Hi fellow foilers,

I recently bought a Naish Hover S26 Wing foil board 110 litre carbon Ultra with a Jet HA2140 (Stabilizer HA 280) and a 6m Wing Surfer.
I'm 78 kilo (171 pounds), 57 years old and have Wind surfed and kite surfed for 30 odd years.

I'm hapily mowing the lawn in flat water on foil (about 9 sessions now) but I have a feeling that I'm not heavy enough for the HA2140 foil and I'm having trouble keeping it down (driving it) when it is over 15 knots.
I have the mast about an inch from the back of the box and my feet very forward but I don't really feel in control and it breached on me last session - although it was fairly gusty.

Do you think it is my technique or should I be looking at a smaller front foil like a Jet HA 1240 or 1400 and/or a smaller hand wing?

Ian

I have also only just started winging, 12 or so sessions so far. Only gybing into toeside and riding along until I am turning back to heelside. But in all conditions, yesterday 25-30 knots on a 3m wing. 70kg, 100l board, 1850 front wing. Can absolutely feel the drag and it feels like it's putting extra strain on my arms, as naturally power should turn into speed but can't with that wing. I can keep it down but as you say, I need to position myself further to the front than normal and it feels just a bit tense. So I am ready to try another wing, I have a 1300 and 1100 surf wings. I am sure this will work well, but we will be riding at higher speed, so heavier crashes and less stall speed hence perhaps harder to learn new things like foot change, tacks etc.

That's just my semi educated guess. Keen to read what more experienced folks suggest.

I started on 1850 front foil. 88 Kg 67years young. for your weight i would have started on some thing round 1550.

Just like windsurfing, you counterbalance with sail/wing size, foil/fin size, and rider adaptability.
You need different size wings first, then consider different sized foils.
After that, you graduate to smaller boards.

Yes it sort of feels like riding on an old plank windsurfer in terms of pull on my arms and manoeuvrability so do you think getting a smaller hand wing (something like a 4m Matador or the 4.6m Wing surfer) would be a better first option than the smaller foil?

Sure, get a 4m wing. A 6m at your weight is pretty big over 15 knots, but until it arrives just use that extra inch of mast adjustment to move it back and learn about shimming the stabiliser to flatten it for less lift. the 4m will be your True Friend and learning about adjustments will make your life a better place.

That is a massive front wing for someone at 78kg ....... a good learning device. Find yourself something 25% smaller.

I started out on a Hoverboard (125 lt) and Naish foil set-up. You can still use the HA2140 in 15 knots if as suggested you use a wing smaller than 6 metres, but I would also recommend putting a 0.5 or 1 degree shim under the stabiliser. This will reduce the downforce that the stabiliser produces (especially at speed). In turn it will reduce the angle of attack (AoA) of the front foil which will reduce the lift. I had to do this with my Naish 2000 cm foil because of breaching issues. The difference it makes in taming the foil flight characterisitics is incredible - gentler take-offs, and more control of breaching. The downside is that you will need more speed prior to take-off, and have less yaw stability but I have never found these issues to be a problem. You can make shims out of old shop loyalty cards (credit card style hard plastic) - sand them into a wedge shape, cut to size.

I am 85kg and started about a year ago with the same set up as you. I am now using the Matador 5m and can run either the 1800 or 1400HA depending on conditions. I came from a SUP background and learning to get weight on my front foot is still part of my progression.

I would recommend getting a smaller wing and front foil for your weight. Then i think you will come down in board size once you have your flight under control.

fantastic advice. Thank you all.

I have been using a 6 metre Cabrinha x2 wing, a 6ft 8 JP 95 litre foil board with a Neilpryde XL foil with 65 cm mast.
I am 78 kgs in weight too.
I think the Neilpryde XL foil wing is around 1900 or 2000cm2.
I love using it in 15 to about 19 knot wind. But not more because it decreases my upwind ability.
In 19 knots & over I'm quite sure it will be better with a smaller foil wing like my 1600cm2 Large.
Or I could go to my original 4 meter Naish Wingsurfer which is much easier to handle in 20 to 25 knot winds and feels better for upwind ability. But have yet to do a full comparison.
If I was in your position. Then yes try to shim the stabilizer because it is the cheaper option.
I think maybe just go a size smaller in foil wing size than what you have currently. I think it is too big a foil for anyone under 85 kgs.
But technique like knowing how to instantly put weight on front of board or point more upwind or depowering windwing will lessen the chances of breaching. So a larger foil & windwing will give a learner plenty of this practice like it has for me so far.
I still cannot jybe whilst still up on foil. But believe it wont be long in the right conditions.
Good luck & enjoy he challenge.

A Smaller front wing will definitely help but as a short term measure move your mast right to the very back of the tracks .
another thing that can help is bring your back foot forward to a narrower stance but giving you more weight towards the front of the board. these two actions will help keep the front of the board under control .

I weigh ~70kg. I started with a Slick 5.0 wing and Helium 1500 foil. Before the season ended, I added a Slick 3.5 and Kujira 980. I expected to only use the smaller sizes when it was really blowing, but the actual wind range totally surprised me. If the gusts are strong enough to get foiling, the small kit is a lot more fun to ride.

Going from the Helium 1500 to the Kujira 980 was eye-opening...made me remember the first time I tried a windsurfing board that didn't have a daggerboard. A front wing switch is really easy to do too, so it's great to have both options available when the conditions aren't what you thought or they change. Airplane analogy: the Helium flies like a bomber and the Kujira feels like a fighter plane.

Tried my smaller wing today. 22-25 knots. 3m wing. Same large 100l Smik board. 82cm mast. 400 rear wing. Super short fuselage. 860 Axis front wing, which is 1300cm2 roughly. It's a surf wing but higher aspect than my 1850 bulldozer (or bomber as Juri correctly describes it). Well as expected, not much of a difference except more fun due to less drag, slightly more speed (caught me a few times when I was accelerating downwind faster than I was asking for) hence less effort to ride, still a decent stall speed requiring only a little bit of more pumping of board/wing to get going, and again during those gybes where I did not have heaps of speed left. Recon next time I try my 660 which is 1100cm2. I guess apart from the cm2 what also is relevant is the type of wing. Mine are surf wings so they are per se not the fastest, but fast enough for me, nimble (can turn literally on a dime on the 660) enough to ride some small chop.

But the biggest win using the smaller front wing is that now the whole lot fits into the Prado without having to take things apart ;-)