Thanks & cheers 🤙

Thanks - yes - lots of fun to be had foiling in higher winds 🤙

Hey Lukas. Good to hear from a (sort of) ex Kiwi! My windsurfing friend Garth is from Kerikeri but when there's a big Easterly blowing he drives the hour North up to Doubtless Bay/Tokerau Beach for the waves. I think we're better off in Doubtless Bay - there's always a chance to get on the water whatever the wind direction is, and usually from a sandy beach. Cheers Brett

Cheers

Hey Tracy. Thanks for that (especially the grown adult bit haha). Small board, small sail, wind-foiling seems to be a bit of a niche thing unfortunately. There seems to be a thought among many windsurfers that wind-foiling is either for racing with big gear, or for mowing the lawns in lighter winds, but that's missing out a lot of potential fun, imo. I do have bigger foil gear (8m²/91 wide board etc) which is good too, but as you note handling the gear is harder, so my favourite option is the smaller gear say 3.7 or 3.1 in 15-25 knots & hopefully some swell - cos its the most fun for me, even ahead of bump & jump windsurfing. Cheers Brett

@@brettwindfoil I am I right in assuming that you don't weigh much, as 3.7 in 15 knots is very small. I was also very impressed with the quick up haul between sets.

Without the wet suit etc I'm in the 75-77kg range. I don't think I'm overplaying my abilities in saying I'll get going in a solid 15 knots on my 3.7. I really like the Sabfoil Balz Pro 799 wing I use with all my small sails. It has a lot of pop & the stall speed is surprisingly low,. Powered up its reasonably quick for what it is, & its very controllable and great for carving hard & in transitions etc... end of sales pitch haha. My video "Windfoil - Boards-eye view - Balz Pro 799" is me on the 3.7 in what I thought at the time was around 15kns. Took a little pumping but getting flying was pretty easy (the water wasn't flat, which helped). Cheers

Hi Mark 🤙. Yes there's plenty of lift with that sail & the 799 for my 76kg in those conditions but its ok providing I adjust my approach - i.e. don't try and muscle the sail but be happy with it sheeted out more than usual when reaching, and I also move my hands on the boom closer to the mast so changes I make in sheeting in & out have less effect. At my skill level & in those conditions I find controlling the power through the gybe harder than in say 20kns on 3.7 or 3.1 where I can crank the sail in more, and power around (or at least try to). It's just something I need to keep working on. I've considered getting the 699 front wing but am not sure it'd translate to feel like a smaller 799? The 799 is excellent imo. Instead of changing wings I'd more likely consider a 2.3 instead! Cheers.

Hi David. Good thought - ducking the gear is something I'll try as well as facing the swell. I'm getting away with what I'm doing atm, but any ideas for easing the path out through a shore break are gratefully received, cheers. 🤙

Hey Daniel. Thanks for that. The details are all in the description above but basically its a 2.7m² sail with Sabfoil gear. Cheers Brett

Hey Jose. Thanks for that.🤙 I've left the rear foot straps on this board for 3 reasons: 1 - it makes carrying or handling the board on land or in the water easier at times. 2 - I want to learn how to jump the board - that's definitely a work in progress haha. 3 - In case I hit something in the water & a foil bolt breaks etc & I lose the foil. For that I have a short length of kite line tied to the top of the foil mast and I use one of the rear foot straps to tie it to. Otherwise, on this smallish board with small sails I never want to use rear straps on the water. In lighter winds there's no need, and in stronger winds/rougher seas even less so. Then, I find at times I need to quickly move that rear foot fore/aft or to the middle or edge depending on the sea state/swell slope/gust etc, so having it free works much better for me. Cheers Brett

It's about getting balance - between the front and back feet. As a rough guide the front wing should be equi-distant between the two. Some people like to have more front foot bias. Another common way to adjust the balance if you don't have spare foot strap settings is to shim the Stab. Set so that the leading edge is lower than the trailing edge , this will give more lift but at the trade off is less speed. Take the time and experiment. It will be worth it. The set up I'm using in the vid with the 799 front wing & 425 stab is very balanced on the SB Foil X 105. If I were to use the faster 399 stab I'd need to shim at approx 2°.

