying to go more upwind to make up the distances lost during in open sail foiling.

My sail moves around quite a bit, depending on the wind and gusts. Sometimes I feel that I lean it back to make the board rise up, and then forward to bring it down. It all seems to happen naturally for me. I am not really paying too much attention to anything other than my foot placement. I try to stay equally balanced and then figure out the rest as I go.
Having the sail mast further forward when it's windy (like it was on Sunday) seems to really help the "attitude" of my board. I wish I'd have played with that earlier this fall.

Dear all,
This is my first post on this Forum, which I am super happy to have found!
Its like a goldmine of great advice and expertise from all of you, so started by reading all posts from end to end in the entire WindFoil section! Reason being: I am an old fanatic extreme windsurfer, that now wants back on the water after a 20+ years of hibernation. Sad excuse I know, but career, wife, kids, house, dog took away the time I used to spend riding the waves...

Time to come back on the water and after a bit reading up on subject, watching all reviews, I was super intrigued by this new thing for me called 'Windfoiling'. Could this be the great way to come back, enjoying the flying over the water, without the need to be super-fit or extreme wind conditions to have fun? By coincidence came across a guy who offered super rebate on the 2019 gear range as the 2020 stuff is coming out, so just got the following into my house:

Slingshot Levitator 150
Slingshot Infinity 84cm, with the 90cm mast.
Ezzy Hydra sails: 5.0 m2 and 6.0 m2.
As understood this should be a well balanced package, working well together and good place to start.

Personally I am 1.78cm tall and weigh 70kg.

First off, setting all this up seems to be quite more technical and specific than what my sinker windsurfing boards and extreme wavesails had of options back in the late 90ties when I stopped. So hope you could help me a bit out here on this thread, to support best setup for a complete newbie like me to get flying on the foil !
Goal is to get flying in low wind conditions and shred miles/kilometers out there on the water, enjoying life.

So first off are:
1. Where should I mount the footstraps please, on the Levitator 150, considering my weight and the 84cm slingshot foil?
I understand from comments here, that starting to learn, its better to place the straps in the locations closest to the middle of the board?
Next is then, forward towards the nose or better a backwards toward back of board? As I understand that standing further backwards will help to learning carefully to fly without nose-diving all the time? And that its best to just start with the front foot into the strap and keep the backfoot out to move that around to keep the balance?

2. Second is the complexity of setting up the 84cm foil, its various options on its fuselage and the mast connection (A, B and C positions?), and also probably more importantly, where to place the foil mount into the board? Here again I read several places on this forum, better to start in rear position and then move forward just 1cm at a time, as rear mount makes it stable but harder to fly, while forward position makes it quicker to fly up but also more sensitive (unstable?).

3. Do you have a common agreement on how to measure or set the marks on where you place your foil mount into the board? Do you measure and use the complete rear placement as the "zero cm mark" and then put a scale from there and forward? Same as well I guess you have for the sail, where that should ideally be put, but expect that to be more like when windsurfing?

4. Last subject, and sorry for all these newbie questions: Is it a fair assumption to think that my two sails on 5.0 m2 and 6.0 m2 will suffice for most situations, and also that the 1.0 m2 difference between the two is not too much? Aka, like in my old crazy wave-windsurfing days, I had the full range from 2.5m2 up to 5.5m2 and in just 0.5m2 intervals. But the vendor said that I would not need that to same degree with windfoiling. Also that in comparison, then for windfoiling, then I could go planning with a 2.0 m2 smaller sail compared to what I needed for windsurfing. Honestly I never like the heavy handling of sails over 6.0 m2, as not that big a guy myself either, so not interested in going bigger than this 6.0 m2 Ezzy sail i got now, but hope still that will suffice for me to go planning in light winds on big local lake we have?

Sorry again for all these newbie questions and hope this Levitator forum thread is still alive, as read all your previous expert posts with super interests!

Best regards
Cyber
the old unfit man... ;o)

Select to expand quote

Cyber said..
Dear all,
This is my first post on this Forum, which I am super happy to have found!
Its like a goldmine of great advice and expertise from all of you, so started by reading all posts from end to end in the entire WindFoil section! Reason being: I am an old fanatic extreme windsurfer, that now wants back on the water after a 20+ years of hibernation. Sad excuse I know, but career, wife, kids, house, dog took away the time I used to spend riding the waves...

