So I am no expert, but certainly getting more experienced, so thought I would share a technique for getting up on the foil in 6-9 knots when the gust just ripples the water. Foil AFS W95 with F800/1080 wing, board Goya Bolt 135 2019 model, sail Aerotech Freespeed 8.0 (no cambers), me 86 kg/190 lb. Now normally in 8-11 knots I, 1) step forward of the front foot strap to level out the board so the tail does not sink, 2) sheet in to power up, and at first the board nose starts to rise and the midsection of the board starts to push water, 3) next with or without 1-2 sail pumps the board starts to plane on the surface of the water and then I move my front foot back into the foot strap and press the tail of the board with my rear foot to lift off and foil, but that takes 8-11 knots. What I discovered yesterday in 6-9 knots where I got stuck at step 2 is that if I step back into the front foot strap and press on the tail at step 2 when the nose is up but the board is still pushing water and not planing, I can get up on the foil and stay up even after the gust passes. Always thought I needed to be planing first before getting up in light winds, but not the case!

I have had that board and foil. I am 95 kg and found the goya bolt dragged its tail a bit as I moved back, it is quite a narrow tail. I found the back straps a bit irritating as I could not get my back foot far back without standing on the straps.

With the F800 wing I always think of the front foil bolt as the "fly button" and that the f800 responds best to equal board and sail pumping. Where as the r810 wing responds best to mainly sail pumping.

As you pump the board you can feel if the foil has enough speed. If you have enough flow over the wings you will feel resistance as you bounce the board, it feels solid whereas if you don't have enough flow over the wing it feels squishy and the more you pump the deeper you push the tail.

It sounds like you are adapting to your board well. With a wider tailed board you would be able to get in the front straps right from the start.

Good stuff

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Sailrepair said..
I have had that board and foil. I am 95 kg and found the goya bolt dragged its tail a bit as I moved back, it is quite a narrow tail. I found the back straps a bit irritating as I could not get my back foot far back without standing on the straps.

With the F800 wing I always think of the front foil bolt as the "fly button" and that the f800 responds best to equal board and sail pumping. Where as the r810 wing responds best to mainly sail pumping.

As you pump the board you can feel if the foil has enough speed. If you have enough flow over the wings you will feel resistance as you bounce the board, it feels solid whereas if you don't have enough flow over the wing it feels squishy and the more you pump the deeper you push the tail.

It sounds like you are adapting to your board well. With a wider tailed board you would be able to get in the front straps right from the start.

Good stuff

thanks for commenting, especially since you had the same combo, and yeah, I removed the rear straps, but maybe the extra weight makes a difference because I never pump the foil, and only rarely pump the sail 1-2x and those are short rapid pumps. The bolt's narrow tail does not float well for a foil, but I have not seen a board that is as long as the bolt with a wide thick foil style tail, and it is only in super light to light winds the narrow tail is noticeable, once it is 12 knots and up the board comes up easy for me with front foot in the strap.

The person who bought my goya bolt is about 80kg and he uses the back straps all the time, he even gets in the back strap before he is up on the foil.

I bounce the foil a bit to lift the board quicker but maybe I wouldn't if I was 10kg lighter. When I say I pump the rig it is small high frequency hooked in pumps. I see lots of people doing huge lunging pumps that spoil any airflow they had across their sail.

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Sailrepair said..
The person who bought my goya bolt is about 80kg and he uses the back straps all the time, he even gets in the back strap before he is up on the foil.

I bounce the foil a bit to lift the board quicker but maybe I wouldn't if I was 10kg lighter. When I say I pump the rig it is small high frequency hooked in pumps. I see lots of people doing huge lunging pumps that spoil any airflow they had across their sail.

yeah, those are the kind of pumps I do too, unless the wind has died and I want to get back to shore, then I do bigger arc slower pumps.

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Sandman1221 said..

Sailrepair said..
The person who bought my goya bolt is about 80kg and he uses the back straps all the time, he even gets in the back strap before he is up on the foil.

I bounce the foil a bit to lift the board quicker but maybe I wouldn't if I was 10kg lighter. When I say I pump the rig it is small high frequency hooked in pumps. I see lots of people doing huge lunging pumps that spoil any airflow they had across their sail.

yeah, those are the kind of pumps I do too, unless the wind has died and I want to get back to shore, then I do bigger arc slower pumps.

