I often see the guys in Maui on the paddle board forum are quick to modify their gear if it gives a performance gain. I virtually live on my GF M200 in light wind and was thinking if I could just get 1-3% more performance out of it. Has anyone tried sanding off all the (blue) paint, I guess this would make it a little lighter and a tad thinner profile, may not be noticeable but will improve performance, any thoughts?

Mate performance and the M200 are mutually exclusive terms given how much foils have progressed in the last couple of years. If you're already a competent winger chuck the M200 away and upgrade, no amount of sanding is gunna help that dinosaur.

Agree, just spend the coin and get a GT2200. I can get up so easily in sub 8 knots and I can practically come to a standstill doing slow, pivot style turns on boat chop/small waves without stalling/sinking or even losing height. This big foil has really helped me spend a lot of time playing on foil without much wind and when there is good, strong wind it handles that really well without getting unruly.

Note: I got started winging on the M200 and sure it gets up with not much forward speed, but I found it sank like a stone when it it got close to stalling and it didn't glide through the lulls. I then picked up a cheap EZ1600 and that was so much better, I lent it to someone learning and they bought it off me after their first session. If you can't get the GT2200 then an EZ1600 or EZ1800 will be a great foil and they are heavily discounted on the GoFoil Australia shop.

graham right now when the wind is really light, like 4-10 kts, we all go out and everyone is looking to see who gets up first and I have been holding my own for a while now. Finally I just sanded all the rough paint off the tips, but this is definitely my fav really light wind foil. I had the EZ1275 (for strong winds) and hated it, once you lost speed it just sank, but it was very easy to turn, the GT1400 would probably be the next best foil for over 10kts in my area but I haven't picked one up yet. I find I can ride the M200 almost to a standstill and it still carves - each to his own I guess. And the GF Australia shop is a little bit far from Hiroshima