Hello,
I want to know your opinion of windfoiling in lightwind with small sails and big front wings.
I am a quite heavy rider with 90 kg, and I would like to start with freeride windfoiling. My target is to be able to fly with 8-10 knots.
I am waiting for a F4 freeride foil, that I will start using with a fanatic blast 145 and sails of 5.7-6.5. Later I will buy a dedicated foil board.
Do you think I will be able to fly in 8-10 knots?
Any experience with F4 freeride foil?
Any experience with freeride foil and big sails in ultra lightwind (6 knots)? Why only use big front wings with small sails?
Thanks to all!

It depends a lot on your technique and level of fitness I think. If you're really athletic and know how to pump then 10mph maybe but 12-13 will be a lot easier, especially to start with. You may be able to stay flying in 8, especially if there's a little swell to boost off of, but I doubt you'll be able to pump up in such light air. 12 is about twice as much power as 8.

It's perfectly possible to use huge sails with big low aspect wings - I've foiled a 10.0 on my i84 - but it's awkward and there are diminishing returns. A 6.5 seems like a good "big" sail to start with by the way. At 100kg my favorite is a 7.0.

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Xtmas said..
Hello,
I want to know your opinion of windfoiling in lightwind with small sails and big front wings.
I am a quite heavy rider with 90 kg, and I would like to start with freeride windfoiling. My target is to be able to fly with 8-10 knots.
I am waiting for a F4 freeride foil, that I will start using with a fanatic blast 145 and sails of 5.7-6.5. Later I will buy a dedicated foil board.
Do you think I will be able to fly in 8-10 knots?
Any experience with F4 freeride foil?
Any experience with freeride foil and big sails in ultra lightwind (6 knots)? Why only use big front wings with small sails?
Thanks to all!

I weigh 90 kg. With a sail of 9.4-9.6, I take off with a wind of 8 knots with a 900 wing(horue h10 or horue xlw). the stabilizer must be put down. takeoff is influenced by wingspan, wing thickness and aspect ratio. It is better to ask the manufacturer under what wind and with what sail it takes off.

I was similar weight to you but lost a few kg, also have the Blast 145 but on Slingshot gear and either i76 or i99. Looks like that foil has similar area to the i76.

I have gotten the board up on i76 with a 6.6 with some pumping, but getting down to the 8-10kt range required a big sail (8.0) and big wing (i99) for my level of skill (novice foiler).

I've sailed an IQFoil a bit, which is quite a bit different, but it gave me some perspective.

If you sail in FLAT water, you should be able to pump the Blast. My biggest issue has been dealing with chop, especially disorganized 1-2ft or larger swells and trying to pump in that, getting hit by rogue 3ft swells and just wrecking my pumping and falling in. The Blast doesn't have a lot of volume on the rails like a foil board will, especially at the rear strap. You will have to be very delicate with getting board speed up before getting in the front strap.

The IQFoil in comparison (like a lot of dedicated foil boards) has a lot of rail volume and wider tail. After pumping on the Blast, it made that foil board WAYYYY easier to pump in comparison, in similar choppy conditions. So, giving it a go with the Blast will definitely build up your skills and you will appreciate a dedicated board when you get it. Great skill making board.

Just be careful to set your expectations properly because I frustrated myself with lots of time with a foil attached, getting nowhere, trying to pump in low winds because I didn't know any better and I just didn't know how to pump well. You've got to feel that back foot pressure against the foil during the pumps, but you need board speed FIRST before you can get your rear foot back far enough on the Blast. Otherwise, you sink the tail and likely fall in. Been there, done that, many many times.

I used to use my Aerotech Freespeed 9.0 for 8-10 knots, with a AFS Wind95 foil and F1080 wing on a Goya Bolt 135 slalom board, had to step forward of the front foot strap to keep tail from sinking until foil started to lift and then stepped back into front foot strap. As I got better found my FS 8.0 worked fine in 8-10, now looking at trying the retired FS 9.0 in 6-8 knots, will see. The kite foilers get out in that but they are lighter (<72 kg) than me at +86 kg, and they are getting stronger winds with their 90' long kite lines.

But to answer your question, big wings have more drag and that limits their wind minimum, Moses W1100 is huge, at 2100 cm2 almost twice the size of my AFS F1080, and was told by an expert that the W1100 needs at least 8 knots of "board speed" to lift off. Well I can get my AFS F1080 up in 8 knots of "wind speed" with little or no pumping.

In addition to them beeing too slow to build up appearant wind and therefore too slow to build up sail power in very light wind (as sandman is saying), big low aspect wings are often also less stable in roll stability. A big / heavy sail overpowers it in the turn, making jibing very hard to do.

My experience is super light wind remains the realm of high aspect racing foils.

