Equipment survey (it will only take a minute):
wingcoachdavid.com/equipmentsurvey
Blog post:
wingcoachdavid.com/L
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Wing foilers that have even one friend that they ride with are familiar with the usual conversation on the beach. “What wing are you using today?” is the typical starting point. Most riders have more than one wing to choose between and some of us have a full quiver of 4-5 wings of various sizes. As a small person at 52 kilos (115 lbs) I often reply “I’m on a 5, but I’m very small.” Sometimes I pro-offer my weight to clarify and as I coach, I might even add “For me a 5 is like a 7 or 8 for a bigger person.” So if the person I’m talking to is significantly bigger, and most of them are, the conversation isn’t as helpful as we might want.
Now I’m looking for a simple formula we could use to describe, with one number, the size of equipment you are using relative to your weight. This “Lift potential” number, or simply “L” for short, will allow you to tell all in a moment, as you head out onto the water. Then when your friends see how you do in today’s conditions, they will have a much better idea of what size equipment they will need.
The formula will take into account the area of your front foil as well as your wing, relative to your weight. The current challenge I face is to decide how the formula will reflect the relative importance of these two metrics. If I reduce my front foil size by 20%, how much larger wing will I need to use for me to have the same lift potential? Once this question is answered, I’ll publish the formula along with a spreadsheet that will make it easy to use. Even though the formula will only use simple arithmetic, 4 digit numbers will be involved so it might be more than some of us want to do in our heads!
As with when first riding with a new size of wing or foil, this new “L” number will take some time to discover what value is required for particular conditions. The cool thing is, people with similar skills will all need to use equipment that results in about the same “L” number to be able to launch and stay on the foil.
I need data to help decide the constant that will be used to balance the relative importance of wing and front foil size. I’ve created a short survey to collect the data. If you would be willing to help, please take a minute to submit one or more of your favorite set ups of wing and foil. The link is in the description, or you can type in wingcoachdavid.com/EquipmentSurvey which will redirect you there.
Please tell your friends about this and ask them to help out too! The sooner I get enough data, the sooner I will release the formula. Summer is here in the northern hemisphere and I’m excited to start using this on the beach soon!