How close to wind can you get at best?
I don't have a gps so can't measure in real time...I just look at google maps and see roughly how I went.

Depends.
Skill level. Good riders can almost match windfoil angles.
Eq. Big masts and 1000 race foils go upwind the highest. Yes, wingfoiling.
Gotta be well, but not op'd

A few top Cal Cup racers are trying wing vs windfoiling. Less than a season in, they see potential, but not quite there yet.
A few years ago, Wyatt and Ty, both good free foilers on low aspect wings, were not close in angle or speed to Formula.
Windfoil has since exceeded Formula in angles.
Most see hi aspect wings as vital to get angles and speed....vmg.

I asked this recently on another forum.

You wind guys guys are killing us surfer crossovers saying stuff like "similar to wind foil angles". We've been surfing, not windsurfing or kiting.

If the wind is blowing from 0? North, what angle can you maintain?

I'm new and only getting like 300?. Clam, good to see you on here.

I think this GPS trace from JB is about the best upwind angles I've seen so far, but keep in mind that this is an expert sailor in flat water and moderate wind.

Thx Pacey, sorry to be an idiot but what is the wind direction on this map?

Compass app on most phones will give degree chart btw.

Some of the smart phone gps trackers will guesstimate it for you - Windsport Tracker on Android, for one. Based on your sailing tracks, it tries to figure out the wind direction and generates a polar plot.

Depends.
Some can foil 100 meters, foil jibe, and wing foil back above the start spot.

Yo, I've come to find that no one who wing foils has any idea how to describe this lol.

Across several countries and 4 continents on 2 forums no one can answer this question lol.

I'm gonna guess it's about 330? or 30? off the wind the other way.

Y'all tell me I'm wrong or just post some other weird things like "it's about the angle a red Asian sparrow takes. Or, I can go upwind at the angle a Eurasian hippo takes on its way home. Anything but actual geometry.

How should I live my life?
What job should I get.
How much to spend for happiness?

I once measured one of JB's upwind tracks.
He was making 60* degrees off the wind (if wind North, groundtrack was 60*).
Cannot remember the average speed (10-12kt?) but i got a ballpark figure of 5kt VMG.

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mcrt said..
I once measured one of JB's upwind tracks.
He was making 60* degrees off the wind (if wind North, groundtrack was 60*).
Cannot remember the average speed (10-12kt?) but i got a ballpark figure of 5kt VMG.

Thanks for that , I hope he stops by...

Purely anecdotal, but with a 4m vs a 6m in their optimal wind, the 4 feels like I'm smoking upwind. It helps that I can sheet in a bit harder with less physical effort.

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surfcowboy said..
Thx Pacey, sorry to be an idiot but what is the wind direction on this map?

Compass app on most phones will give degree chart btw.

It says wind direction of north west on the image but looks more WNW and he is sailing from the green pin at Palm Beach to the blue pin up the Hawkesbury. By eye it looks like he is getting an angle of about 60 degrees off the true wind direction, pretty much what mcrt measured.

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Purely anecdotal, but with a 4m vs a 6m in their optimal wind, the 4 feels like I'm smoking upwind. It helps that I can sheet in a bit harder with less physical effort.

A harness makes long upwinds on big wings a lot easier.I pretty much only use it for that.
Maybe the thinner LE and more compact shape of a 4m makes for more efficiency on the upwind?.

The current makes a huge difference in tidal areas. If you can catch the ebb or flood tide current, it can help tons. Where I live, the current switches about 3 hours after the peak or trough of the tide. Something I only recently figured out.
I bet JB is using this to his advantage in some of those tracks. Ride upwind with the flood tide then downwind back. Flood tide into the wind makes better bumps too.

Here's a few more recent sessions.

This is at North Palmy. Is anything the sweep is going downwind. I was basically wave riding, but you can pick a few of the upwind legs in there. Angles are quite good IMO, probs about 60degrees.


And this one is an upwind run I did on Pittwater. From Snappermans beach to Bayview. This wind is extremely hard to get good ground, especially near Scottland island. The Furthest points were 6.7km apart. These angles are not as nice as the wind knocks all the time.


Here is a coastal run from Longreef to Newport reef. Upwind then DW. Angles are pretty god here also.



Being nicely powered makes a huge difference. But also not using too big a Wing-surfer to Foil size otherwise you're going sideways.

In general, not much overtakes me upwind.

Ride safe,

JB

This post made me look.
Last time I used Windsport tracker a month ago.
Looks like about 60 degree , wind 25 knots, 4m wasp, Gofoil GL140, flat water, no current.
Wasn't trying to get upwind aggressively, just mowing the lawn.
Would have been significantly higher with the NL190.

Thank you guys lol no more calculating the flight path of an African swallow.

The maps are helpful too. It took me a minute (and more than one map) to see that the wind direction is listed. I thought the direction was part of the place name.

i also feel better about my angles now.