A quick review from a real beginner of the Slingshot e series 990 1800 cm2.
me 85 kg and less than 10 good sessions on a foil, but 30+ years of windsurfing.

the pfi 730 was not the beginner foil I expected it would be, needs quit a bit of speed and sail to get going and than accellerates fast also very sensitive to the position of your feet.


Now the E Series 990, a real beginner foil, super easy.
On yesterdays session with about 10 kts of wind, Fanatic Stingray 125 ltrs, 6 and 7 m2 sail.
Easy to get onto the foil with minimal pumping, very stable in pitch and feeling in complete control with boardspeeds from 9 to about 16 kts

After only one sessionon the 990 I know that foiling will be fun.

That's great you found a nice stable wing to learn on. Hang on to the 730. It's a brilliant wing IMO. I wish I had had the G800 to learn jibing. The wide span makes it very stable rail to rail, whereas the 730 can dart around and spin on a dime (which is awesome) yet still have a huge speed range.

Indeed I will keep the 730, the learning curve on an easy foil is just so much steeper

Thank you for your feedback, I have the PFI 730 and the new Slingshot V4 130 L board. At 85 kg I also struggle a bit with getting the PFI 730 going in 6-8 m/s wind. The 103 cm wide mast is placed about 4 cm from the rear of the board and the UJ about 5 cm from the rear of the mast track. I use a Goya banzai 5.3 sail at these wind speeds and I`m just about up on the foil. I have larger sails, but find them to big and heavy to use.

Will a Slingshot chim set help me get more lift at these wind speeds or will I be better of with the new Slingshot e series 990 1800 cm2?

Select to expand quote

norwegianblue said..
Thank you for your feedback, I have the PFI 730 and the new Slingshot V4 130 L board. At 85 kg I also struggle a bit with getting the PFI 730 going in 6-8 m/s wind. The 103 cm wide mast is placed about 4 cm from the rear of the board and the UJ about 5 cm from the rear of the mast track. I use a Goya banzai 5.3 sail at these wind speeds and I`m just about up on the foil. I have larger sails, but find them to big and heavy to use.

Will a Slingshot chim set help me get more lift at these wind speeds or will I be better of with the new Slingshot e series 990 1800 cm2?

For reference,
I'm 63-64 kg on a SS114. My largest sail is a 5.3 goya fringe wave sail. It takes about 6-7 m/s to get flying. I know what you mean about weight, but that's just what it takes me in those low winds. I would "think" you could use a much bigger sail on the 130 without sinking the board up hauling. The goya's can generate a lot of low end power if you use half the recommended down haul. I tune it by setting the lower batten
Overlapping just at the front edge of the mast. I leave it there and use outhual to depower if I need to. The larger the sail, the more floppy it is when pumping, so it takes getting used to. I would say there are much lighter sails than the goya though. I speculate they are built for abuse crashing into sand bars, wave sailing etc. I have sailworks flyers with CAMs that feel a lot lighter, and I preferred them when I was learning. They are not floppy, as the cams keep everything very stable.
I understand the new North sails are very light, but I've only owned goya and sailworks. As I've gotten better, I prefer the goya and pretty much stopped using the flyer. But I also primarily go out when the winds are above 9-10 m/s on the 3.7 goya. Tiny sails and high winds is just a blast.

This is just my experience, so no expert here .

Select to expand quote

norwegianblue said..
Thank you for your feedback, I have the PFI 730 and the new Slingshot V4 130 L board. At 85 kg I also struggle a bit with getting the PFI 730 going in 6-8 m/s wind. The 103 cm wide mast is placed about 4 cm from the rear of the board and the UJ about 5 cm from the rear of the mast track. I use a Goya banzai 5.3 sail at these wind speeds and I`m just about up on the foil. I have larger sails, but find them to big and heavy to use.

Will a Slingshot chim set help me get more lift at these wind speeds or will I be better of with the new Slingshot e series 990 1800 cm2?

I think that as your skill level increases you will want more performance than the E series you might look at Something like the G 1000 or 900 I find that the span of a foil helps more with low end lift than just adding more sq .cm. Also there are still some PTM 926 front wings on sale as it was replaced by the G series.I don't shim any of the slingshot foils some people do also I would push my mast forward in the track to make it not so back footed on the take off.

Select to expand quote

norwegianblue said..
Thank you for your feedback, I have the PFI 730 and the new Slingshot V4 130 L board. At 85 kg I also struggle a bit with getting the PFI 730 going in 6-8 m/s wind. The 103 cm wide mast is placed about 4 cm from the rear of the board and the UJ about 5 cm from the rear of the mast track. I use a Goya banzai 5.3 sail at these wind speeds and I`m just about up on the foil. I have larger sails, but find them to big and heavy to use.

