I am up on the foil and trying to go upwind. Sometimes the mast seems to lose traction and starts to skid sideways. This seems to happen more when pushing harder upwind and/or a bigger chop hits.

I am coming from windsurfing so I tend to push the wing towards the end of the board. I also used to get this when pushing too hard sideways on the windsurf fin. Not sure if this is related to my current problems :-(

Any advice?

It sounds to me like your mast is stalling, similar to a fin spinout in windsurfing, just like you said. Are you powered up and cranking steep upwind when it happens? I think you have hit the upwind angle limit of your setup.

Sink the heel, the foil holds needing little mast help.

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Ch0p said..
I am up on the foil and trying to go upwind. Sometimes the mast seems to lose traction and starts to skid sideways. This seems to happen more when pushing harder upwind and/or a bigger chop hits.

I am coming from windsurfing so I tend to push the wing towards the end of the board. I also used to get this when pushing too hard sideways on the windsurf fin. Not sure if this is related to my current problems :-(

Any advice?

I noticed this changing from a flip tip stab (with winglets) to a flat stab. When im riding the flat tail I just dont push so hard in my back leg, keep forces faily even, maybe I narrow up the stance a bit.

Lean the foil towards the wind,if you try to ride it flat with yaw it is very inefficient.

ChOp, I used to have the same problems with my 1st gen Naish 1220cm2 foil. Often found it occurred when it was close to breaching and had that 'spin out' feel. For me, it felt like the power of the sail was providing lots of lift and I'd try and wash that excess off by turning up into the wind a bit, and then spin out would occur.
When I feel it coming on, I depower the sail, twist my body to steer the nose off the wind and use a bit more front foot to keep the foil deeper in the water. The second gen naish and axis foils rarely do this as I think they're designed much better. My technique has probably improved a bit too.

Mast skidding out. That could be a tail issue
as mentioned above.

Obviously, tilt the windward rail down...but then you go upwind.

Nice, will give it a try!

Finally tried yesterday to lean into the wind, it's magical. Thanks mcrt, LeeD and everyone else. It's obvious in hindsight but there are so many things going on :-)

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Ch0p said..
Finally tried yesterday to lean into the wind, it's magical. Thanks mcrt, LeeD and everyone else. It's obvious in hindsight but there are so many things going on :-)

I used to windsurf too,i also tried moving the sail back and digging the downwind rail on the wingthing :)