Why aren't you using a dedicated foil board?

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Faff said..

Sandman1221 said..

Sailrepair said..
The person who bought my goya bolt is about 80kg and he uses the back straps all the time, he even gets in the back strap before he is up on the foil.

I bounce the foil a bit to lift the board quicker but maybe I wouldn't if I was 10kg lighter. When I say I pump the rig it is small high frequency hooked in pumps. I see lots of people doing huge lunging pumps that spoil any airflow they had across their sail.

yeah, those are the kind of pumps I do too, unless the wind has died and I want to get back to shore, then I do bigger arc slower pumps.

Why aren't you using a dedicated foil board?

because I demoed some, one was just too wide SB Foil 147 to handle easy out of the water, the other a Falcon was too short and nose went under water easily. Also, I was comfortable on a MagicRide 142 windsurfing so wanted a board similar in size, the Goya Bolt fit. Now I do not see the need for a foil specific board, a short board would be difficult getting up in waves and swell in light winds, and the length of the Bolt allows me to drop into waves and surf them very fast, the length has also saved me from many near crashes, it is a stable platform when on the water, light, and fairly narrow so easy to handle out of the water.

Sandman,

I have Slingshot foils, all with Exocet RF91 board: i99 and i84 will foil before planing. Not sure on Gamma 68 as hardly use it, except in very strong winds, think it planes about the same time as foil lifts. I first had a NP pinkie, which was the other way, planes before foiling.I

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oscardog said..
Sandman,

I have Slingshot foils, all with Exocet RF91 board: i99 and i84 will foil before planing. Not sure on Gamma 68 as hardly use it, except in very strong winds, think it planes about the same time as foil lifts. I first had a NP pinkie, which was the other way, planes before foiling.I

Interesting, thanks for that info. Oscardog. this is my first foil, never got lessons, just knew if I was planing I could get up on the foil. Think when the board nose is up and the mid section is pushing water, and I step back the foil uses the water/wave under the board as a ramp to lift off of. Actually thought I was going to have to use my 9.0 again for light winds, but 8.0 is enough so maybe the weight savings (lighter sail, boom, and mast) offsets the advantages of the bigger 9.0 sail with heavier rig.

Oscardog mentioned "planes before foiling." I actually prefer that over foiling before planing. The reason is that I prefer to get some reasonable board speed so that when I lift it into the air with the back foot, I am foiling at a speed that is well above the stall speed of the foil. By then everything is under control. Foil away and enjoy the blur.

Stalling a foil is not much fun, and can be a bit dangerous (crashing forward).

If all it takes are little high frequency pumps then it's not really light wind foiling, nothing wrong with that it's just that you're nowhere near close to your equipment's capabilities.

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Grantmac said..
If all it takes are little high frequency pumps then it's not really light wind foiling, nothing wrong with that it's just that you're nowhere near close to your equipment's capabilities.

No pumping required usually, that is with wind just rippling the water, would like to get up in 6-7 knots, but just does not seem possible!, though I was always waiting to start planing first, will now always try when the board lifts the nose and starts to push water. Of course, in the past I used my 9.0 for super light winds, and that probably did not help due to the extra weight of the rig.

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segler said..
Oscardog mentioned "planes before foiling." I actually prefer that over foiling before planing. The reason is that I prefer to get some reasonable board speed so that when I lift it into the air with the back foot, I am foiling at a speed that is well above the stall speed of the foil. By then everything is under control. Foil away and enjoy the blur.

Stalling a foil is not much fun, and can be a bit dangerous (crashing forward).

For the bigger foils that can foil before planing, with a bit of front foot pressure, they can also be made to plane before foiling. However in marginal light winds, it's more fun to be foiling than struggling to get planing. A few sail pumps, then bounce the board to pump the foil..

Sometimes, as Segler says, can get stuck at stall speed with no wind, however with my big foils, the board tends to float down rather than crash down.

BTW, yesterday hit a large fish, at full speed, that was a crash down!

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oscardog said..

segler said..
Oscardog mentioned "planes before foiling." I actually prefer that over foiling before planing. The reason is that I prefer to get some reasonable board speed so that when I lift it into the air with the back foot, I am foiling at a speed that is well above the stall speed of the foil. By then everything is under control. Foil away and enjoy the blur.