Will a Slingshot chim set help me get more lift at these wind speeds or will I be better of with the new Slingshot e series 990 1800 cm2?

I do not know if it is better for you to get the e series 990.
In my brief experience with both i can say that the e series 990 will start flying with a lower board speed than the PFI 730, and the glide is much better.

Thank you all for your kind replies.

Could "WsurfAustin" please elaborate on the rigging of the Goya sails?
"The goya's can generate a lot of low end power if you use half the recommended down haul. Overlapping just at the front edge of the mast. I leave it there and use outhual to depower if I need to. The larger the sail, the more floppy it is when pumping, so it takes getting used to".

Also what do you mean by?: "I tune it by setting the lower batten

Do you have some pictures of the rigged sail that shows how much downhaul and outhaul?

I have now ordered the new Slingshot e series 990 1800 cm2.

Select to expand quote

norwegianblue said..
Thank you all for your kind replies.

Could "WsurfAustin" please elaborate on the rigging of the Goya sails?
"The goya's can generate a lot of low end power if you use half the recommended down haul. Overlapping just at the front edge of the mast. I leave it there and use outhual to depower if I need to. The larger the sail, the more floppy it is when pumping, so it takes getting used to".

Also what do you mean by?: "I tune it by setting the lower batten

Do you have some pictures of the rigged sail that shows how much downhaul and outhaul?

I have now ordered the new Slingshot e series 990 1800 cm2.

I'll try.and get some pics. The more you downhaul the sail, the more the mast bends. The luff curve in the sails moves the battens back away from the mast. The top of the leach will also get loose for more twist at the top of the sail. Goya sails have a "dot" indicator. You would normally down haul till the crease in the sail touched the dot. At that point, the lower batten will clear the mast when tacking back and forth.

For foiling, I use less down haul. The top of the leach is tighter. The luff of the sail gets very deep. The lower batten will overlap the mast. In lighter wind you need to pull/pump the sail to rotate the batten aroumd the mast similar to a cambered sail. When you start pumping, the deep luff puts a lot of power in the front of the sail when it is loaded, either from wind, or pumping action. Since there are no cambers, pumping is very
"springy" and the sail loads up quickly. So much so, I really have to lean back to keep the nose from driving down under the water. Like I said it takes technique and getting used to the dynamics, but it can get you up off the water pretty quickly.

Emily Ridgeway described it as a small "ball of power" when rigged baggy.
?feature=shared

Thanks again, I have seen this video with Greg Glazier and Emily Ridgway many times now. I have also tried less downhaul as you describe it were I have to pull/pump the sail to rotate around the mast, with less outhaul as well.

I`m just very curious abot how little downhall and outhall you use in practice?
(I have also bought a Unifiber V-grip alu boom (140-190) with a wide tail to be able to use less outhall:
www.unifiber.net/windsurf-gear/booms/aluminium-hd-v-grip-inside-wide-tail-50-5cd5a47497b7a3ed5768de98

Do you have any video that shows your pumping technique with this sail configuration?

Thanks again for taking the time to answer all my question.
(Here on the west coat of Norway I have yet to meet anyone that does`nt rig the sail to factory specs).

Select to expand quote

norwegianblue said..
Thanks again, I have seen this video with Greg Glazier and Emily Ridgway many times now. I have also tried less downhaul as you describe it were I have to pull/pump the sail to rotate around the mast, with less outhaul as well.

I`m just very curious abot how little downhall and outhall you use in practice?
(I have also bought a Unifiber V-grip alu boom (140-190) with a wide tail to be able to use less outhall:
www.unifiber.net/windsurf-gear/booms/aluminium-hd-v-grip-inside-wide-tail-50-5cd5a47497b7a3ed5768de98

Do you have any video that shows your pumping technique with this sail configuration?

Thanks again for taking the time to answer all my question.
(Here on the west coat of Norway I have yet to meet anyone that does`nt rig the sail to factory specs).

I'll dig up some video when I can. In the end, it just takes a lot of practice. In marginal conditions, I move my rear foot forward to avoid dragging the tail and slowing me down while pumping. In those conditions it's all about board speed turn down wind on the face of a wave to help, then stomp on the rear of the board to get it to pop up. In strong winds I can launch with one or even no pumping. Lean back and the angle of attack to the wing combined with massive sail pressure will pop me up with little effort. But I'm also more likely to be a bit over powered in those conditions .