I just picked a north sonar set, having sold all my axis kit. I had to get on a carbon mast and their latest release did not excite me enough to reinvest. Carbon masts are an interesting thing. My alu set had loosened up to the point whrre i could feel it wiggling around. I can fix thst easy but i dont want to suffer that slowly degrading performance every tine i go out. So ive gone from Axis HPS 1050 and 880 to Sonar Mid Aspect 1200 and 850. Ive dropped a whole bunch of surface area but the foils are so good thst i dont notice. Im faster, lighter and have to manage the foil a whole lot less. Carving 360s are effortless now. I sail in a potentially choppy sea and aspect 9+ foils just pissed me off so i reigned in my ego and went for the 'distinctly accessible' foils. They are so much fun.
@@AngusMcIntyre interesting perspective on moving brands and the differences you found! The north gear looks really great this year! I’ve just made the jump to the sk8 550 from the eagle 690 and the reduced span is a game changer for the fun stuff so I know exactly what you mean. Carving 360s are epic with a smaller span foil!!
@@LachieWhite funnily enough, it was a ride on the SK8 850 with the super spendy 14mm mast that made me realise I needed to change brands. That particular setup rides incredibly. It's surprisingly fast for the 'freeride' foil. The most noteworthy thing is that the transition only cost me £200.
Similarly I went from gong-galaxy alu set to north sonar first full carbon set. I agree it's amazing! I love their gear, I went from their MA1200 which turns well and keeps speed when turning, to the newer/newish Sonar SF930 (for reference I'm 90kg). If you already have a downwind board, you don't need to go bigger for the SF/surf wings, the difference for wingfoiling between 930 and SF1230 (tried my buddies) is minimal and the 930 feels better. It. Is. Awesome for winging. That said I'm starting to get into downwind SUP foil, so I bought their latest HA1450, not too big a fan of it. It works for what I need (large high aspect foil basically), but I'll either lean into a downwind wing when they release their new lineup, or rotate to Code foil. Been seeing a lot of code foil and I'm jealous at the ease it takes to get up and ride swell in basically nothing here in FL. Cheers!
@@bananaboyz10I had a similar experience going from the aluminium mast to carbon. I have a similar theory with the smaller foils. There is definitely a middle zone in wingfoiling where smaller foils are easier than something 200-300cm2 bigger. Just need the pre-requisite of pumping skills
And what foil are on now? Also, once you reach medium small size such as 700/800 I find not so much convenient on further reducing area, as you start to loose angle to the wind and sometimes also speed. How do you think?
@@lodovicobernardi if you are keeping everything else the same then I agree. I start on a bigger wing to access smaller foils and stay on that wing for longer. Benefit being, more speed, agility and pushes me to be very precise with tacking and gybing which I like! If you don’t drop too far down in aspect ratio and you carry a big enough wing, upwind is not an issue! Helps to use a harness line too
@@lodovicobernardidepends on the wing and personal preference. I use my 550 in 10-12 knots+ with a 5.5m and find it doesn’t affect the agility of the foil
For me with the kite race foil 550 with light wind I’m slow and 0 vmg.. if I put 750 wing foil so much faster. But sure a more efficient wing might improve the situation
Circling back to this vid as coldest month of the year in NZ, sun down just after 5pm(You sound like a kiwi too) and I have 2 new designs I love. F-one SK8 looks a lot like my latest one and the one back from that looks like Armstrong ST and Armstrong released theirs about the same time I made mine. Both my latest foils have great glide but my latest one though only slightly smaller, I have stability that makes me feel that I can foot switch on foil. Of course I still need to get used to taking my moment to be 100% about new foot placement but the new foil makes it so much easier. I really favor foils with a bit of sweep and my latest one that I made to fit Axis fuselage, it has almost straight back adge and sweeps to extremely narrow and thin tips. For all the potential for injury, the blissful smooth ride of my 115kg on this 1240sqcm 1M span foil is amazing and yet in surf it's super loose. Lots of our locals on Axis but my few tries of them I've not liked the handling. Axis ARTs do have one of the things I incorporated in my own designs from feb 2022 which is wing tip twist. I've refined my own wingtip twist amount and placement since then to better stretch max speed and min stall speed. It's fascinating seeing all the brands making their own advances in different ways.
almost a kiwi haha. Aussie! Bloody cold here at the moment too but probably not as cold. Foil design is a fascinating world. I work in aerospace and tempted to make my own designs too! I see where you are coming from with the wing tip twist, especially at large spans. I am on the sk8 550 now and I am yet to get the wing tips out unintentionally because the span is less than 70cm. Love to hear the different learnings, especially from people like yourself that make their own stuff and iterate! Thanks for sharing!
@@LachieWhite Look up Albion Bowers and Ludwig Prandtl. I saw Albion's expose of Ludwig's second paper and it's implications about 3 years ago and shared with kiteforums build forum. Then early 2022 I expanded my own wing algorithms to take twist formulae. But by then Triton had released a monofoil with huge tip twist. Next was Gofoil with their hacked off and reattached at a tifferent twist angle mould ends, with misleading marketing.
Look at your mast when you are riding smaller foild too. I designed up my fastest foils this year and then I had to switch out the Axis 800 19mm thick aluminium mast for my own design tapered 850mm carbon mast. And like you, I was using a mast foot angle wedge I 3D printed but with my new mast, I built in a 2 degrees down angle. Much more relaxing on the back leg.
Interesting! So many options to tune a setup. I’ve gone back to complete stock with my foil. F One seemed to have got it spot on for the loading that I like. I prefer to be more front footed with a narrower stance. Always find myself stepping back with my back foot a little once I’m surfing though
@@LachieWhite I think some beginner manufacturers set a climb angle for their foils. But once on foil, you don't need it. better to use back foor pressure to start. Could be you stepping back once on foil is too neutral a stabiliser angle.
