Is this simple theory of setting your mast position with foil as simple as it looks or are there way more variables at hand? Looking at this from a newbie point of view with big board and big foil..I have a big 140 litre board at 6,9 long and a 2000 foil..if i use this technique my mast is as far forward as it can go in the tracks. I'll give it a go but fear I may sky rocket quickly!
Simple answer from my experience: YES. With my new front wings my mast is also as forward as it can be. For a newbie it is good to think about the right mast position. When i started It took me a few hours of struggling before i realized my mast was way too much backward.
Yes, as a very good starting point.Might require some fine tuning but it puts you in the ballpark.Ideally you float and foil with feet in same position.
Most people ride with the mast too far back,which increases inertia in pitch and the number of touchdowns (more board in front of you).
Sometimes the manufacturers have placed the footstrap inserts too far back too...this might be a problem.
So in theory, if you have a longer board you are always going to have to put the mast further into the forward position to compensate for the weight towards the nose? Guess that's half the reason why DW boards have mast tracks so further forward?
Yes, that's exactly to way to get the right sort of position for the mast. That technique has been around for 3/4 yrs. Make sure your finger is 1/3rd the way in on the wing.
good starting point. You want to stand where the board glide the best and stay there when foiling, in theory.
There is a flaw in the system of saying balanced on the foil is always correct.
A board shaper knows where he wants YOU to stand on the deck based on rocker line, volume distribution, and template shape. This spot is usually indicated by foot strap inserts. Without inserts, it can be indicated by deck pad markings. The shaper doesn't know if you're mounting a "boat anchor" foil, or high end carbon light foil to his board. He also may not know how a boards weight balance gets thrown out of wack by workmanship in Asian factories.
A newbie isn't going to pump around like Kane, so weight balance may be secondary to, standing in the right spot for volume distribution, and rocker.
My experience with DW and wing boards.
DWF is on the money here and it is particularly relevant for DW boards of the planning hull type regarding where the rocker and shape can best support your weight with respect to controlled early planning. The faster the board planes the further rearward of centre of buoyancy you might like to stand to maintain directional stability, as you come onto foil, to prevent the rails catching. I am only talking and inch or two max. For wing boards being used with fast foils standing slightly rearward of the centre of buoyancy and having the board and its rocker designed around this seems to me to help with the required extended planning of faster foils.
As DW boards become genuinely light then the foil box and its reinforcement can focus a lot of weight proportionally rearward. This is particularly noticeable in the case of brands like Kalama where the front half of the board seems to weigh nothing and all the weight is centred around the boxes. The board balance test results in the foil being visually further rearward and slightly rearward of the centre of buoyancy than some schools of thought feel appropriate but works great for early planning control for me. The desire to just keep moving the foil and its box forward just moves the weight forward and ironically requires moving the foil further forward for balance in a race to the nose. The designers react by sticking more bulky foam in the nose to support the paddler standing further forward and with weight in the nose again leads to the foil being pushed forward to support more weight on the balance test.
With new equipment my first test is the balance test and then I try and stand slightly rearward of the centre of buoyancy (ideally in the correct planning position) and test to see if it is compatible with where the balance test put my foil. Some would say the balance test is just an old guide but when it doesn't work it makes it harder to be successful has me questioning the equipment design.