Stalling a foil is not much fun, and can be a bit dangerous (crashing forward).

For the bigger foils that can foil before planing, with a bit of front foot pressure, they can also be made to plane before foiling. However in marginal light winds, it's more fun to be foiling than struggling to get planing. A few sail pumps, then bounce the board to pump the foil..

Sometimes, as Segler says, can get stuck at stall speed with no wind, however with my big foils, the board tends to float down rather than crash down.

BTW, yesterday hit a large fish, at full speed, that was a crash down!

Good information Oscardog! yeah, with my front foot in front of the foot strap I apply pressure to keep the slalom board level and tail from sinking, then when the nose rises and board mid section starts pushing a wave I use continued front foot pressure to force the board over the "wave" to make the board plane, but by stepping back before planing, but while board midsection is pushing a wave, board pops up and foils. looking forward to more super light wind days, think I may now be able to get up when the light weight kite foilers do.

Every foiler here at Berkeley has hit fish, plastic bags, neutral floating logs, and sunken telephone poles, besides Ashby reef and fishing lines.
We've had low tides whenever the wind blows.

Here's a good fish strike (Harbour porpoise)
8 seconds in

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Gwarn said..
Here's a good fish strike (Harbour porpoise)
8 seconds in

Oh no! I worry about this because there are lots of rays/dolphins and the stray manatee where I sail regularly. Sometimes, sharks in the gulf. Thankfully, no impacts yet and I hope the hum of my foil scares them off

I keep a loose floppy leash on my foil, to announce my presence and direction of travel.
So far, I have hit fewer life than anyone around per # of foiling days.
But, I also pay attention and mostly use 65-70 masts.

I also foil now before planing but as soon as I am up foiling, I open up the sail to prevent overshooting. I think this sudden correction is often necessary when too strong pump occurs to prevent breaching. Once I find my balance on the foil, I hook in the harness.

With my 600 foil, I plane well before foiling.
With the 1220, planing and foiling takes place around the same time.

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SA_AL said..
I also foil now before planing but as soon as I am up foiling, I open up the sail to prevent overshooting. I think this sudden correction is often necessary when too strong pump occurs to prevent breaching. Once I find my balance on the foil, I hook in the harness.

Thanks SA_AL, will keep in mind, honestly, I was just practicing my jibs that day and would have kept on doing that except someone pulled up on the shore to watch me and I wanted to show them what windfoiling really was!, so I stepped back before planning. Now in stronger winds I lift off without planing, but in light winds I always figured I needed to plane first. Now that was back when the rear wing on my foil was crooked/out of level with the front wing, so maybe now that it is perfectly aligned it helps to get up in super light winds without planing first?

My technique, at least with this IQ board now, is to force the board forward with front foot pressure as hard and as early as possible. This usually means that the first pump or two steers the board more downwind, and I start to feel acceleration.

Then, once I start feeling the acceleration, I can add more back foot pressure timed a little after the front foot acceleration. I tried many many times to focus more on the back foot, but it really seems to me that focusing on front foot drive at the beginning makes all of the difference. If I go hard on the back foot before the front foot pressure, the board steers into the wind and it kills speed.

Then, depending on the setup, I may keep pumping more. On the race foil, I definitely feel the difference of doing slight pumps once I get harnessed in and drive mostly back footed to go from lightly slapping the water to popping completely above it. It felt...different on the slingshot. One of these day I'll take out the blast with the i76 again and see how well I pump it now.

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aeroegnr said..
My technique, at least with this IQ board now, is to force the board forward with front foot pressure as hard and as early as possible. This usually means that the first pump or two steers the board more downwind, and I start to feel acceleration.

Then, once I start feeling the acceleration, I can add more back foot pressure timed a little after the front foot acceleration. I tried many many times to focus more on the back foot, but it really seems to me that focusing on front foot drive at the beginning makes all of the difference. If I go hard on the back foot before the front foot pressure, the board steers into the wind and it kills speed.

