Floating vs sinking hydrofoil

[abel]

I prefer a sinking hydrofoil because if the foil doesn't sink, given the direction , it sometimes runs away instead of coming back to you.
For waterstarts, there is no problem tilting the board on the side.

What do you prefer, sink or float ? (pls. elaborate)

[Peter_Frank]

I prefer a floating foil if it means it is much lighter.

But of course a sinking foil is faster to retrieve when shot upwind.

In real life this means a foil that sinks in super light wind, but floats on its side in more wind.
Close to ideal as easy to retrieve when wind, difficult when really light but here it sinks

Best combination and i think many carbon freeride foils are like that, sinking slowly unless wind.

Good thing about a semi floating is you can start so much faster if it isn't upwind, as it just waits for you on the side so you can put your feet up and go, no hands needed

Peter

[Foil]

A floating foil is way easier to body drag out away from shallow shelving shore lines especially if the waves are big and winds are light in biggish close set waves, side floaters save time and can help prevent the front wing grounding out as you fall between the wave peaks, helps me gain good speed and higher angles body dragging out through often aggressive conditions to the flatter water 50 to 100 yards out,
also on the way back in i find it is just so much kinder to my floating kit if it side floats in to shore as a wave often grabs hold of my kit as i come back to shore and have to often just jump off and try to grab my board before the much faster shore break waves grabs my foil and pushes it quickly to shore, mostly doing so in a straight line so it lands softly on the sand,
pain in the ass though in light winds if you get seperated from the board with your kite down, that's when sailing buddies are needed to get to your board and tip the board over so it can drift back to you,
never ignore a side floating board if the owner is struggling to get back to it, go over and turn it wing down and point it towards the owner and push the board gently towards him/her, they will owe you the same favour one day,
one of the most scary moments is seeing your board out of reach on its side and not enough wind to body drag over to it, or just never seeming to get closer to the board, people can and do loose their kit due to side float problems,
at my local spot there are a few occasions over the years where side floating kit has nearly been lost forever, one of our locals who thought his was lost forever went back to the beach at low tide and walked along the shore lines and small rocky outcrops and in the bright sunset he spotted a glinting reflection on the rocks and this guided him to find his full near undamaged board and foil, just a few scratches, lucky or what!

[mar menor]

I have a post on this forum about the 683s to ascertain if it is a floater or sinker for the above reasons

[jyka]

a board & foil combination what side floats for a couple of seconds and then foil submerges. It makes starts easier (hands free) and the board still goes downwind fast because it will flip after a while.
That means a low volume board and high volume wing

[grigorib]

I have a post on this forum about the 683s to ascertain if it is a floater or sinker for the above reasons

683s and 679 sink

[grigorib]

Complete floater is a disaster in lightwind. Aluminum-grade sinker is a horror to carry and boardstart.

I like carbon sinkers

[lifeinthehood]

Light wind with a floating foil - would this be a scenario where a leash (eg Oceanus reel) might be appropriate to use? I know there’s a reflexive revulsion to leashes, but it seems to me that this situation would present very low risk for being yarded beyond the leash limits. Given the high risk of losing a board and foil, maybe a leash is actually a good idea here?

Will be starting to foil this spring (with a floating SABFoil 633) so I’m trying to learn about all the difficult situations I might encounter and figure possible solutions.

A floating foil is way easier to body drag out away from shallow shelving shore lines especially if the waves are big and winds are light in biggish close set waves, side floaters save time and can help prevent the front wing grounding out as you fall between the wave peaks, helps me gain good speed and higher angles body dragging out through often aggressive conditions to the flatter water 50 to 100 yards out,
also on the way back in i find it is just so much kinder to my floating kit if it side floats in to shore as a wave often grabs hold of my kit as i come back to shore and have to often just jump off and try to grab my board before the much faster shore break waves grabs my foil and pushes it quickly to shore, mostly doing so in a straight line so it lands softly on the sand,
pain in the ass though in light winds if you get seperated from the board with your kite down, that's when sailing buddies are needed to get to your board and tip the board over so it can drift back to you,
never ignore a side floating board if the owner is struggling to get back to it, go over and turn it wing down and point it towards the owner and push the board gently towards him/her, they will owe you the same favour one day,
one of the most scary moments is seeing your board out of reach on its side and not enough wind to body drag over to it, or just never seeming to get closer to the board, people can and do loose their kit due to side float problems,
at my local spot there are a few occasions over the years where side floating kit has nearly been lost forever, one of our locals who thought his was lost forever went back to the beach at low tide and walked along the shore lines and small rocky outcrops and in the bright sunset he spotted a glinting reflection on the rocks and this guided him to find his full near undamaged board and foil, just a few scratches, lucky or what!

[evan]

Are there foil-board combos that sink to bottom, how would you not lose those?


If you mean with sinking that the mast goes vertical with the board floating on the surface? Then yes, I prefer those. Always easier to go searching for your foil Downwind, although it can be annoying when it is cruising into your kite and lines when relaunching or heading into a rocky patch of the coast.

But rather have those issues than a foil on its side that can sail Upwind faster than you can bodydrag. Already have had to return some sideways foils Downwind because their owners couldn't get to it anymore.

[Kiterpep]

one of the most scary moments is seeing your board out of reach on its side and not enough wind to body drag over to it, or just never seeming to get closer to the board, people can and do loose their kit due to side float problems,

So any fix to a side-floating foil that is quite eager to see the world ? I was riding a larger wing that did exactly this, and with the small kite I had rigged I could not for the life of me catch it when it went off to explore the seven seas. Luckily another kiter brought my board back to shore.

Attach a weight to the setup? Stay with a smaller, semi-sinking foil or flattish water spots until I get better? Only ride with foiling buddies?