Gong Veloce impressions

[tegirinenashi]

...Using kite fuselage, you can then move to smaller and substantially faster racy wings that Gong doesn't make and probably never will.

They used to have pretty fast rig -- Hellvator -- with thin fast wings. I measured it 4 mph faster than LF Rocket foil. It is the law of diminishing return after that, and I'd suggest that the difference between freeride and race rigs is much smaller than people think. As in any other sport discipline, it is about the skill, not the rig.

[TomW]

...Using kite fuselage, you can then move to smaller and substantially faster racy wings that Gong doesn't make and probably never will.

They used to have pretty fast rig -- Hellvator -- with thin fast wings. I measured it 4 mph faster than LF Rocket foil. It is the law of diminishing return after that, and I'd suggest that the difference between freeride and race rigs is much smaller than people think. As in any other sport discipline, it is about the skill, not the rig.

Yes, you're right. But even Gong in its videos say " dont buy the small kite wing". Have not heard anything positive about it.
Im cruising at 30km/ hr on the veloce m. Hit 38 without effort. 41 with some effort. But still pop out of water in light wind and do almost standing still transitions.
Not gonna win any races, but its enough for me. Falling off at 41 hurts.

[Flyboy]

Tom - can you confirm the length of the fuselage on the Gong mast/fuse combo?

[TomW]

Tom - can you confirm the length of the fuselage on the Gong mast/fuse combo?

Its the same as the aluminum one as far as i can tell.

I sold the pro m and alu mast setup. So cant make measurement comparisons now.
Had a friend of a friend who was looking to buy one. Resale value and demand for this foil is is high.It was 6 months used and i took off 10% and threw in the wing cover free, and he was very pleased. Lost the shipping costs. I probably could have got a bit more on the open market, but it always takes hours to talk with people.

[gregkn73]

Hi Tom,

Do you think veloce L, is a nice wing for light wind kitefoiling?

[TomW]

Hi Tom,

Do you think veloce L, is a nice wing for light wind kitefoiling?

Have not tried the L size.
Thing is, if I can fly my 13m hyperlink on the beach without stalling, I can foil on the veloce M. If I go out in too light wind, In the water, I start to drift and lose what little power there is and kite will stall. So it won't matter that I have M or L.
So if its a solid 7 knots or more I can go out and have fun. Under that I'm doing something else with my time.

For kiting, the only reason you will need the L size in any of the Gong wings is if you are heavy, 100kg or more, or want more stable wing. The trade off is going to be slower overall and less agility.

[PrfctChaos]

Tried a Gong Veloce L (70cm carbon mast), yesterday with a little 3m peak 4 (20 knots about). Will be the new prone foiling setup, but it is good to try foils out with my kite first since it is easy to evaluate how it handles / feels when riding for a solid hour or two. Had a great session, it got going very easily with the little kite, did not even have to loop to get going it just wanted to foil. I would also recommend the Medium or Small size if only kiting, the large can really go very slow without stalling. But for a lightwind cruiser it will do a very good job (A small and large on a 100cm carbon mast would actually be a pretty good kitefoiling quiver now that I think about it, but just a medium will likely do a great job as a one wing quiver.)

First of all, very impressed with the stiffens of the mast and solid build all round. (Also planning on using the mast for new DIY stabs and Wings, so very happy that it is nice and stiff).

The wing turns very well, initiates turns nicely and handles a really good amount of speed for a wing that large. Likely because it is so thin (only 15 mm for a 180 mm chord is nice and thin, 8.3% thickness).

The only negative I have is that I think the stab is tuned to give a bit too much front foot pressure. I was standing on the front edge of my footpads to keep the nose down. The stab (S) is also big for a fuselage that long. Would be great to see a XS or XXS veloce stab. But alas, guess I'll have to start making some DIY versions. Should be fine for now on the surfboard with it right at the back of the tracks.

[TomW]

Tried a Gong Veloce L (70cm carbon mast), yesterday with a little 3m peak 4 (20 knots about). Will be the new prone foiling setup, but it is good to try foils out with my kite first since it is easy to evaluate how it handles / feels when riding for a solid hour or two. Had a great session, it got going very easily with the little kite, did not even have to loop to get going it just wanted to foil. I would also recommend the Medium or Small size if only kiting, the large can really go very slow without stalling. But for a lightwind cruiser it will do a very good job (A small and large on a 100cm carbon mast would actually be a pretty good kitefoiling quiver now that I think about it, but just a medium will likely do a great job as a one wing quiver.)

