Snow/Land wings on water?

[balticswell]

I wonder if anybody has tried to use a dedicated snow/land wing on water with modern foils?
Would it be a benefit for wingfoil racing regarding going upwind, tacking and overall effitiancy due to much less drag comparing to inflatable wings?

[ronnie]

They have been experimented with.

[balticswell]

Thanks for sharing.Though I thought more about testing them in the race scene, not as beginners on floaty boards or speeding down the line.
At the competitions on the snow/ice they seem to outperform any inflatable wing regarding upwind angles, so it would be interesting if someone has tested hard wings that way...

[Peter_Frank]

Makes sense they would be way better for speed and performance

Peter

[ronnie]

Thanks for sharing.Though I thought more about testing them in the race scene, not as beginners on floaty boards or speeding down the line.
At the competitions on the snow/ice they seem to outperform any inflatable wing regarding upwind angles, so it would be interesting if someone has tested hard wings that way...

The hard wings are probably closer to windsurf sails than inflatable wings. They might even find that 'leashing' one end of the hard wing to the board will improve performance. Kai went faster in his video with the hard wing than the inflatable.
The GWA specifies that the wings have to have an inflatable leading edge, so that rules out the hard wings - otherwise the hard wings would probably dominate.
https://www.wingfoilworldtour.com/wingf ... equipment/
I think this is the World Record for an inflatable wing over 500m - 27.9 knots. Top speed 31 knots.


The windfoil World Speed record is 37.19 knots average over 500m (set in 2021) and 39.86 knots over 2 seconds - by this guy - with a 350 sq cm front wing.

[Peter_Frank]

Makes sense Ronnie, windsurf sails are way more efficient than wings, and they can also transfer gusts to power in a more efficient way, because of the twist in the sail.

So hard wings will be much closer to an efficient sail indeed.

Of course, windfoil has existed longer than wingfoil, and hard wings are not really used much yet - so that could be another reason for the 25 % higher speed with the windfoil, could also be a matter of more control - but I believe it is the more efficient low drag hard wing which makes the biggest difference

Peter