Hi Tate 2. Sorry but here's a rather long reply: Agree - nothing wrong with wave sailing (or more like bump & jump & the odd carve down a small wave for me - I'm not a good wave sailor). I have an 86 litre freewave, 70 wave board - both great boards..., but nowadays I very rarely use them, I'm reaching for the foil gear instead. Either larger free-race boards and larger sails for lighter winds or preferably small boards and small sails in winds 12-15 knots and up. Especially if the sea state is lumpy, the small foil gear for me is way more fun. Why? I don't find rigging the foil and a little sail a hassle & the gear is light to carry. I can point significantly higher than the fin, which means I can spend time running downwind trying to surf swells especially in higher winds, plus I can run a long way downwind knowing getting back is easily doable Less down time - i.e. hardly ever schlogging, or standing on the beach waiting for the wind to lift again, or walking the gear back up the beach cos I was under powered on the return run. Gybing - I'm much more likely to keep going through a foil gybe and with some speed if I do it right. Gybing is one of the main things I like about the foil over the fin in both light and strong winds. Having said that it's still really fun to crank a fast planing gybe in flat water on a little slalom board, or nail a duck gybe on the freewave but either the conditions or my skills mean they don't happen that often. Carving up and down swells - this is just so much fun and makes the effort of getting through the shore break more than worth it. I can't properly describe the feeling I get foiling in swell other than, it's sort of like having a liquid skate park at your disposal that you're gliding through rather than bashing through. You can see the ramps coming and choose which one to glide up over & down, or to carve up and down etc. with for me, a feeling of more options than when I'm finning. So yeah I'm pretty hooked as you can tell haha. It'd be great if more people got into small board/sail winDfoiling, but I'm guessing it'll probably stay a bit niche? Cheers 🤙

@@brettwindfoil Hi, I highly respect your skills at foiling. Have you tried to get in/out of the shore break with the board and sail separated? Maybe would be easier and less dangerous for the sail. For attach/detaching both inside the sea a cardan power joint could help.

@@tate2863 Hey Tate 2. Thanks re my foiling skills which to be fair have a way to go yet, but it's fun learning! Sorry about the long rant - just keen to encourage others to try small board winDfoiling in swell. Thanks also for the caradan power joint tip as I'd not heard that term before. On bigger gear e.g. 91 wide board & 8m² sail I'll sometimes detach the sail from the board in the water. To make that easier, I've considered buying a Chinook Pro Flex Mast Base which has both the mechanical joint and a tendon. For the small gear I'll stick with entering and leaving the water with the gear attached. It's not as bad as the video might make it appear, and it's good to have it assembled for a quick start if the opportunity arises, i.e. between sets. I tried years ago with windsurf gear assembling the gear in waves, and a wave caught the board and smacked it into the mast base putting a ding in the board ... Cheers Brett

Hey Duncan. Fairpoint re 'shorebreak' - yes there are no big rollers dumping onto the beach as you say. I guess I've just used the term as shorthand for onshore waves & conditions that can be a little challenging (for me anyway) when going out foiling. As for windsurfing I've got the gear still - 70l wave board, 86 freewave, 89 &113 Falcons & even a big speed board 49 wide & 64l. They're largely all gathering dust. The reason is I find windfoiling esp on smaller gear so much more satisfying, or in short - for me its just consistently more fun. I added some comments as to why this works for me elsewhere on this page so won't re-list them now. Basically though my thoughts are do what you enjoy, & who cares if it's windsurf vs windfoil vs winging etc. If you're having a fun session on the water that's a win right!

@@brettwindfoil fair enough , I cant afford wind/wing foil setup - as well

Hi - I've used google translate & I think you are asking why am I using a foil? Basically because I find it more fun than windsurfing. I've described why in answers to other questions on this page. Happy New Year to you too! 🤙

Haha! I would've said the same a while ago. Getting off & back to the beach can be a little trying sometimes, but the more you do it... Overall though its loads of fun, which is why my windsurfing gear seems to be gathering dust... Cheers 🤙