Another week, another wind foiling session...

For those that missed my first time, see it here:
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/My-First-Time-on-a-Slingshot-Hydrofoil

After my first session, I decided to use the 'Switch Fuse' in its aft setting, keeping the main foil closer to the mast. The foiling academy suggests using the forward position to help maintain lift during gybes, but I think this suggestion relates to their foil-boards, rather than regular slalom gear such as the iSonic 121L.

Despite having the foil located more aft, I still had trouble keeping the nose down. I did manage a few long runs a couple of times, as shown by the CIA trace of my journey.

It is amazing how many times I fell, I haven't sailed that wet for a very long time.

A few observations:
Water starting is easy. Just DON'T kick with your back leg... and you can lean on the windward rail more than usual, the keel keeping the board level more than a fin!
7.0m sails are too large for 20kts. I was foiling along 30cm above the water with my Maui Sails TRX16 flapping like a flag... WAY overpowered... so I changed down to my smallest rig, a 5.6 Overdrive.
5.6m sails are too large for 20kts. But when you get the balance right they feel pretty good! Mainly in the lulls!
Falling from 1m up at 20kts feels about the same as a catapult from 30kts .... definitely not for the faint hearted!.
I'm very new to all this, but it seems to me that either the Slingshot front wing is too far forward, or the ISonic footstras are too far back. Every time I sheeted in the nose would lift and i can't work out how to keep it down!
How DO you keep the nose down, especially as speed increases?
Hooked in and standing in the straps feels comfortable,... until
I spent most of my controlled flight time out of the harness, like a neewbie, sail to lee, bum to windward, sheeted in to 20%-60% power most of the time, except in a lull when i might sheet in fully for a few seconds
Long distance runs help, it takes a bit of time to get setup and comfortable, let alone learn the new balance points
Learning to foil is a summer sport. Winter water is cold, and westerlies too gusty. I can't wait for warm consistent NE's again...
When airborne and in control... damn it is a smooth ride. It does feel very cool, and the board is so responsive. Wiggling your toe affects your trim. Riding across the middle of the river had chop upto a foot high, and if I had the foil height just right, i could sail right through without feeling a bump!

More to learn!

as for keeping the nose down, put your mast base further up front. works for me

From my perspective sailing a foil is very different to sailing a slalom board. I'm no slalom expert (waves/FS sailor) but A lot of slalom I see seems to be loading up the back foot getting that fin pressure/board lift -->drive. If you do this on a foil you're going to have a bad time.

The faster you go the more lift you're going to generate from the foil and you have to trim that out by shifting your body weight forward or trimming with the sail to change mast foot pressure. As soon as the board pops onto the foil and you accelerate you need to get the weight forward fast. If you keep loading the back foot you'll literally just take off.

Every gust/sheeting change alters the mast foot pressure which you need to adjust for. Every speed change alters the overall lift of the foil which you need to adjust for, it's a constant balance which is very difficult in gusty conditions. Also the better draft stability your sail has the easier it is. Once you start to loading the sail the draft moving around really messes with the mast foot pressure, you seem to be using cambered sails though so no issue there.

How's the weight balance between you legs once up on the foil? Sounds like you are requiring a lot of front foot pressure to keep the nose down, to me this = too much trim on the rear wing. Can you adjust the angle of your rear wing? If so take some angle out relative to the front wing. This has a HUGE impact on how the foil flies. I have experimented with a big range of angles with my foil and on some settings you literally can not keep it in the water over a certain board speed.

It also sounds a bit like you are sheeting in slalom style, IE as soon as you sheet in you are loading up the back foot and raking the rig back, this is totally the opposite to what you want to do. As you sheet in keep the rig upright, you'll find you sail with the rig much more generally upright than you do when sailing normally.

Also as Sean said experiment with mast foot position. Further back the foil will be a lot more twitchy but the rig will have less of an overall effect on trim as the leverage moment to the foil is smaller. Move it forward and the foil will be far less twitchy under foot but the rig will have a bigger effect on foil trim due to the increased leverage over the foil.

Thanks CJW, good explanation.

I can can see so many habits need to change.... back foot pressure, sail rake angle, etc.

I had the mast foot all the way forward with the big sail but tried rear position with the smaller sail. It was similar, probably because I wasn't sheeting in much. So not getting much pressure.

I'll try making up some shims. No rear wing adjustment possible.

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seanhogan said..
as for keeping the nose down, put your mast base further up front. works for me

Second that

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Sputnik11 said..

seanhogan said..
as for keeping the nose down, put your mast base further up front. works for me

Second that

Have you played with your harness lines length? (having them longer to be able to move the rig forward if needed).

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Have you played with your harness lines length? (having them longer to be able to move the rig forward if needed).

Actually harness line length is something I forgot to mention. I use 26-28" at the moment but felt like I needed 48"!

I did move them forward a bit but that didn't help...

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berowne said..

Have you played with your harness lines length? (having them longer to be able to move the rig forward if needed).

Actually harness line length is something I forgot to mention. I use 26-28" at the moment but felt like I needed 48"!

I did move them forward a bit but that didn't help...

Hi Berowne. I too use a foil but in light winds.the harness line length is whatever you feel comfortable with.l find being in a more upright stance is different from coming from slalom.once you have mastered your balance skill for that float your harness lines are only there for balance.to be honest l only engage the harness for comfort not control it's all done from the hips down.when you do start raiding in stronger winds then l think harness lines will play a major role in balance & board control .Enjoy your foiling Gav.

Sometimes we forget we are flying. And the foil is what we fly not the board.
maybe shifting a little focus to flying the foil on a straight and level path will help.

Got going reasonably well on port tack from Kanahooka. Plenty of splashes. Ended up on the wrong side of the lake, had to get back on my yet-to-be-sorted tack. But the foil dogs along OK if you're limping home with an exhausted brain. Just like any old board with a huge fin.

Got the NP Aluminium foil on an old Isonic 122, 75 wide. Used a 6.5 Severne turbo. All settings in the middle. Put Selleys Kneadit in the top of the fin box for packing. Just front and rear of the box, not too much. Screwed it up with a bit of glad wrap to stop it sticking to the head. Kept winding the bolts on and off with an electric drill until the Kneadit went off. We'll see how it lasts?

The NP foil whistles nicely when you get it going. A real crowd pleaser. CJW took it for a spin and could be heard almost a kilometre away!

It seems to be addictive. 4 out yesterday arvo in a light noreaster. The better ones zooming around at ridiculous angles, (albeit crashing in on most gybes ) Got home to see it had filled in on the coast after all. But wasn't too concerned!

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SPEEDTRACK said..

seanhogan said..
as for keeping the nose down, put your mast base further up front. works for me

Is JP Australia's hydrofoil better than FRPgear.com's fin-foil?

Two totally different beasties.

The fin will give you a bit of lift to get planing a little earlier.

A Hydrofoil gets the whole board of the water and in theory keeps it there.

Got the JP foil and loving it

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seanhogan said..
as for keeping the nose down, put your mast base further up front. works for me

Mast base forward. Take the back footstraps off, gives you better control above the foil. Small moves on the board, big reaction with the foil. I also find controlling height is aided by using the mast - mast forward, nose down, mask back, nose up.

I have really shortened my harness lines and moved them forward a bit. I find it easier to hook in this way. The stance is more upright than normal sailing.