The following comes to you from the propaganda ministerium for mono foiling or as I say:
Buy just one, get twice the fun!
viewtopic.php?f=196&t=2393935
Started winging 08/2019 unfortunately wasted a few tries using a stabi.
First I have to say, even with my low experience in windsurf foiling, also one try with a mono, which naturally has been the best , I understand with the complex interaction of attached sail to board, that people prefer to use stabis in wind foiling, topic closed to me.
With kite foiling it is less clear, for sure there are quite many not riding to often and having already a hard job on a normal foil or to jibe it in flight. But on the other hand, there are also many good foilers whose skill and riding style would fit much better and profit from riding without stab, as I am sure. Maybe they just don’t do because they haven’t tried mono foiling long enough until it starts to feel as normal and stable as a stabi foil.
But there is something I really don’t understand, coming to wing foiling, talking about people coming with good skill from kite foiling as many if not most, looking at the statistic in the other topic:
Why could you prefer wing foiling with a stabi?
The main point here is the riding speed. Robby Naish and Kai Lenny both have made videos to show their reachable speeds hitting 40 and 49 km/h, which means: Hey, we wing foilers are not really fast not even the best of us. Those speeds are in the range of my mono foil top speeds of 42 km/h, done 2 years ago with different and no special designed mono wings.
Coming from speed to the biggest drawback of mono foiling: It is not so easy, isn’t it?
How easy a start into mono foiling is, is extremely influenced by wing size and so lift speed. If Kai Lenny, being of course a much better foiler, would try my freerace monofoil 580 cm² wing with a short board, I would bet he would not do a meter in a day. On the other hand the big foils we are using with wings are so easy that I promise, everybody who is able to do a flying jibe will be able to ride such a > 1500 cm² mono in the first minutes, at least what I experienced with kite mono + good riders + 1000 cm².
But about how easy it is I had one single doubt myself till some weeks ago and that’s why I haven’t started this topic earlier: For stupid reason I haven’t had a V strap on my board during the first year and have always done short surfacing for foot switch and so not being sure if it would be easy to do it with a V-strap on a mono in flight:
First day with V-strap, second foot switch successful, other side the next day. Both day bad low wind conditions on a 1100 cm² wing, no need to say how much easier on a 1500 cm². Compared to kite foiling where I even after 4 years don’t feel perfect with mono jibes switch and therefore most time do tacks: I was impressed myself that with a wing setup it is so much easier than with a kite setup, didn’t expect it to be so much easier and that was the point where I haven’t seen any relevant reason anymore to wing with a stabi.
But maybe I missed something and anybody can help me:
1. When I ride a kite foil with a stabi, one time a year, I always have to remember to take ½-1 kite size bigger to compensate drag, which is not a to big problem having kites in any sizes. But when it comes to winging and its limited low end because size and AR of the wing is just limited by the room in between hands and water surface …
-> Why could you want to install something to your foil that adds drag, lowers lift at the same time, so reduces your low end, that can’t be compensated by a bigger wing?
2. When kiting I enjoyed to ride while sitting, which is very comfortable and the potential for many cool tricks, so losing the ability for this position on a mono foil is indeed a relevant draw back for the
kite foil mono.
-> But for the wing? Anybody thinks riding sitting with a wing has much potential or ever seen somebody doing a caneri man, a sitting tack or a sitting jump with a wing?
3. Jumping started to be one of the most important points for winging to me, which brings boards weight into the focus. Actually, I ride a less than 1000 € Alu-Inflatable setup with 72 l that weights 8,3 kg. A mono foil saves weight in many places: Stabi and fuselage for sure, but with the strut more centred reinforcement of board can be lower and there is no need of a grab handle as that’s where the strut comes close so just grab strut and many further small weight savers.
Additionally, a monofoil has an always constant pressure point, which means landings are much easier no matter if you land foil forward or in flight (not yet done but getting close).
-> Why could I want adding significant more weight at least at the worst position and make clean landings more difficult and more dangerous with 4 sharp wingtips instead of 2 rounded ones?
4. Many prefer riding wings in complete freedom without harness and gliding smallest waves.
-> Why would you want something,
- that increases the drag and therefore also the force you have to hold with your hands?
- that blocks your movement on a wave?
- that lowers your glide angle and therefore makes you catching less waves?
- that decreases your upwind angle?
Actually, I ordered a wing board, that is build close to a mono foil only usage, as track position is 3 cm more forward, the same I already did 2 years ago with a custom kite board. Haven’t been a bad idea till now.
At least the known suspects have already seen the same light, like I did