Hi all,

I'm new to all this so be gentle .

I've just progressed off the SUP and onto a 125L board with a foil. My first session, a couple of weeks ago, was pretty successful and I managed to get up onto the foil a few times before touching down again. So stoked on that.

This weekend I was out, the wind was strong (20-25 knots) and there was a bit of chop around. I really struggled. I found it super hard to pull the wing back towards the tail of the board. With it hanging over the front of the board, I found myself pulled down wind quick, I was constantly trying to correct this which led to me going very slowly. I think the wing was working to take me downwind and I was doing everything to try and stay upwind (as much as I could) and we were canceling each other out a bit.

My wing is a 5.3 Naish. Is that too big in those sort of wind speeds? I'm 90kg and new to wind sport, so there are probably 50 other things I'm doing wrong.

But any advice would be great.

For the Perth crew, I jumped in at Tawarri and very quickly found myself at Pelican point having to walk the foil in along way over the shallow sand bar before the 2km jog back to pick up my car. Pretty interesting afternoon all up.

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wingrookie said..
Hi all,

I'm new to all this so be gentle .

I've just progressed off the SUP and onto a 125L board with a foil. My first session, a couple of weeks ago, was pretty successful and I managed to get up onto the foil a few times before touching down again. So stoked on that.

This weekend I was out, the wind was strong (20-25 knots) and there was a bit of chop around. I really struggled. I found it super hard to pull the wing back towards the tail of the board. With it hanging over the front of the board, I found myself pulled down wind quick, I was constantly trying to correct this which led to me going very slowly. I think the wing was working to take me downwind and I was doing everything to try and stay upwind (as much as I could) and we were canceling each other out a bit.

My wing is a 5.3 Naish. Is that too big in those sort of wind speeds? I'm 90kg and new to wind sport, so there are probably 50 other things I'm doing wrong.

But any advice would be great.

For the Perth crew, I jumped in at Tawarri and very quickly found myself at Pelican point having to walk the foil in along way over the shallow sand bar before the 2km jog back to pick up my car. Pretty interesting afternoon all up.

Yes

Yes.. My 5.3 is too big in that wind. (20-25)

Yes. Would be on a 2.8 on those conditions. Maybe a 3.8 if I was over 100kg.

With experience you will be able to handle a bigger wing in those conditions and stay upwind. The importance of a being able to release wind by pulling in your front hand to your shoulder and pushing away your rear hand cannot be understated.

But like most us when we first started, you have arms of iron and hold onto all the power available to our own detriment. In your case, you got dragged downwind, for others you simply get blown off the board.

Always hard when you first start matching your one wing, one foil and one board with all the different wind conditions you will get. You will soon get GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) and most of those problems will be solved.

I had a naish v1 4m, naish XXL foil and 150L board and was expecting to get going in 10 knots. I had a lot of disappointing walks of shame in the first month. Then I got lucky and had a 25 knot day and I was up and away. I soon had GAS.

Nearly there !! I think you would be just about OK with the 5.3 in those wind speeds,..... with a bit more experience, but you would be 'luffing' 'feathering' the wing to lose a bit of power. The Naish 5.3 is good for this, with the slightly looser canopy.
If it had been 18 to 22 knots, perfect! good on you for trying.

Quiver.
You don't use ONE gear on your car, bike, or playing basketball.
Wind changes, your skill changes.

Too much wing like others have said. More like a >4M for 20-25kts. Learning to dump wind is a very important skill because there is always the chance you can get caught in a gust. Last weekend (on Maui), it gusted at 30kts+ I was on a 4.5 Armstrong, and had to get back to the beach basically dumping wind the whole way in.

If you don't have a smaller wing, on gusty days, stay closer to shore and work on returning to the spot you launched. Even if you don't get on foil, learning to steer with the wing is a very important skill to have.

Sounds like me at the moment in same conditions. I gave in within 1 hour of my session. I was kicking myself for not bringing my original Naish 4 metre which Im sure I would have up & going in that 20 to 25 knots. And have found it easier to handle to go upwind.
I think if you find you are easily up on file with no effort in pumping wing & board then you are probably overpowered.
I have learnt so far to keep my rides short to prevent the long walks or paddles of shame. And for me in overpowered conditions its impossible for me to get upwind. Especially against rough wind chop.
Im 80 kgs & used a 6 metre Cabrinha X2 which was far too much power. I can do better upwind in about 15 to 18 knots with that sized wing. But like you I will slow down & drop when trying to get upwind more.
I have found when in more controlled conditions I can pump wing & board as I move the wing more overhead to keep my upwind angle before again turning a bit to catch more wind to keep speed to be able to edge upwind again.
Things can change as skills improve?

Once you're capable of getting up and flying and have some hours into that a 5m wing in 20-25 knots will be big, but very doable. I ride my 5m in all conditions as its my only wing (have to budget across winging, windsurfing / foiling / racing and kitesurfing/foiling). I did some sessions in 30 knots + with it.

That being said, for a beginner its probably way too much, I think you'll have more fun if you focus on the 15-20 knot windrange for now. No nead to buy smaller wings already in my opinion, I never really feel the need for one, especially during regular "blasting along". Only exception might be during aerial rotations where I feel the 5m is slow & quite powerful, but it will take a while before you're at that level, and at that time designs will probably have evolved at least 1 generation.

It's possible/probable that you're overpowered, but learning to manage power is part of wing foiling. You're going to have to deal with it sometime.

The single biggest mistake when feeling overpowered is over-controlling the wing. You feel a strong pull on the handles so you pull harder to counter the power. That just increases the amount of power transferred to you. You need to ease off, stand upright on the board, and let the wing float in your hands. The power you feel will be minimal and you'll be able to ride along in relative comfort.

Depending on how strong the conditions are you might get a lot of flapping of the canopy. That can be noisy and unpleasant could accelerate wear on the fabric. It's no big deal as far as riding.

Some wings can be a bit twitchy when conditions are strong. You have to be quite gentle with those wings. A small amount of over-control can result in them trying to flip you off backwards. You have to finesse your grip on the handles to anticipate the flippy little surges they give.

Another thing that helps is to move one or both hands forward on the handles. That can reduce the feeling of power. It can feel a little awkward with the wing sitting too far forward for comfort. I like to use a very wide grip when things are a bit sketchy (first and last handles).

Newbie wing foilers tend to chase power in the wing to force things to happen. You don't need much power with a foil, and realistically you can really only deal with what you can hold in your hands. That's not a lot. Try riding with less power in the wing by holding it more lightly, bearing off slightly and being more relaxed and cruising.

Yep above and you will find you will actually go upwind easier as well. Let the foil do the work, use the speed and power generated. That's the biggest thing I learnt coming only from kiting when I was trying to lock in and haul ass upwind. Lighten the grip as gorgo said, bear off a little then use the speed generated in the foil to go upwind. Not the power of the wing.

Thanks for all the advice. I'll be back at it this weekend. In more moderate winds by the looks of things!

I'm similar weight and have a 125lt board and did use the 5.3 Naish. I had very similar experience in those winds.
as stated sheet out a bit, less pressure in the wing, once up move hands to forward handles. it's really surprising how little pressure you need in the wing once going.