Low aspect foil are most fun in 12+ knots with a 6.0 or smaller in my experience. (The most fun wind to take the foil out anyway imho)

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Xtmas said..
Hello,
I want to know your opinion of windfoiling in lightwind with small sails and big front wings.
I am a quite heavy rider with 90 kg, and I would like to start with freeride windfoiling. My target is to be able to fly with 8-10 knots.
I am waiting for a F4 freeride foil, that I will start using with a fanatic blast 145 and sails of 5.7-6.5. Later I will buy a dedicated foil board.
Do you think I will be able to fly in 8-10 knots?
Any experience with F4 freeride foil?
Any experience with freeride foil and big sails in ultra lightwind (6 knots)? Why only use big front wings with small sails?
Thanks to all!

For your board you choose the right foil from F4, except I would have changed the 1400 to 1720 (they will do it). What country are you in? That said, you need more than 6 knots and closer to 12 knots. In ultra light winds and if you had a wide formula/racing board, you should have gotten the light wind race setup (945/115/230) from F4. Ultra light wind setup comes at a price.

I will have to change my mind and start thinking about freerace foil.
I know people flying in 8 knots with a NP glyde, but their weight is less than 75 kg...

Nobody starts flying in 8 knots. Gusts of 11-13 is needed, then pumping thru 8 knot lulls.
Amended. Race foilers with 10 meter sails easily pump up onto foil in 9 knots breeze.

I was 90g at the time of making this video (more like 92kg with wetsuit and harness), my biggest sail I use is 5.8 (and continue to use) with the infinity 99 wing.

Low aspect wings are so much easier to foil in lightwinds if you are just free-foiling, not much video evidence of guys using small sails and small HA wings out there, weird?

Low aspect will keep chugging you through a lull much longer with a small sail than high aspect with the right set up.

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LeeD said..
Nobody starts flying in 8 knots. Gusts of 11-13 is needed, then pumping thru 8 knot lulls.
Amended. Race foilers with 10 meter sails easily pump up onto foil in 9 knots breeze.

Only true for a given value of "nobody". I was on the water two weeks ago and Farrah Hall was sailing nearby on a stock IQFoil with the 9.0 sail. She was pumping up in 6-7mph wind at most - I mean there was nothing moving except her. Later the wind picked up to 12-14 and I was able to foil on my i84 and she was quite literally sailing rings around me. I think she blew two jibes in three hours. For normal humans, though, you're quite right I think - 10mph wind and find a piece of chop or a gust.

This was the very first day on the i99 wing, the older style Wizard only had tuttle box which limits how much adjustment you can make but as you will see, with some pumping technique and a odd puff you can get flying.

Practicing light wind technique and using a low aspect wing is rewarding. My go to wings were always the SS i99 and i84, I now use the i76 and 4.5 sail in 12-16 mph with ease and its all down to TOW and practicing with small sails and big front wings, once you learn how to time foot pressure and when to pump it really pushes you to the next level.

I never thought at my weight that I would be foiling with such small sails, its incredible.

I'm sure there is some 50 kg person who can pump a hi aspect foil up in 7 knots steady breeze.
Should we [I'm 73 kg, 72 years old] expect to do the same?

Past 3 days.
At 73 kg, wind 6-21, 600 foil and 4.2 sail with full downhaul.
Sucks in -10, a bit OP in +18.
Perfect in steady 15, but 6-21 is what we get for light wind.

Select to expand quote

Xtmas said..
Hello,
I want to know your opinion of windfoiling in lightwind with small sails and big front wings.
I am a quite heavy rider with 90 kg, and I would like to start with freeride windfoiling. My target is to be able to fly with 8-10 knots.
I am waiting for a F4 freeride foil, that I will start using with a fanatic blast 145 and sails of 5.7-6.5. Later I will buy a dedicated foil board.
Do you think I will be able to fly in 8-10 knots?
Any experience with F4 freeride foil?
Any experience with freeride foil and big sails in ultra lightwind (6 knots)? Why only use big front wings with small sails?
Thanks to all!

I am your size and took delivery of F4 Freeride Carbon a few weeks ago and have been v satisfied with its performance. I was on alum SS w/ i76 last season and credit that foil for easy learning and great all around for the $.

F4 Carbon is big step up in mast stiffness so smoother, more responsive predictable ride. Wing is a tad smaller, but seems a bit faster, but overall v similar to i76 and great platform to learn.

I need a 7.0 to fly in 10 knots with athletic pumping and maybe a gust to 12 knots. It's really hard to tell actual windspeed on the water, but 7.0 seems good for 10-15 knots for me on the i76/F4.

F4 has a 1720 wing I want to get for those light days. Should make takeoff in 10 knots less effort