Eltreato wrote: ↑Tue May 15, 2018 5:54 pm
3Inlets, Peter,
Thanks for the follow-ups. I agree with all the downsides and inefficiencies of windfoiling vs. kiting. I'm interested in pursuing it as my beach gets effectively closed down in the summer due to swimmers, and the remaining kiteable beach only works at low tides due to a wind shadow. Quite often in the summer we get marginal thermals that would be great for kitefoiling if it were allowed, and good for windfoiling. I know my short kitefoil fuselage will make it a challenge, but I curious to see what it will be like.
Thanks!
That makes sense
One thing I found was, that the mast/wing has to be quite a lot forward, in order to have a pleasant trim.
Otherwise, and many of the first windfoils were like that I believe, you have to push a lot down with your rear foot in the strap and lean the rig way back which is unpleasant and no good for very long.
Particularly when you want to jibe, as you should be able to stand in front of the rear strap with sail forward now, in okay balance here when carving - this will be almost impossible if you already need loads of rear weight when in the strap to keep flying.
Some windfoils have the rear wing trimmed to give a lot of lift down and are oversized compared to what is needed, to compensate for the "too rearward" front wing even with a forward pointing mast from the box and down.
But your kitefoil probably got a more balanced trim, meaning your wing should be a tad more forward than above windfoils.
The rig pushes down at the mastbase, meaning the wing should be even more forward for balance than if a kitefoilboard, although it seems the difference is not huge, but distinct and noticeable.
My findings at least
Peter