Then, depending on the setup, I may keep pumping more. On the race foil, I definitely feel the difference of doing slight pumps once I get harnessed in and drive mostly back footed to go from lightly slapping the water to popping completely above it. It felt...different on the slingshot. One of these day I'll take out the blast with the i76 again and see how well I pump it now.

thank aeroegnr, that is definitely light wind. Note, I typically do not pump, even in super light winds, when I did pump the sail it was to get the board over the wave that the mid section of the board was pushing when the nose came up, but now I step back when that happens and board pops up on the foil, felt like magic the first couple of times.

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aeroegnr said..
My technique, at least with this IQ board now, is to force the board forward with front foot pressure as hard and as early as possible. This usually means that the first pump or two steers the board more downwind, and I start to feel acceleration.

Then, once I start feeling the acceleration, I can add more back foot pressure timed a little after the front foot acceleration. I tried many many times to focus more on the back foot, but it really seems to me that focusing on front foot drive at the beginning makes all of the difference. If I go hard on the back foot before the front foot pressure, the board steers into the wind and it kills speed.

Then, depending on the setup, I may keep pumping more. On the race foil, I definitely feel the difference of doing slight pumps once I get harnessed in and drive mostly back footed to go from lightly slapping the water to popping completely above it. It felt...different on the slingshot. One of these day I'll take out the blast with the i76 again and see how well I pump it now.

How do you like the IQfoil compared to the Blast? Are you using the whole setup, or just the board/foil and whatever sails you already own?

I have a blast 115, Moses 790, 70kg. Last time I was out it was lighter winds inside and I had lots of problems getting on the foil while a few others did not. They had slightly bigger sails but were also heavier. Similar foils. But, they had foil boards with the wide tails. Aeroengr, I noticed in your videos that you have your mast base placed far back on the Blast. I was playing with this a bit on my Blast but maybe only 1cm back from center. Each little experiment takes a lot of time to figure out...

Maybe using a 2degree shim on the rear wing would also help.

Select to expand quote

shmish said..

aeroegnr said..
My technique, at least with this IQ board now, is to force the board forward with front foot pressure as hard and as early as possible. This usually means that the first pump or two steers the board more downwind, and I start to feel acceleration.

Then, once I start feeling the acceleration, I can add more back foot pressure timed a little after the front foot acceleration. I tried many many times to focus more on the back foot, but it really seems to me that focusing on front foot drive at the beginning makes all of the difference. If I go hard on the back foot before the front foot pressure, the board steers into the wind and it kills speed.

Then, depending on the setup, I may keep pumping more. On the race foil, I definitely feel the difference of doing slight pumps once I get harnessed in and drive mostly back footed to go from lightly slapping the water to popping completely above it. It felt...different on the slingshot. One of these day I'll take out the blast with the i76 again and see how well I pump it now.

How do you like the IQfoil compared to the Blast? Are you using the whole setup, or just the board/foil and whatever sails you already own?

I have a blast 115, Moses 790, 70kg. Last time I was out it was lighter winds inside and I had lots of problems getting on the foil while a few others did not. They had slightly bigger sails but were also heavier. Similar foils. But, they had foil boards with the wide tails. Aeroengr, I noticed in your videos that you have your mast base placed far back on the Blast. I was playing with this a bit on my Blast but maybe only 1cm back from center. Each little experiment takes a lot of time to figure out...

Maybe using a 2degree shim on the rear wing would also help.

So my Blast is quite a bit bigger at 145L. I've got the whole IQfoil setup, sail/board/foil.

The shims supplies are +1 to -2 (+1 is more power -2 is least power) with 115+ and 95+ fuselage. So far I've only used the 115+.

I *really* like the IQ. I'll probably write a full review later but it's way easier to shlog in swell in the Blast. The only thing I don't like is the intimidation factor of being powered up on a foil with the 9.0 in gusts but I'm learning to manage that, rigging a 4 cam sail (getting better/faster at it though), and uphauling it when the leech fills with water (only sometimes).

It's actually pretty easy to ride at the low end of performance compared to the Blast. It definitely rewards a more active/pumping style of foil riding than the Blast. Way easier to pump, doesn't catch chop and swell like the i99 or i76.

What's amazing is how the board shape has made so many overfoils completely survivable and recoverable and getting back on the foil almost immediately. What would've catapulted me on the Blast is totally rideable on the IQFoil most of the time. I had a few bad catapults at first but I'm improving. Even had an overfoil at my current max of 25mph but I recovered it after the drop and kept riding.