Time to come back on the water and after a bit reading up on subject, watching all reviews, I was super intrigued by this new thing for me called 'Windfoiling'. Could this be the great way to come back, enjoying the flying over the water, without the need to be super-fit or extreme wind conditions to have fun? By coincidence came across a guy who offered super rebate on the 2019 gear range as the 2020 stuff is coming out, so just got the following into my house:

Slingshot Levitator 150
Slingshot Infinity 84cm, with the 90cm mast.
Ezzy Hydra sails: 5.0 m2 and 6.0 m2.
As understood this should be a well balanced package, working well together and good place to start.

Personally I am 1.78cm tall and weigh 70kg.

First off, setting all this up seems to be quite more technical and specific than what my sinker windsurfing boards and extreme wavesails had of options back in the late 90ties when I stopped. So hope you could help me a bit out here on this thread, to support best setup for a complete newbie like me to get flying on the foil !
Goal is to get flying in low wind conditions and shred miles/kilometers out there on the water, enjoying life.

So first off are:
1. Where should I mount the footstraps please, on the Levitator 150, considering my weight and the 84cm slingshot foil?
I understand from comments here, that starting to learn, its better to place the straps in the locations closest to the middle of the board?
Next is then, forward towards the nose or better a backwards toward back of board? As I understand that standing further backwards will help to learning carefully to fly without nose-diving all the time? And that its best to just start with the front foot into the strap and keep the backfoot out to move that around to keep the balance?

2. Second is the complexity of setting up the 84cm foil, its various options on its fuselage and the mast connection (A, B and C positions?), and also probably more importantly, where to place the foil mount into the board? Here again I read several places on this forum, better to start in rear position and then move forward just 1cm at a time, as rear mount makes it stable but harder to fly, while forward position makes it quicker to fly up but also more sensitive (unstable?).

3. Do you have a common agreement on how to measure or set the marks on where you place your foil mount into the board? Do you measure and use the complete rear placement as the "zero cm mark" and then put a scale from there and forward? Same as well I guess you have for the sail, where that should ideally be put, but expect that to be more like when windsurfing?

4. Last subject, and sorry for all these newbie questions: Is it a fair assumption to think that my two sails on 5.0 m2 and 6.0 m2 will suffice for most situations, and also that the 1.0 m2 difference between the two is not too much? Aka, like in my old crazy wave-windsurfing days, I had the full range from 2.5m2 up to 5.5m2 and in just 0.5m2 intervals. But the vendor said that I would not need that to same degree with windfoiling. Also that in comparison, then for windfoiling, then I could go planning with a 2.0 m2 smaller sail compared to what I needed for windsurfing. Honestly I never like the heavy handling of sails over 6.0 m2, as not that big a guy myself either, so not interested in going bigger than this 6.0 m2 Ezzy sail i got now, but hope still that will suffice for me to go planning in light winds on big local lake we have?

Sorry again for all these newbie questions and hope this Levitator forum thread is still alive, as read all your previous expert posts with super interests!

Best regards
Cyber
the old unfit man... ;o)

Welcome Cyber! You're going to have a BLAST learning to foil. I just started in early August of 2019 after an 18 year hiatus. My first time out was amazing! I got on foil immediately and almost as immediately I crashed. But in that few seconds I learned a LOT!. I got back up and proceeded to make several runs out and back, 2while in foil for a large portion of time. I am proof that it can be picked up easily. I can jibe on foil, but I have no problem making runs of a mile or more while being on foil. I use a Levitator 160 with an i99 and i84 front wing. I also have the Slingshot FWind front wing (blue). There's a few of us who have been making measurements and marking the bottom of our boards with a marker as a way to reference foil mast placement. The way I was told to do it was to attach the foil mast to the board in the furthest possible position to the back, and the mark that as Zero.... then measure and mark in one inch (or cm) increments moving towards the front of the board (as far as the adapter plate goes). I started with my foil mast to the back and the sail mast in the middle of the mast track and went out. I had to move the foil mast forward to about 1.5" to get steady and comfortable lift. I think I posted a picture of what I did (to be clear... it wasn't my idea, it came the crew here on Seabreeze).

I like the idea that the mast plate has two positions with which to attach it thus giving the mast more forward and backward placement.

I'm moving to boards with a foil mast track-- Levitator 150 and a Freestyle 115. I've been using a SS Wizard 125, which I'll probably keep for now. I like it but the extra tuning the other boards offer with the foil mast track is appealing. I'm going to start Wind Winging as well so I'll probably use the 125 to learn with since it has lots of volume.

