Messages

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Random / Re: AC 75 boats, flaps and footage - Unreal

« on: January 17, 2021, 02:22:24 PM »

If you watched the previous races but none of the Prada Cup, there's quite a bit to catch up on!

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Random / Re: AC 75 boats, flaps and footage - Unreal

« on: January 16, 2021, 12:51:14 PM »

SF...  Are they back on again?  The last I was able to record* and take home was the abbreviated Xmas (New Years?) race?  Are there pre-finals? I thought they were not going at it again 'till like March?  Thanks.

Jim

*in the States, we get a goodly assortment of releases on Youtube. ...but they can be confusing.

Hi Jim - the Prada Cup (previously known as the Louis Vuitton Cup) is the event that selects the challenger who will go up against the current holder, Emirates Team New Zealand, for the America's Cup. There are three challengers, UK, Italy and US, and they are currently going through the round robin stages of the Prada Cup which started a couple of days ago, in Auckland. The America's Cup is March time IIRC.

Viewing rights have been sold worldwide so viewing is dependent upon your location, but I'm UK based which have it free to air on YouTube on the AC YouTube channel so a VPN to a UK IP might work (I'm no expert on such things!). I've heard Facebook is can also work. Best thing would be to checkout America's Cup website first or some Googling for more clandestine work arounds if you're geo locked or paywalled.

It's been great watching so far, even the light airs races yesterday when they were on and off the foils. Very tense as they only need 8ish knots to get foiling, so one moment you're doing 4 knots, 15 seconds later you're doing 30 knots (not an exaggeration!) so massive gaps can open and close very quickly. The apparent wind on these machines is insane...

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Random / Re: AC 75 boats, flaps and footage - Unreal

« on: January 15, 2021, 01:04:03 PM »

If anyone is interested, a heads up that the Prada Cup started  yesterday so these boats are racing for real now. Spectacular!

Viewing is geo restricted...

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Gong 2021 boards - 9 models!

« on: January 13, 2021, 09:56:29 AM »

Before I knew about Gong, when I was just thinking about getting into winging, I really wanted to build a good relationship with my local store because I knew I was going to spend a load and if you spend it at the same place you hopefully will get some decent discounts. But even with this good intention, it just didn't work out - he couldn't get me the board I wanted (a Naish that had entirely sold out) so not his fault, so then got talking about options, and after chasing other stores eventually got a ex demo version of the board I wanted from somewhere else

It just struck me as a complicated way of doing business. I wanted a product but couldn't buy it - really frustrating. Even if Gong stuff isn't available, you know you won't have to wait until next seasons release before you get the opportunity again. You might have to be quick, but it's all signposted and you can pre-order. I least I know where I stand...

Again not saying Gong is perfect, but it's a much simpler way for a customer to do business, assuming they know what they want. Gong get praise from me here, for the amount of detail, description and information on their products.

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Gong 2021 boards - 9 models!

« on: January 08, 2021, 02:36:55 PM »

I don't know if this is too much choice and let's hope there's quality and quantity. I guess we'll learn more about intended usage soon...

I like the look of the Kube - pretty radical design!
The Lethal might be my next board though...

Edit - copied the brief description from website.

Lance
https://youtu.be/u4qY5Eg8VzA
Lethal
https://youtu.be/SWTfortubzs
Flint
https://youtu.be/fY8ecF5I0m4
Lemon
https://youtu.be/HQlLTp9fqqQ
Mint
https://youtu.be/4X9ZIbEVfhk
Kube
https://youtu.be/GxGrY4bqs9M
Zuma
https://youtu.be/aXd92KiGnIE
Hipe
Mob2Taste

Hipe: the inflatable with 95% of the performance of the rigid. Ideal for beginners and much more!
Mob 2tastes: three sports in one board: SUP, SUPfoil and Wing.
Zuma: the easy rigid in SUPfoil in Wing, and with good performance.
Lance: the compact Zuma, very stable laterally, ideal for progressing in Wing.
Flint: high performance SUPfoil, top in Wing car simple and effective in light wind.
Kube: pure wing freestyle board. Minimum length for maximum rotations.
Mint: compactness without the difficulty with its round nose, but excellent performance.
Lemon: maximum reactivity and liveliness, while maintaining lateral stability.
Lethal: absolute radicalism among volume boards

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Slingshot Wingcraft 2021

« on: January 05, 2021, 06:50:25 AM »

Lol it's for freestyle, it's meant to look like that.  It's not designed for old guy lawn mowing, it's meant for Jeffrey Spencer backflips.

Well, that would explain why I don't like the looks.

Not only do I not like the look, I don't understand what it's trying to achieve? You'll lose so much power with the massive dihedral so why not just use a smaller wing?

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: All about the Blue Planet Wing Master board

« on: January 04, 2021, 01:48:13 PM »

Hi Robert - how does the Wing Master cope with getting up on the foil in choppy conditions? Does the more rounded shape get pushed around less than a more boxy shape?