Quick edit:
The mast position on the Blast varies a lot. Position B with i76 I had to move the mast foot to the center in high winds (and should have gone more into the wind or downwind to deal with the sail pressure). I'm learning to be way more active with my back foot on the IQ in order to maintain control/direction/board angle. If your mast is back and you get a gust you need to get your back foot forward immediately and steer up or down wind.

Here's an example of getting out of control when pointing across a reach and going more upwind around 1:18

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aeroegnr said..

shmish said..

aeroegnr said..
My technique, at least with this IQ board now, is to force the board forward with front foot pressure as hard and as early as possible. This usually means that the first pump or two steers the board more downwind, and I start to feel acceleration.

Then, once I start feeling the acceleration, I can add more back foot pressure timed a little after the front foot acceleration. I tried many many times to focus more on the back foot, but it really seems to me that focusing on front foot drive at the beginning makes all of the difference. If I go hard on the back foot before the front foot pressure, the board steers into the wind and it kills speed.

Then, depending on the setup, I may keep pumping more. On the race foil, I definitely feel the difference of doing slight pumps once I get harnessed in and drive mostly back footed to go from lightly slapping the water to popping completely above it. It felt...different on the slingshot. One of these day I'll take out the blast with the i76 again and see how well I pump it now.

How do you like the IQfoil compared to the Blast? Are you using the whole setup, or just the board/foil and whatever sails you already own?

I have a blast 115, Moses 790, 70kg. Last time I was out it was lighter winds inside and I had lots of problems getting on the foil while a few others did not. They had slightly bigger sails but were also heavier. Similar foils. But, they had foil boards with the wide tails. Aeroengr, I noticed in your videos that you have your mast base placed far back on the Blast. I was playing with this a bit on my Blast but maybe only 1cm back from center. Each little experiment takes a lot of time to figure out...

Maybe using a 2degree shim on the rear wing would also help.

So my Blast is quite a bit bigger at 145L. I've got the whole IQfoil setup, sail/board/foil.

The shims supplies are +1 to -2 (+1 is more power -2 is least power) with 115+ and 95+ fuselage. So far I've only used the 115+.

I *really* like the IQ. I'll probably write a full review later but it's way easier to shlog in swell in the Blast. The only thing I don't like is the intimidation factor of being powered up on a foil with the 9.0 in gusts but I'm learning to manage that, rigging a 4 cam sail (getting better/faster at it though), and uphauling it when the leech fills with water (only sometimes).

It's actually pretty easy to ride at the low end of performance compared to the Blast. It definitely rewards a more active/pumping style of foil riding than the Blast. Way easier to pump, doesn't catch chop and swell like the i99 or i76.

What's amazing is how the board shape has made so many overfoils completely survivable and recoverable and getting back on the foil almost immediately. What would've catapulted me on the Blast is totally rideable on the IQFoil most of the time. I had a few bad catapults at first but I'm improving. Even had an overfoil at my current max of 25mph but I recovered it after the drop and kept riding.

Quick edit:
The mast position on the Blast varies a lot. Position B with i76 I had to move the mast foot to the center in high winds (and should have gone more into the wind or downwind to deal with the sail pressure). I'm learning to be way more active with my back foot on the IQ in order to maintain control/direction/board angle. If your mast is back and you get a gust you need to get your back foot forward immediately and steer up or down wind.

Here's an example of getting out of control when pointing across a reach and going more upwind around 1:18

Cool stuff. I don't think I would ever be able to afford the whole IQfoil setup and I can't even imagine foiling with a 9.0 in anything over 16 knots! I do think about moving to a more slalom type setup at some point but who knows. There isn't much swell where I am. I still have to get better on my current gear, hopefully I'll be reasonably competent by the end of this summer.

Select to expand quote

shmish said..

aeroegnr said..

shmish said..

aeroegnr said..
My technique, at least with this IQ board now, is to force the board forward with front foot pressure as hard and as early as possible. This usually means that the first pump or two steers the board more downwind, and I start to feel acceleration.