Here's something I find amusing -- I can literally stall the i84 (pretty much bring the board to a full stop while up on foil) and than push the board off the wind with my front foot and again come up to speed. That has to look pretty weird from shore.

Select to expand quote

dejavu said..
I like the idea that the mast plate has two positions with which to attach it thus giving the mast more forward and backward placement.

I'm moving to boards with a foil mast track-- Levitator 150 and a Freestyle 115. I've been using a SS Wizard 125, which I'll probably keep for now. I like it but the extra tuning the other boards offer with the foil mast track is appealing. I'm going to start Wind Winging as well so I'll probably use the 125 to learn with since it has lots of volume.

Here's something I find amusing -- I can literally stall the i84 (pretty much bring the board to a full stop while up on foil) and than push the board off the wind with my front foot and again come up to speed. That has to look pretty weird from shore.

I bet stalling looks pretty cool! When I stall out, I usually just set down on the water. Hopefully I will get better at maintaining speed through lulls this spring. I

Select to expand quote

excav8ter said..

Cyber said..
Dear all,
This is my first post on this Forum, which I am super happy to have found!
Its like a goldmine of great advice and expertise from all of you, so started by reading all posts from end to end in the entire WindFoil section! Reason being: I am an old fanatic extreme windsurfer, that now wants back on the water after a 20+ years of hibernation. Sad excuse I know, but career, wife, kids, house, dog took away the time I used to spend riding the waves...

Time to come back on the water and after a bit reading up on subject, watching all reviews, I was super intrigued by this new thing for me called 'Windfoiling'. Could this be the great way to come back, enjoying the flying over the water, without the need to be super-fit or extreme wind conditions to have fun? By coincidence came across a guy who offered super rebate on the 2019 gear range as the 2020 stuff is coming out, so just got the following into my house:

Slingshot Levitator 150
Slingshot Infinity 84cm, with the 90cm mast.
Ezzy Hydra sails: 5.0 m2 and 6.0 m2.
As understood this should be a well balanced package, working well together and good place to start.

Personally I am 1.78cm tall and weigh 70kg.

First off, setting all this up seems to be quite more technical and specific than what my sinker windsurfing boards and extreme wavesails had of options back in the late 90ties when I stopped. So hope you could help me a bit out here on this thread, to support best setup for a complete newbie like me to get flying on the foil !
Goal is to get flying in low wind conditions and shred miles/kilometers out there on the water, enjoying life.

So first off are:
1. Where should I mount the footstraps please, on the Levitator 150, considering my weight and the 84cm slingshot foil?
I understand from comments here, that starting to learn, its better to place the straps in the locations closest to the middle of the board?
Next is then, forward towards the nose or better a backwards toward back of board? As I understand that standing further backwards will help to learning carefully to fly without nose-diving all the time? And that its best to just start with the front foot into the strap and keep the backfoot out to move that around to keep the balance?

2. Second is the complexity of setting up the 84cm foil, its various options on its fuselage and the mast connection (A, B and C positions?), and also probably more importantly, where to place the foil mount into the board? Here again I read several places on this forum, better to start in rear position and then move forward just 1cm at a time, as rear mount makes it stable but harder to fly, while forward position makes it quicker to fly up but also more sensitive (unstable?).

3. Do you have a common agreement on how to measure or set the marks on where you place your foil mount into the board? Do you measure and use the complete rear placement as the "zero cm mark" and then put a scale from there and forward? Same as well I guess you have for the sail, where that should ideally be put, but expect that to be more like when windsurfing?

4. Last subject, and sorry for all these newbie questions: Is it a fair assumption to think that my two sails on 5.0 m2 and 6.0 m2 will suffice for most situations, and also that the 1.0 m2 difference between the two is not too much? Aka, like in my old crazy wave-windsurfing days, I had the full range from 2.5m2 up to 5.5m2 and in just 0.5m2 intervals. But the vendor said that I would not need that to same degree with windfoiling. Also that in comparison, then for windfoiling, then I could go planning with a 2.0 m2 smaller sail compared to what I needed for windsurfing. Honestly I never like the heavy handling of sails over 6.0 m2, as not that big a guy myself either, so not interested in going bigger than this 6.0 m2 Ezzy sail i got now, but hope still that will suffice for me to go planning in light winds on big local lake we have?

Sorry again for all these newbie questions and hope this Levitator forum thread is still alive, as read all your previous expert posts with super interests!

