I have been happy to be out foiling in 8-14 kt conditions, but when it picks up above that things turn unpleasant very quickly. I find it hard to control the extra lift.
Just wondering what adjustments others make when the wind picks up.
Stand further forward, Mast Further forward, Stand on rails, smaller sail?

For normal sailing a smaller board is generally easier to deal with as the wind picks up, but with foiling I feel like I need a bigger board in stronger winds. Perhaps I actually need a smaller foil

What size wing/sail are you presently using? How much do you weigh (if you don't mind sharing)? Are you using straps? Not knowing anything else and sorry if you are already doing much of this...

Easiest adjustment on the water, if you are really uncomfortable and already getting your weigh well over your front foot (leaning head and hips forward, too), is move the back foot forward. Take it out of the strap and place it a bit up and inboard. Also, make sure your back hand isn't clutching hard on the boom. From our "slapper" days, most of us have the habit of holding on hard to the back hand as we try to counter the gust. Learn to relax the back hand and move the front hand up a few cm. Also, avoid the slapper habit of leaning the sail over you as you react to the gust - you need to stay vertical over the board when overpowered (at least, that's what works for me). Otherwise, you end up taking pressure off the wing at the worst time.

If you can get to shore, moving the mast base up 3-4 cm can make a surprising difference.

Off the water adjustments: for me moving from a 1000-1100 cm2 freeride/freerace wing to an 800 is like going down a sail size.

Depends on your experience, weight, board and foil?

I frequently foil in 30+ knots and have found my set up to work very well in strong winds. 1. Go to smaller wing 2. Smaller sail.

Foil- I use Slingshot time code 68 wing, super controllable in gusts. Before that I used the Naish thrust with the delta wing. I use a 90cm mast for control in swell and not foiling out in gybes.

Board width around 78cm - I use the Slingshot 125 wizard (198 x 78) before that a RRD slalom board at 225 x 79cm. Going to a bigger board may lead to the nose getting lifted in a puff.

Sails - 4.1 or 4.5 (non camber) for foiling I do not use much down haul so if I was regular windsurfing a 5.2, I will be foiling the 4.1. (I'm 92 kilos)

I run a small front wing anyway (550cm2 - SB Carbon) but when overpowered I first try to "pinch" upwind if it's only just a gust I need to survive. If that doesn't work (gets a bit unstable) I will come off the breeze a little and sheet out as much as I can whilst still remaining hooked in. Finally, if I'm really in trouble, I will unhook and move both hands forward on the boom, sheeting in as little as I can whilst still remaining flying. This last method works OK with cammed sails as they keep their shape. I'm not sure how non cammed would go. As on a "slapper" I think it's still a good idea to maintain as much speed as possible when overpowered. I always seem to get dumped on my head if I try to travel slowly when overcooked.

I am currently on the Ghost Whisperer 101cm with 683 front wing. I weigh 78kg
I typically use 6.5 no cam in 8-14 and then a 5.5 race sail above that.

I often sail with the back foot in front of the rear strap, but It makes me feel a bit cramped for space.
I am considering shortening my harness lines more to achieve a more upright stance, what length harness lines are you using?

Select to expand quote

tbwonder said..
I am currently on the Ghost Whisperer 101cm with 683 front wing. I weigh 78kg
I typically use 6.5 no cam in 8-14 and then a 5.5 race sail above that.

I often sail with the back foot in front of the rear strap, but It makes me feel a bit cramped for space.
I am considering shortening my harness lines more to achieve a more upright stance, what length harness lines are you using?

I haven't used the ghost whisper foil yet but the mast length sounds ideal for strong puffs, gives you more time to react.

Going to the 5.5 is one issue I feel? I only use cams in 7.8 and 6.7. After that's its all RAF sails. you need control and a nice soft 5.0 will give you the confidence to sheet in stronger winds.

I raise the boom boom a good 3-4" higher than regular windsurfing for foiling. Went from 31" to 27" lines and yes it's more upright stance but I like to foil out of the back strap and harness lines when going downwind or using the swell.

The 683 is about 1000 and at your weight you should be fine with a 6.5 for at least another 5 kts wind, imho. I agree with CoreAS. I go cammed with the big stuff and camless on the small end. Cammed sails are less off/on and you can control your height better with the steadier "power profile". It was a revelation the first time I used a cammed sail on the bottom end how much it steadied things.

When it's really windy (25+), that just doesn't seem as important and the easy handling of a camless sail (plus the ability to depower and hunt for swells) makes it preferable - for me at least.

I can understand the "cramped" comment since we are so used to having our feet spread on the board. With the foil, you just aren't getting jerked around as much so you can stand steadier and feet closer together since you aren't pounding into stuff. Kind of reminds me of longboards in the old days when the feet would be quite close together. Do try to move the back foot about. That can really make a difference if you can do that before the gust hits and then slip it back in the strap when you are ready to apply the power again.

It kind of depends on the problems you are having. I see a lot of useful advice, mostly focussed on a surplus of power (shift the mastfoot forward, take out the backfoot and put it further towards the middle). I'd like to accentuate the comment on the racingsail, I found camless sails easier overpowered because the racing sails are harder to sheet out.

In my opinion, there's 2 ways to go about it. The "windsurfer" way, which is mostly focussed on decreasing power, and the "windfoiler" way which is mostly focussed on increasing stability. The "windfoiler" way mostly just takes a shift in technique, more than a shift in trim. When you adapt your technique to foiling you will most likely even "increase" (not really because thats not what the stab does, but it feels that way) foil power in tougher conditions by adjusting the stab rake and put the power even further under your front foot. A more powerful/front footed foil will feel more stable, especially in gusty wind. When wind / gustyness goes up, I go down in wing size, but relatively shift the power further forward by trimming the stab. This gives a feeling of "stretching the wheelbase" and therefore adding stability. Having the power steadily under the front foot compared to a more even balance increases stability. This is because both changes in speed and changes in the shape of your sail dramatically changes the way you have to balance over your feet. If you have most of the power underneath your front foot anyway it is no longer a "balancing" act, but more of a "pushing back" act. Having the power under your backfoot is horrible in all aspects, as mentioned in a lot of topics before, for it will increase instability of the foil for a number of reasons. The "windsurfer" solution will inevitably shift the power further back (thus make the foil feel less powerful). It will however work very well short term, but would mean more touches / less stable flight, in addition to attaining the partial goal of less foilouts/crashes due to overload.

personally I find depowering the setup makes it way harder to keep stable flight, nearly imposaible to fly through jibes, and for me makes me crash when normally I don't, due to the nose catching waves and that kind of thing.