Then, once I start feeling the acceleration, I can add more back foot pressure timed a little after the front foot acceleration. I tried many many times to focus more on the back foot, but it really seems to me that focusing on front foot drive at the beginning makes all of the difference. If I go hard on the back foot before the front foot pressure, the board steers into the wind and it kills speed.

Then, depending on the setup, I may keep pumping more. On the race foil, I definitely feel the difference of doing slight pumps once I get harnessed in and drive mostly back footed to go from lightly slapping the water to popping completely above it. It felt...different on the slingshot. One of these day I'll take out the blast with the i76 again and see how well I pump it now.

How do you like the IQfoil compared to the Blast? Are you using the whole setup, or just the board/foil and whatever sails you already own?

I have a blast 115, Moses 790, 70kg. Last time I was out it was lighter winds inside and I had lots of problems getting on the foil while a few others did not. They had slightly bigger sails but were also heavier. Similar foils. But, they had foil boards with the wide tails. Aeroengr, I noticed in your videos that you have your mast base placed far back on the Blast. I was playing with this a bit on my Blast but maybe only 1cm back from center. Each little experiment takes a lot of time to figure out...

Maybe using a 2degree shim on the rear wing would also help.

So my Blast is quite a bit bigger at 145L. I've got the whole IQfoil setup, sail/board/foil.

The shims supplies are +1 to -2 (+1 is more power -2 is least power) with 115+ and 95+ fuselage. So far I've only used the 115+.

I *really* like the IQ. I'll probably write a full review later but it's way easier to shlog in swell in the Blast. The only thing I don't like is the intimidation factor of being powered up on a foil with the 9.0 in gusts but I'm learning to manage that, rigging a 4 cam sail (getting better/faster at it though), and uphauling it when the leech fills with water (only sometimes).

It's actually pretty easy to ride at the low end of performance compared to the Blast. It definitely rewards a more active/pumping style of foil riding than the Blast. Way easier to pump, doesn't catch chop and swell like the i99 or i76.

What's amazing is how the board shape has made so many overfoils completely survivable and recoverable and getting back on the foil almost immediately. What would've catapulted me on the Blast is totally rideable on the IQFoil most of the time. I had a few bad catapults at first but I'm improving. Even had an overfoil at my current max of 25mph but I recovered it after the drop and kept riding.

Quick edit:
The mast position on the Blast varies a lot. Position B with i76 I had to move the mast foot to the center in high winds (and should have gone more into the wind or downwind to deal with the sail pressure). I'm learning to be way more active with my back foot on the IQ in order to maintain control/direction/board angle. If your mast is back and you get a gust you need to get your back foot forward immediately and steer up or down wind.

Here's an example of getting out of control when pointing across a reach and going more upwind around 1:18

Cool stuff. I don't think I would ever be able to afford the whole IQfoil setup and I can't even imagine foiling with a 9.0 in anything over 16 knots! I do think about moving to a more slalom type setup at some point but who knows. There isn't much swell where I am. I still have to get better on my current gear, hopefully I'll be reasonably competent by the end of this summer.

I use my 8.0 in up to 10 knots max, unless the wind increases when my 8.0 is rigged but even then maybe 12 max, normally I switch over to my 7.2 at 10+ knots.

Sandman, I use a very similar setup to you: Wind 85 with the 1080 Wing, Stabilizer shimmed some (I have made my own shims, so I can't compare, but it's a little less than a millimetre in thickness). I use an Exocet RS5.5, so just a Slalom Board of 126 Litres. I weigh in at about 85 kilo.

I reckon getting on the foil is not helped by the fact that there is little buoyancy in the tail, so you can't just stand on the tail waiting for the gust.

It's well worth working on your pumping skills and trying smaller sails.
It might only be me or the sails I use, but I noticed that an 8m? sail (Point7 Square, 6 Batten No-Cam) doesn't get me on the foil much earlier than a 6,4 (North Duke, 5 Batten No-Cam). On the bigger sail I almost need to plane so I get up, as I can hardly pump the saill effectively. Pumping the board to just give it that last necessary kick seems almost impossible with all the added weight of the sail. I've tried them back to back in marginal winds (7 gusting to 15 knots) and decided to give the 8 away. The smalller sail offers me a much wider range and more TOF (time on the foil), as I get up almost as early, can handle gusts better, can easier foil through the jibes, even in the lulls.