Best regards
Cyber
the old unfit man... ;o)

Welcome Cyber! You're going to have a BLAST learning to foil. I just started in early August of 2019 after an 18 year hiatus. My first time out was amazing! I got on foil immediately and almost as immediately I crashed. But in that few seconds I learned a LOT!. I got back up and proceeded to make several runs out and back, 2while in foil for a large portion of time. I am proof that it can be picked up easily. I can jibe on foil, but I have no problem making runs of a mile or more while being on foil. I use a Levitator 160 with an i99 and i84 front wing. I also have the Slingshot FWind front wing (blue). There's a few of us who have been making measurements and marking the bottom of our boards with a marker as a way to reference foil mast placement. The way I was told to do it was to attach the foil mast to the board in the furthest possible position to the back, and the mark that as Zero.... then measure and mark in one inch (or cm) increments moving towards the front of the board (as far as the adapter plate goes). I started with my foil mast to the back and the sail mast in the middle of the mast track and went out. I had to move the foil mast forward to about 1.5" to get steady and comfortable lift. I think I posted a picture of what I did (to be clear... it wasn't my idea, it came the crew here on Seabreeze).

Wow, thank you Excav8ter,
Sounds like you picked up windfoiling extremely quick compared to the many newbie journeys I have read so far!

I notice that you have the rear screws on your foil board mount not in the far back holes, but in the alternative holes set, closer to the mast. Is that because you wanted the ability to slide the foil is far backwards as possible, within the rail system? I would assume that the least torque tension on the rail/board anchoring would be if using the screw holes at the extreme ends of the board mount?
And is it then in this mounting method, that you put the position zero, as the front edge then of the board/foil mounting plate?
(somebody has a 1-pager with all the nomenclature of all these windfoil pieces and how we should refer to them please? ;o)

As I am completely new to this domain, I have zero experience in what damages one may incur if windfoling onto a sandbank in the water, or worse onto some underwater rocks, but in such case, what are then the weakest link in the gear package? Have a few times in my past beached a windsurf sinker board high speed into a low tide reef full of muscles etc, with the result my entire fin box got ripped out of the board. Despite being hundreds of yards out from the shoreline. But now I do intend to start out my windfoil career in a big sandy lake. But mentally one may always need to be prepared for some stuff not always going as planned? ;o)

Is position B on the SS Infinity 84cm foil always the default setting when used on a windfoil board?

Select to expand quote

dejavu said..
I like the idea that the mast plate has two positions with which to attach it thus giving the mast more forward and backward placement.

I'm moving to boards with a foil mast track-- Levitator 150 and a Freestyle 115. I've been using a SS Wizard 125, which I'll probably keep for now. I like it but the extra tuning the other boards offer with the foil mast track is appealing. I'm going to start Wind Winging as well so I'll probably use the 125 to learn with since it has lots of volume.

Here's something I find amusing -- I can literally stall the i84 (pretty much bring the board to a full stop while up on foil) and than push the board off the wind with my front foot and again come up to speed. That has to look pretty weird from shore.

Hi dejavu, what is the main reason for you considering going from a Wizard 125 and then onto the bigger Levitator 150? I thought that I was maybe even too pessimistic, by choosing to start on the Levitator 150, as most I read about here are speaking highly about the more dynamic Wizard 125 and appear very happy about it. I come from small 70 liter sinker boards, but considering the foil challenge and having to lear all again, plus wanting to be able to plan in low wind conditions, then I do accept a sail in 5-6 m2 size is required, so a slightly bigger board would probably be a safer (though maybe more boring) starting point?

Hence my question: What is driving you now to appear going the opposite direction and from a smaller quicker reacting Wizard 125 and now onto a supertanker-heavy Levitator 150? Or do you all consider the Levitator 150 still to be a reasonable small windfoil board?

I only weight 70kg, so do not need that much for floatation, but it all makes it easier to learn to uphaul again, which I havent done since starting on sinkers back in 1986. Also with the bigger sails, its always more comfortable with bigger and broader board surface.

Here in my living room it looks enormous, so think we could even put a wheelchair on that thing if the day and need should arrive one day. ;o)

@ cyber

I just picked up the levitator as my lightwind board and am still figuring things out. My suggestion for the following would be

Put the 84 in C position (95% of peeps use this setting)

Dont bother with the back straps for now

Put the mast (sail) in the mid position

Put the foil mast in the mid position

Put the front strap in the 3rd hole from the front.

