Starting to feel comfortable setting sail, mast base, foil rake angle and stabilizer angle up for wind and wave conditions. So yesterday started out with 10-17 knot gusts with most of the gust at 14-15 and setup was fine with a 7.2 Aerotech Freespeed sail, then the gust average dropped to 12-13 (but still 10-17 overall) and it got harder to get up and stay up. Did not want to put on an 8.0 sail because of the gust top end, so decided to add one stabilizer shim (0.5 mm) to my AFS Wind95 foil (do not know the affect on AoA), and then I got up easily. In the past I would have adjusted the sail outhaul or switched to a bigger sail, but this way the sail behaved the same in the top end of the gusts and still got me up with less of the top end wind, all without having to pump.

This is good feedback! What foil set do you have?

ASF Wind95 (95 cm mast/88 cm fuselage T-bar), F1080 wing (old name was F800), and 320 stabilizer (old name was V2, I think). They also have a new design mast/fuselage T-bar that has a 94.5 cm long fuselage for 95/105 cm masts and is compatible with older wings. They also have a lot of new wings.

shop.foilandco.com/en/product/afs-windfoil-complete-foil/

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Sandman1221 said..
ASF Wind95 (95 cm mast/88 cm fuselage T-bar), F1080 wing (old name was F800), and 320 stabilizer (old name was V2, I think). They also have a new design mast/fuselage T-bar that has a 94.5 cm long fuselage for 95/105 cm masts and is compatible with older wings. They also have a lot of new wings.

shop.foilandco.com/en/product/afs-windfoil-complete-foil/

What is cool is they have a 3D view for the foils, and after you select the mast and wings you see the actual mast/wings in the 3D view. Looks like the freeride F series wings are only available on the 85 cm mast/88 cm fuselage, the 95/105 masts get the longer 94.5 fuselage and some very aerodynamic looking race and slalom wings.

The other day the gust max was 20 knots, so I went with my 5.8 aerotech freespeed, but then the gust max dropped to 17 and it was hard to get up, so I put in one stab shim and then I got up easy. Did not want to rig a bigger sail.

Hey Sand, keep telling us about your AFS gear. I have the AFS-2 with both F700 and F800 wings. The problem with the AFS-2 is that the mast to fuse is one piece monocoque, so it is difficult to travel with it. A great big T. The good news about that is that it is, by far, the stiffest foil I have ever used.

Hey Sandman,
great to hear of your esxperiences with the AFS foils.
I've got the AFS 85 with the 700 wing and am currently waiting for my big (800 or now 1080) wing to arrive.
The 700 works nicely, but lacks low end for my 85 kilos and I feel that learning to jibe is not made easier by its relatively high stall speed.
Have you got pics of the shims?
I've heard of them, but haven't got the chance to see what they look like yet.

Cheers, Sven

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ZeeGerman said..
Hey Sandman,
great to hear of your esxperiences with the AFS foils.
I've got the AFS 85 with the 700 wing and am currently waiting for my big (800 or now 1080) wing to arrive.
The 700 works nicely, but lacks low end for my 85 kilos and I feel that learning to jibe is not made easier by its relatively high stall speed.
Have you got pics of the shims?
I've heard of them, but haven't got the chance to see what they look like yet.

Cheers, Sven

If a picture is worth a thousand words... BTW, you'll dig your new wing. If it had been the default wing with the 85, it would have been much more popular, imho.

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segler said..
Hey Sand, keep telling us about your AFS gear. I have the AFS-2 with both F700 and F800 wings. The problem with the AFS-2 is that the mast to fuse is one piece monocoque, so it is difficult to travel with it. A great big T. The good news about that is that it is, by far, the stiffest foil I have ever used.

yeah, my AFS Wind95 also has a fused mast/fuselage, but found I can get the assembled foil with wing/stab into my vehicles without a problem.

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ZeeGerman said..
Hey Sandman,
great to hear of your esxperiences with the AFS foils.
I've got the AFS 85 with the 700 wing and am currently waiting for my big (800 or now 1080) wing to arrive.
The 700 works nicely, but lacks low end for my 85 kilos and I feel that learning to jibe is not made easier by its relatively high stall speed.
Have you got pics of the shims?
I've heard of them, but haven't got the chance to see what they look like yet.

Cheers, Sven

You are going to love the F800 wing, I weigh 85 kilos too and it works for 8-22 knots, have not gone higher than 22 knots so far. Been doing kinda of a power jibe, just off the water, at the end of a flight when the gust is dropping off, get all the way around but end up on the water due lack of wind, will start trying in the middle of a flight! Here is a pic of the AFS shims "for the stabilizer", One up, the other down. They are 0.5 mm thick, so I am very careful with them. Do not see the need to shim the wing, as in the video, for my set up.

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Paducah said..

ZeeGerman said..
Hey Sandman,
great to hear of your esxperiences with the AFS foils.
I've got the AFS 85 with the 700 wing and am currently waiting for my big (800 or now 1080) wing to arrive.
The 700 works nicely, but lacks low end for my 85 kilos and I feel that learning to jibe is not made easier by its relatively high stall speed.
Have you got pics of the shims?
I've heard of them, but haven't got the chance to see what they look like yet.

