F1 swing quiver help

[flkiter]

I have the 5 swing and love it. I'm going to get the 6 when it's released but wondering if for my smaller wing, the 4.2 or 3.8. anyone have any experience with the two of them? It's been nuking in Florida so I'm getting over powered on the 5 but it's a rarity to get this type of wind so was thinking the 4.2 and 6 would be my set up with the 5 for travel or sell it. BTW I was on a wasp 4 today and lit up also but I'm never feeling over powered on the wasp so is it worth it to go smaller if I can hold the 5 down in over 25 mph?

[Admin]

How heavy are you, FL?

[flkiter]

160 lbs. Riding the Axis 100 wing. 5'11" foil surf machine board

[Admin]

We have the 5, the 4.2 and the 3.5.  We are waiting on the 2.8 (and will buy the 6 and the 2.2 when those come out as well).  I am up to 170 lbs this morning (I am calling it extra muscle ).  For a stretch there the 3.5 was my only Swing and it was really all that I wanted to use, so I did that.  If I had to narrow to only two (and I wouldn't want to) it would be the 3.5 and the 5.  I could cover most days with that.  There are definitely times that I have been way over on the 3.5.  Stronger 20's and I will be heading for the 2.8 when we have one.  In the Gorge, 3ish is a must have size and the 3.5 Swing is too powerful to fill that role.  That is where the 2.8 will come in  (2.2 for Chan).  I am not missing much low end with the 5.  That with the Axis 1020 covers 10-15. 

Yesterday was an East Wind day here.  That means that the wind and current are moving in the same direction.  That makes it just a little harder to plane or foil and it can be harder to stay upwind.  It was also very light.  There were four of us with Swings and 1 kite foiler.  It was too light for the kite foiler to launch so he didn't come out.  That should have been a sign.  I launched on the 5 and was picked up by a pretty minimal breeze.  It foiled me the full mile across the river but it was right on the edge with a few stretches of pump assist.  Foiled though most of a Jibe (my best one yet), transitioned the wing in the air, touched down, switched feet on the surface and foiled about half way back.  Then the cartoon noise, Wah, wah, waaaah.  That was it.  No more foiling for the rest of the session.   The wind eased off just enough that I couldn't make it work anymore.  There is a great feeling when you pull down against a nicely powered wing and it resists you perfectly, almost like you are doing a diagonal pull up against something rigid.  There is an equally awful feeling when you are underpowered, like you are pulling the wing through unsupportive air.  This went from the former to the latter like a switch had been flipped.  I came in after a (long) period of unrequited optimism and said, "I think that was 6 Meter wind".  The cool thing was that even though we were barely moving by the end, we all stayed up wind against wind and current and landed where we launched.  Zero chance of that in an easterly slogging to that degree on a sailboard.  It is nice having a 30 inch fin underneath you.  Very cool!

[Wetstuff]

"There is an equally awful feeling when you are underpowered, like you are pulling the wing through unsupportive air."  For the most part, that's what I have been feeling. I have not felt the 'grunt' of the wing yet.

Like kites, you need a quiver...  a 6m sounds about right.


Jim

[flkiter]

Thanks admin, I'm going to go with the 3.5. hopefully it'll be a 6, 3.5 quiver. My kite quiver is a huge jump with the foil also but, I haven't used a kite since I got a wing. I hope more companies follow the F1 design