Competent intermediate, reliable transitions, 93kg and 58 years young.
Riding Armstrong HS series foils 1050 to 1850 (have an MA1750 for DW) mostly 60cm fuse but have 70cm. Mostly use one blue shim.
Duotone Slick SLS and v3 wings.
Mostly like riding the bumps and carving about which I find the HS series very good for but never go faster than about 18kts maximum speed. Would like to go faster but beginning to think I never will on these foils.
Any tips for going faster on reaches?
Anyone breaking 20kts on the HS series?

You can definitely squeeze a little more speed out of those foils. You didn't mention the tail you're using, but a Speed 180 or HA195 with a red shim could help with a knot or two if you're still on the 232 tail. The problem with trying to drag the HS series through the water quickly is that they are pretty thick in the foil section compared to the newer MAs and HAs, so there's a fair bit of drag to overcome despite being labelled "HS". The 70 fuse will help with pitch stability at speed, but it's not absolutely necessary to go faster. I was able to push the HS1850 past 20 knots on occasion but it does feel like it hits a speed wall. The HS1050 should go over 20 without too much fuss. Your wings aren't holding you back. Try to ride as high as you can without breaching and keep your core and legs engaged to drive the board forward without backing off on sheeting.

Thanks for the tips Windoc. I am mostly on the 232 but like the Flying V and more recently the Flow 235 but guessing they are all slower than the smaller stabs. Very happy with the HS foils for everything except the speed. Good to know I might get a a few knots out of them with a faster stab.
I have a Glide 220 for the MA1750 which I might experiment with.
There is an HA950 on sale secondhand here, might think about trying that.

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FarNorthSurfer said..
Thanks for the tips Windoc. I am mostly on the 232 but like the Flying V and more recently the Flow 235 but guessing they are all slower than the smaller stabs. Very happy with the HS foils for everything except the speed. Good to know I might get a a few knots out of them with a faster stab.
I have a Glide 220 for the MA1750 which I might experiment with.
There is an HA950 on sale secondhand here, might think about trying that.

The HA 925 will be a lot faster, will take many goes to get use to it. The more you use it the better it gets and the less wind you will need for it. I am 88kg and went from strong wind foil to my light wind.now go 725 when is over 20knots.even faster.

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FarNorthSurfer said..
Competent intermediate, reliable transitions, 93kg and 58 years young.
Riding Armstrong HS series foils 1050 to 1850 (have an MA1750 for DW) mostly 60cm fuse but have 70cm. Mostly use one blue shim.
Duotone Slick SLS and v3 wings.
Mostly like riding the bumps and carving about which I find the HS series very good for but never go faster than about 18kts maximum speed. Would like to go faster but beginning to think I never will on these foils.
Any tips for going faster on reaches?
Anyone breaking 20kts on the HS series?

I got 23kts out of my 1850 when I was on Armstrong you need to be powered up and push hard I even got 20 kts out of my 2400 just keep pushing your boundaries and you will increase your speed

Out on the HS1050 yesterday with the Flow235 and a 60cm fuse on performance mast and managed 19.6kts in well powered up 4m wing conditions. I switched down from the HS1250 and a chopped 232 stab which had horrible pitch stability.
Thanks for the advice, even knowing they should go faster helps. 20kts on my HS1850 seems like a stretch for me though!
Last year the HS1550v2 was my go to foil but this year I have been getting more and more use of the HS1050 so maybe it's not too far to step up to one of the HA foils.

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stroppo said..
I got 23kts out of my 1850 when I was on Armstrong you need to be powered up and push hard I even got 20 kts out of my 2400 just keep pushing your boundaries and you will increase your speed

... but very few people can push speed boundaries the way you do, Stroppo!

would be good to compare speeds with other riders on the same gear to see what is possible and how far off you are from maxing out your gear. technique matters

hard to give advice without seeing you sail, but one thing a lot of people do is ride pretty back footed (and back foot in front of mast) and they don't really drive the foil. i've told a couple of sailors to move their back foot back a bit over the mast and transfer more weight to their front foot... that can help some people drive the foil more and squeeze out more speed.

YMMV

of course if you want to go really fast, you have to have good technique and fast gear.... but just having faster gear won't necessarily make you fast... especially when other guys around you have better technique. Good luck in your search for speed! Discovering ways to push existing gear is one of the fun aspects of the sport for me.

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sunsetsailboards said..
would be good to compare speeds with other riders on the same gear to see what is possible and how far off you are from maxing out your gear. technique matters

hard to give advice without seeing you sail, but one thing a lot of people do is ride pretty back footed (and back foot in front of mast) and they don't really drive the foil. i've told a couple of sailors to move their back foot back a bit over the mast and transfer more weight to their front foot... that can help some people drive the foil more and squeeze out more speed.

YMMV

of course if you want to go really fast, you have to have good technique and fast gear.... but just having faster gear won't necessarily make you fast... especially when other guys around you have better technique. Good luck in your search for speed! Discovering ways to push existing gear is one of the fun aspects of the sport for me.

Thanks for the advice. Agree it would be great to get some real world speed results on different foils but the options available to us such as shims, fuses, stabs and even different masts make it hard to pin down any benchmarks.

I actually ride strapless and move my feet a lot on the board, sure others will say I could go faster strapped in but I love the freedom and as my knee is an ACL short of a full set after a Kitesurf accident years ago I will stay strapless.
I do get my foot back on the board on broad reaches to accelerate and stay in control but for sure there will be improvements to be made in technique with practice.
Not many other sailors round here to race but one of the changes I might make is to go with a harness and hook in.
I did try this last year but didn't like the faffing about. For sure I could lock the rig down better hooked in.
My windsurfing top speed is 34kts on standard kit, going faster seemed to need dedicated speed gear and got expensive real fast. I am following a guy on Strava regularly winging over 30kts but he's using Mikes Lab foils and small ones. He is a good kite foil racer I believe. I don't think I want to go down the rabbit hole of dedicated kit for proper speed but its always good to learn new skills on the kit I already have.

What I really like about the wing is the sense of freedom, the area upwind and downwind I can cover and the wave/swell riding. Going for speed is just a natural thing to do on the reaches and now its easy to be packing GPS data its fun to measure performance and look for improvements. If I can get past 21.5kts (40kmh) on any of the HS series foils I think I will be happy with progress.

18,5 knots HS1850, 19,5 HA1125, 20,5 knots Ypra S XL (1200cm2), 21,5 knots Ypra L (1000cm2). Should be able to push alot more on the Ypra.
When the wind is right, it's often to choppy.... Better hone those skills..

18,5 knots HS1850, 19,5 HA1125, 20,5 knots Ypra S XL (1200cm2), 21,5 knots Ypra L (1000cm2). Should be able to push alot more on the Ypra.
When the wind is right, it's often to choppy.... Better hone those skills..