First of all, very impressed with the stiffens of the mast and solid build all round. (Also planning on using the mast for new DIY stabs and Wings, so very happy that it is nice and stiff).

The wing turns very well, initiates turns nicely and handles a really good amount of speed for a wing that large. Likely because it is so thin (only 15 mm for a 180 mm chord is nice and thin, 8.3% thickness).

The only negative I have is that I think the stab is tuned to give a bit too much front foot pressure. I was standing on the front edge of my footpads to keep the nose down. The stab (S) is also big for a fuselage that long. Would be great to see a XS or XXS veloce stab. But alas, guess I'll have to start making some DIY versions. Should be fine for now on the surfboard with it right at the back of the tracks.

Some comments: there's no Small Veloce, smallest is Medium.
You can use the kite stabs if you want a smaller stab.
I found my foot position on the Pro M with kite and surf stab 40 and Veloce M with veloce 43 stab to be identical.
If you are finding veloce L giving so much lift you have to step way forward, then the wing is too big or your mast is too far forward. My rear mast screws are 80mm from the tail.

[PrfctChaos]

Tried a Gong Veloce L (70cm carbon mast), yesterday with a little 3m peak 4 (20 knots about). Will be the new prone foiling setup, but it is good to try foils out with my kite first since it is easy to evaluate how it handles / feels when riding for a solid hour or two. Had a great session, it got going very easily with the little kite, did not even have to loop to get going it just wanted to foil. I would also recommend the Medium or Small size if only kiting, the large can really go very slow without stalling. But for a lightwind cruiser it will do a very good job (A small and large on a 100cm carbon mast would actually be a pretty good kitefoiling quiver now that I think about it, but just a medium will likely do a great job as a one wing quiver.)

First of all, very impressed with the stiffens of the mast and solid build all round. (Also planning on using the mast for new DIY stabs and Wings, so very happy that it is nice and stiff).

The wing turns very well, initiates turns nicely and handles a really good amount of speed for a wing that large. Likely because it is so thin (only 15 mm for a 180 mm chord is nice and thin, 8.3% thickness).

The only negative I have is that I think the stab is tuned to give a bit too much front foot pressure. I was standing on the front edge of my footpads to keep the nose down. The stab (S) is also big for a fuselage that long. Would be great to see a XS or XXS veloce stab. But alas, guess I'll have to start making some DIY versions. Should be fine for now on the surfboard with it right at the back of the tracks.

Some comments: there's no Small Veloce, smallest is Medium.
You can use the kite stabs if you want a smaller stab.
I found my foot position on the Pro M with kite and surf stab 40 and Veloce M with veloce 43 stab to be identical.
If you are finding veloce L giving so much lift you have to step way forward, then the wing is too big or your mast is too far forward. My rear mast screws are 80mm from the tail.

Ah yes, I see the sizes are M, L, XL, and XXL.

I just prefer a stab that is tuned so that it is not necessary to change foot pressure / position as you speed up / slow down, and a little bit looser would suit me better. I found the Veloce increased front foot pressure quite a bit when increasing speed, traditionally that is when I would shim the stab a bit or try a smaller stab, until the foil is well balanced at a wide speed range (And that goes for wings larger than this one as well). It's all good, will just make a little "pedestal" to replace the rear stab, where it is possible to use one of the bolt-on stabs lying around (Will likely look similar to the Go-foil pedestal system). A smaller and less angled stab reduces the drag some more as well.

Very impressed with the ride and quality in general, just a bit of fine tuning to suit my personal preference more closely. I would have liked to try it with the kite stab, since it is a bit smaller, but not worth shipping and waiting for one little stab.

[TomW]

Yes, i understand what you mean. On veloce m with veloce 43 stab as speed reaches 20 knts i have to move front foot 3-4 cm forward. I remember riding my friends LF impulse and it was strange that as speed increased i had to put less front foot pressure, but was nice. At that time i was riding the moses 633, and that wing had a lot of lift at speed, so much so that at times it didn't matter where i was standing on the board, it would lift and breach. it was one of the very few things about that wing that wasn't to my satisfaction, and riding the LF Impulse made me realize it.