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Ian K said..
With the NP Pinkie I definitely had to be planing before it would foil. But with 1000 sq cm wing I'm not so sure. Seems to get up before the board is properly planing. In which case why are we stuck on planing hulls? The AC75s don't have planing hulls but at 70 feet long the displacement speed is 1.5 times sqrt 70 = 12 knots. Plenty to foil on maybe without worrying about planing. Foiling moths bypass the planing mode altogether, they use canoe-bottomed hulls, and they aren't much longer than a windfoiler.
Yes for most foils, we can foil at a speed that is less than planing speed, which to your question "why are we stuck on planing hulls"?
Isn't there a speed threshold where a board goes from displacement to planing? I guess if we have enough power any board could plane, but a planing hull allows us to plane earlier (maybe allowing us to reach speed threshold with less power). If that isn't complete bull****, then the principle applies to foiling. We want a board shape to allow the foil to reach lifting speed with the least amount of effort.
The w114 foils up more quickly than the freestyle 115, mostly because of the square shape of the tail and the more parallel rails?