If those settings are remotely close to being balanced, then you should be able to adjust foil angle of attack just by moving your back foot forward and backward.

If you cannot get the board to lift some gentle extra back foot pressure then I would slide the foil mast forward. If you find that it foils too easily and immediately breaches then I would move the front foot strap forwards.

Let us know how that goes.

Once you have those three positions dialed (sail mast base, foil mast and front foot strap) you will know where you want the back strap.

Also I would go for inboard strap positions

Position C is default for i84 foil

Well I got out today on my Levitator 160 with the i99 wing and a 6.0 Sailworks Flyer. Sunny and 38 degrees Farenheit, water was about 36-38 degrees Farenheit. Had a few of the most amazing runs to date. Don't get me wrong, I've had a lot of really great runs, but today was different. The wind was so constant at about 13/14 mph on my anemometer. I got on the water, uphauled and was on foil and in my front foot strap within 50 feet of getting started. The wind was so steady it was crazy. Made a few passes back and forth across the lake just learning to carve downwind and back upwind. The wind suddenly dropped off a bit so I went to re-rig with my 8.0 Ezzy Cheetah and then had a zipper malfunction on my wetsuit that ended my day. Still stoked to have been out and fly for a bit.

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Cyber said..

dejavu said..
I like the idea that the mast plate has two positions with which to attach it thus giving the mast more forward and backward placement.

I'm moving to boards with a foil mast track-- Levitator 150 and a Freestyle 115. I've been using a SS Wizard 125, which I'll probably keep for now. I like it but the extra tuning the other boards offer with the foil mast track is appealing. I'm going to start Wind Winging as well so I'll probably use the 125 to learn with since it has lots of volume.

Here's something I find amusing -- I can literally stall the i84 (pretty much bring the board to a full stop while up on foil) and than push the board off the wind with my front foot and again come up to speed. That has to look pretty weird from shore.

Hi dejavu, what is the main reason for you considering going from a Wizard 125 and then onto the bigger Levitator 150? I thought that I was maybe even too pessimistic, by choosing to start on the Levitator 150, as most I read about here are speaking highly about the more dynamic Wizard 125 and appear very happy about it. I come from small 70 liter sinker boards, but considering the foil challenge and having to lear all again, plus wanting to be able to plan in low wind conditions, then I do accept a sail in 5-6 m2 size is required, so a slightly bigger board would probably be a safer (though maybe more boring) starting point?

Hence my question: What is driving you now to appear going the opposite direction and from a smaller quicker reacting Wizard 125 and now onto a supertanker-heavy Levitator 150? Or do you all consider the Levitator 150 still to be a reasonable small windfoil board?

I only weight 70kg, so do not need that much for floatation, but it all makes it easier to learn to uphaul again, which I havent done since starting on sinkers back in 1986. Also with the bigger sails, its always more comfortable with bigger and broader board surface.

Here in my living room it looks enormous, so think we could even put a wheelchair on that thing if the day and need should arrive one day. ;o)

The Levitator 150 is the same length as the Wizard 125 but a little wider (including the nose). I'm moving over to the pedestal system and since the Wizard boards are Tuttle only I probably won't use my 125 much. I also plan to get the SS 115 and maybe an Out Wit SUP board for using with a wind wing -- all these boards have a foil mast track.

I'm at an age where my window of opportunity is pretty narrow. Since tomorrow may never come, I'm doing what I can today.

Curious how heavy the Levitator boards are?

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MagicRide said..
Curious how heavy the Levitator boards are?

I just weighed mine. two straps with 2 bold mast base and I got 10.2kg

Select to expand quote

thedoor said..
@ cyber

I just picked up the levitator as my lightwind board and am still figuring things out. My suggestion for the following would be

Put the 84 in C position (95% of peeps use this setting)

Dont bother with the back straps for now

Put the mast (sail) in the mid position

Put the foil mast in the mid position

Put the front strap in the 3rd hole from the front.

If those settings are remotely close to being balanced, then you should be able to adjust foil angle of attack just by moving your back foot forward and backward.

If you cannot get the board to lift some gentle extra back foot pressure then I would slide the foil mast forward. If you find that it foils too easily and immediately breaches then I would move the front foot strap forwards.

Let us know how that goes.

Once you have those three positions dialed (sail mast base, foil mast and front foot strap) you will know where you want the back strap.

Also I would go for inboard strap positions

Thank you thedoor, just mounted the footstraps as you suggested!

Select to expand quote

thedoor said..