Cheers, Sven

If a picture is worth a thousand words... BTW, you'll dig your new wing. If it had been the default wing with the 85, it would have been much more popular, imho.

yeah, I knew I would need the F800 wing and fortunately Andy at Wind-NC.com was able to get it for me as the stock wing. Did not want to pay another $500 on top of a foil with the F700 wing that I did not think I would use. Now the 2018 F800 wing was listed as 1120 cm2, but the 2020 wing is listed as 1080 cm2, not sure if they changed the wing size or just updated the size with a more accurate number.

Thanks mates,
now you've got me totally hooked. I just need the wing and 8 knots or more.
These shims look interesting. Maybe I should order them. In the mean time I might fumble some flimsy equivalent together from what materials I find lying around.

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ZeeGerman said..
Thanks mates,
now you've got me totally hooked. I just need the wing and 8 knots or more.
These shims look interesting. Maybe I should order them. In the mean time I might fumble some flimsy equivalent together from what materials I find lying around.

just do not use aluminum flashing, it will corrode and actually get thicker! If you have a caliper try measuring plastic from food packages, want 0.5 mm for a 10-15 knot shim, and 1 mm for 10 or less.

These spreaders work well cut to fit as a shim, also for fiberglass repairs.
www.amazon.com/3M-357-Bondo-Spreader-Pack/dp/B000BOC9K4

I agree about the F800 wing. It turned my AFS-2 from a handful into a foil that simply came up into flight and kept going with no drama. Total game changer.

Shims. Sailworks has a pdf file that shows how to make a shim from a plastic soda bottle. I have made several. They work fine, but I can't tell that I need them.

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phoilingphil said..
These spreaders work well cut to fit as a shim, also for fiberglass repairs.
www.amazon.com/3M-357-Bondo-Spreader-Pack/dp/B000BOC9K4

Since I've held these extensively in the last few months, I suspect some might find these too thick. Something on the order of a mm is enough to change the stab angle almost a degree on my foil. Segler's milk bottle tip sounds good. Comcast Infinity (USA) keeps sending me plastic adverts in the mail. I bought some 0.5mm cf sheet (I double it) that I've used - it's good because it's very uniform in thickness.

I must say thanks since Amazon had a stupid price and I ordered two with free Prime Delivery.

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Paducah said..

phoilingphil said..
These spreaders work well cut to fit as a shim, also for fiberglass repairs.
www.amazon.com/3M-357-Bondo-Spreader-Pack/dp/B000BOC9K4

Since I've held these extensively in the last few months, I suspect some might find these too thick. Something on the order of a mm is enough to change the stab angle almost a degree on my foil. Segler's milk bottle tip sounds good. Comcast Infinity (USA) keeps sending me plastic adverts in the mail. I bought some 0.5mm cf sheet (I double it) that I've used - it's good because it's very uniform in thickness.

I must say thanks since Amazon had a stupid price and I ordered two with free Prime Delivery.

can you post the Amazon link for the 0.5 mm cf?, okay found it for $20!

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Sandman1221 said..

ZeeGerman said..
Hey Sandman,
great to hear of your esxperiences with the AFS foils.
I've got the AFS 85 with the 700 wing and am currently waiting for my big (800 or now 1080) wing to arrive.
The 700 works nicely, but lacks low end for my 85 kilos and I feel that learning to jibe is not made easier by its relatively high stall speed.
Have you got pics of the shims?
I've heard of them, but haven't got the chance to see what they look like yet.

Cheers, Sven

You are going to love the F800 wing, I weigh 85 kilos too and it works for 8-22 knots, have not gone higher than 22 knots so far. Been doing kinda of a power jibe, just off the water, at the end of a flight when the gust is dropping off, get all the way around but end up on the water due lack of wind, will start trying in the middle of a flight! Here is a pic of the AFS shims "for the stabilizer", One up, the other down. They are 0.5 mm thick, so I am very careful with them. Do not see the need to shim the wing, as in the video, for my set up.

What I like about the AFS shims is they fill in the gap between the wing and stab (they are curved, see shadow in pic), with just a washer the gap between the wing and stab got filled with sand and muck.

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Sandman1221 said..

Paducah said..

phoilingphil said..
These spreaders work well cut to fit as a shim, also for fiberglass repairs.
www.amazon.com/3M-357-Bondo-Spreader-Pack/dp/B000BOC9K4

Since I've held these extensively in the last few months, I suspect some might find these too thick. Something on the order of a mm is enough to change the stab angle almost a degree on my foil. Segler's milk bottle tip sounds good. Comcast Infinity (USA) keeps sending me plastic adverts in the mail. I bought some 0.5mm cf sheet (I double it) that I've used - it's good because it's very uniform in thickness.

I must say thanks since Amazon had a stupid price and I ordered two with free Prime Delivery.

can you post the Amazon link for the 0.5 mm cf?, okay found it for $20!

A lot of times, things like that are cheaper on ebay. Always worth checking.

www.ebay.com/itm/300x200x0-5mm-Unidirectional-Carbon-Fiber-Panel-Sheet-Gloss-Finish/283831549466

I have tried an old xray film, easy to cut to shape