Thanks

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Gong 2021 Wings Announced - 5 Models

« on: January 04, 2021, 10:25:34 AM »

Haha! I'm such a dumbass. I saw that video but didn't notice the new boards as I was too busy looking at the wings!

Timing is good as I was just starting to think about replacing my 5'6 Flint for something a bit smaller as my light wind / floaty board. Let's see what design elements they've included!

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Gong 2021 Wings Announced - 5 Models

« on: January 04, 2021, 02:11:49 AM »

Just seen on Facebook that new board lines are to be released next week. I suspected as much when I saw they'd discounted all their current ranges by 15%...

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Wind wing sizes - let’s hear what you ride for what

« on: January 04, 2021, 02:10:02 AM »

...
Low wing on the surface doesn't work well with big wings because they are always dragging/catching so you end up holding them high where they are inefficient and spilling a lot of air.  That ends up in a lot of pumping which doesn't really translate to speed or flying.

I've found this too and not really come to a good technique to resolve the problem. I'm not sure if the loose canopy of the 6SP is helping and whether a tighter one is better for on water pumping. I'm interested to see how the new Superpowers have been developed. Maybe I should just try the 5m more in light winds but then sometimes even with the 6 I'm struggling for power once up and foiling.

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: Wind wing sizes - let’s hear what you ride for what

« on: January 03, 2021, 02:42:24 PM »

When it is consistently above 28mph I go for my 2.2m BRM. Such a blast.
25-30 is the 3M
20-25 is the 4m
15-20 is the 5m
10-15 is the 6m

Yup, same as Clay, these plus about 2 mph for me except I don't have anything smaller than a 4m but have used that up to 40. I use a harness which really helps in strong breeze and actually in two minds whether I need anything smaller now, especially as I've started getting into jumping so the boost is cool.

I think another data point is helpful though, which is foil sizes. I'm on the Veloce L (1300) as soon as I'm nicely powered on the 5m. If it's very light I'm on the XXL (1900) Veloce and 6m, and use the XL Veloce (1600) if it's marginal for the 5m or I think the breeze is going to fade although I'm using it less and less.

Wings and my weight are in my signature.

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: When to switch stance, before , after or during gybe?

« on: December 30, 2020, 10:50:57 PM »

I can switch back and forth while just sailing along, but when I jibe I get all fucked up and land. No idea why. I see guys that can go forever depowered, playing with the wing,  but I come down in five seconds. Too fat??

Are you crashing down, which would be a foil control issue or falling from the sky, which would be a too slow speed / wing power issue?

Edit - one tip that helped me when I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong in a transition is to focus on looking where I'm going rather than on what I'm doing, for a while. That helps get the board tracking correctly and acts as a starting point for figuring out what else needs to change to get things right.

If you're not steering correctly then chances are you're not giving yourself the chance to make the rest of the transition as easy as possible.

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: When to switch stance, before , after or during gybe?

« on: December 30, 2020, 01:47:29 AM »

....... I couldn't consider swapping feet before gybing when I was learning as it involves a foot swap to my much weaker toe side stance. ..........

IMO one should never ride toeside with weak foot forward.  My advice to op was to switch feet before the gybe is if you are riding with your weak foot forward......switch feet first so that you are now strong foot forward (toeside), then gybe.

What he said!

Just our of interest, are you an ex kiter?

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: When to switch stance, before , after or during gybe?

« on: December 30, 2020, 01:01:34 AM »

....... I couldn't consider swapping feet before gybing when I was learning as it involves a foot swap to my much weaker toe side stance. ..........

IMO one should never ride toeside with weak foot forward.  My advice to op was to switch feet before the gybe is if you are riding with your weak foot forward......switch feet first so that you are now strong foot forward (toeside), then gybe.

Sure, but my point was all of my toeside riding was weak, so swapping into a weaker position before the gybe would have required more skills to master so wasn't something that would have helped me learn to gybe and switch feet more quickly.

Different strokes, and all that...

For what it's worth, I am forcing myself to master weak foot forward toeside riding. It's just too useful a skill if you want to be equal (as possible) on both sides...

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Wingsurfing, Windfoiling, Wingfoiling, Wing SUP / Re: When to switch stance, before , after or during gybe?

« on: December 29, 2020, 11:43:48 PM »

I find it fascinating hearing how other people tackle the same problem. I couldn't consider swapping feet before gybing when I was learning as it involves a foot swap to my much weaker toe side stance. Swapping after the gybe meant swapping into my stronger heelside stance which feels more natural and is much easier to correct if I didn't get the foot placement right first time.

To me as an ex windsurfer, riding toeside and the foot swap into toeside are two separate skills that needed real attention, so you have to learn both before doing a toeside gybe. Perhaps kiters are more able in heelside / toeside fluidity, whereas windsurfer don't suffer from riding switch (I didn't) but find toeside riding totally alien.