MagicRide said..
Curious how heavy the Levitator boards are?

I just weighed mine. two straps with 2 bold mast base and I got 10.2kg

How many liters is it?

Select to expand quote

MagicRide said..

thedoor said..

MagicRide said..
Curious how heavy the Levitator boards are?

I just weighed mine. two straps with 2 bold mast base and I got 10.2kg

How many liters is it?

Levitator 150 = 150 liters.
Levitator 160 = 160 liters.

Select to expand quote

MagicRide said..

thedoor said..

MagicRide said..
Curious how heavy the Levitator boards are?

I just weighed mine. two straps with 2 bold mast base and I got 10.2kg

How many liters is it?

Sorry bro 150 Litres

Select to expand quote

Cyber said..

thedoor said..
@ cyber

I just picked up the levitator as my lightwind board and am still figuring things out. My suggestion for the following would be

Put the 84 in C position (95% of peeps use this setting)

Dont bother with the back straps for now

Put the mast (sail) in the mid position

Put the foil mast in the mid position

Put the front strap in the 3rd hole from the front.

If those settings are remotely close to being balanced, then you should be able to adjust foil angle of attack just by moving your back foot forward and backward.

If you cannot get the board to lift some gentle extra back foot pressure then I would slide the foil mast forward. If you find that it foils too easily and immediately breaches then I would move the front foot strap forwards.

Let us know how that goes.

Once you have those three positions dialed (sail mast base, foil mast and front foot strap) you will know where you want the back strap.

Also I would go for inboard strap positions

Thank you thedoor, just mounted the footstraps as you suggested!

Cool I made the mistake of trying my first session on this board with the back strap on there, making it very hard to balance the forces needed to lift. Now, I recommend the first few sessions of any board to be without the rear straps, so that you can figure out where you want them.

Foiling is all about balancing the forces that influence foil lift, and in my opinion the easiest one of those things to adjust is the rear foot placement.

Select to expand quote

thedoor said..

MagicRide said..

thedoor said..

MagicRide said..
Curious how heavy the Levitator boards are?

I just weighed mine. two straps with 2 bold mast base and I got 10.2kg

How many liters is it?

Sorry bro 150 Litres

That's interesting. Your 150L Levetator weighs as much as my 130L Dialer. Wonder if that's why they discontinued the Dialer, to make the boards smaller to cut back weight. Curious how much a 125 Wizard or Levetator in that range weighs? If it weighs much less than the Dialer?

Select to expand quote

MagicRide said..

thedoor said..

MagicRide said..

thedoor said..

MagicRide said..
Curious how heavy the Levitator boards are?

I just weighed mine. two straps with 2 bold mast base and I got 10.2kg

How many liters is it?

Sorry bro 150 Litres

That's interesting. Your 150L Levetator weighs as much as my 130L Dialer. Wonder if that's why they discontinued the Dialer, to make the boards smaller to cut back weight. Curious how much a 125 Wizard or Levetator in that range weighs? If it weighs much less than the Dialer?

The 2018 slingshot boards where of a beefier construction, which I would prefer myself even if heavier.

Not sure why the dialer was retired, but the phrase "swing weight" was big back then. My guess is that people figured out short and fat worked well so they moved in that direction. But apparently from the people who own the dialer longer and thinner works too. My guess is that we will figure out the different values of longer thinner versus shorter wider boards over the next few seasons.

PS: I know in the early kite days they figured out that short boards would work, and then they kept getting shorter until it became a little ridiculous.

From another forum -- here's Wyatt Miller on how to set up the Levitator 150 for the i76 and i84 foil wings:

"For the Levitator I usually put:

The 76 in Fuse position B and then move it all the way back in the track (Using the outer most pedestal holes)

I have my front straps all the way forward and outboard and my back strap one hole from the back.

Mast base at 107cm from the front of mast or in the middle of the front half of the track (3/4 forward).

Then when you want to use the 84cm instead of having to flip the fuselage and remove all those bolts, I just remove the 76 and mount the 84 in the same Position B. Now if you move your pedestal mount 2 inches forward it should be just right. If you are riding with too much weight on your back foot you can move it another inch forward. Too much lift you can move it back a bit. But 2 inches forward should be perfect.

Stoked you are having fun on all the foil gear. Best tip I give people is that it is all about really moving your hips; forward over the front foot to keep it down and then back over your back foot to rise higher. Just trying to apply pressure to one foot or the other does not have a continuous effect unless you actually move your hips over that foot."