That day everybody was on and off, no matter theirs sails and foils, even race foilers with 8m? sails, apart from one very experienced foiler on 7,8 freerece sail, foilboard, 800 racefoil who had everything perfectly aligned and was literally flying all the time.
As I see it, with a freeride foil like your AFS, the disadvantages of bigger sails can outweigh their benefits.

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ZeeGerman said..
On the bigger sail I almost need to plane so I get up, as I can hardly pump the saill effectively. Pumping the board to just give it that last necessary kick seems almost impossible with all the added weight of the sail. I've tried them back to back in marginal winds (7 gusting to 15 knots) and decided to give the 8 away. The smalller sail offers me a much wider range and more TOF (time on the foil), as I get up almost as early, can handle gusts better, can easier foil through the jibes, even in the lulls.

Can you please describe what you mean by the weight of the sail? Is it too much pressure on the back hand that you mean or literally just the weight of the sail pushing down on the board at the mast base? FWIW the lowest wind I've been in on slingshot gear, with barely a pump, was the i99 on the Blast with an 8.0 Cheetah. I still pumped in the beginning a little to get flying (but this is not a great example of good technique, I can tell my weight is a bit shifted in the wrong place and board probably a bit too upwind):

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aeroegnr said..

ZeeGerman said..
On the bigger sail I almost need to plane so I get up, as I can hardly pump the saill effectively. Pumping the board to just give it that last necessary kick seems almost impossible with all the added weight of the sail. I've tried them back to back in marginal winds (7 gusting to 15 knots) and decided to give the 8 away. The smalller sail offers me a much wider range and more TOF (time on the foil), as I get up almost as early, can handle gusts better, can easier foil through the jibes, even in the lulls.

Can you please describe what you mean by the weight of the sail? Is it too much pressure on the back hand that you mean or literally just the weight of the sail pushing down on the board at the mast base? FWIW the lowest wind I've been in on slingshot gear, with barely a pump, was the i99 on the Blast with an 8.0 Cheetah. I still pumped in the beginning a little to get flying (but this is not a great example of good technique, I can tell my weight is a bit shifted in the wrong place and board probably a bit too upwind):

aeroegnr I think ZeeGerman meant the weight of the bigger sail/mast/boom, it all adds up, plus the bigger sail has more resistance/drag moving though the air.

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Sandman1221 said..

aeroegnr said..

ZeeGerman said..
On the bigger sail I almost need to plane so I get up, as I can hardly pump the saill effectively. Pumping the board to just give it that last necessary kick seems almost impossible with all the added weight of the sail. I've tried them back to back in marginal winds (7 gusting to 15 knots) and decided to give the 8 away. The smalller sail offers me a much wider range and more TOF (time on the foil), as I get up almost as early, can handle gusts better, can easier foil through the jibes, even in the lulls.

Can you please describe what you mean by the weight of the sail? Is it too much pressure on the back hand that you mean or literally just the weight of the sail pushing down on the board at the mast base? FWIW the lowest wind I've been in on slingshot gear, with barely a pump, was the i99 on the Blast with an 8.0 Cheetah. I still pumped in the beginning a little to get flying (but this is not a great example of good technique, I can tell my weight is a bit shifted in the wrong place and board probably a bit too upwind):

aeroegnr I think ZeeGerman meant the weight of the bigger sail/mast/boom, it all adds up, plus the bigger sail has more resistance/drag moving though the air.

Well, it's not easy to say exactly, and I'm certainly no expert. I just found that I can pump the board on the foil with comparatively little effort using my 6.4 as
a) I seem to pump the sail more effectively, while the bigger sail is a lot more inert and I feel that pumping is rather exhausting, but doesn't accelerate the board as much as I would expect.
b) The board feels a lot stickier with the 8.0 as if the sheer weight of the rig on the mastbase was pushing it down. I don't get anywhere porpoising it, while with smaller sails I can pump, press the nose down, then press hard on the tail and off I go.
c) With the big sail the board has a higher lift-off speed (probably related to the aforementioned stickiness). So I've got more power, but need more power as well. I feel as if had an engine with 20 percent more grunt and a car with twenty percent more resistance from weight, tyres etc.

What I might not have made clear enough is that I might have to work on my big sail pumping skills. It might be just me.