Author Topic: any experience with Naish Hover Crossover 120 & Thrust Surf foils for winging?  (Read 3928 times)

mbarnhar

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Longtime windsurfer (with some windfoiling experience) & SUPer (race & surf) - 6’3” 180lbs - late last year bought Cyber Monday deal from Naish - the 2019 Hover Crossover 120 & 2019 Thrust Surf foils (L & XL) + windsurf foil. Masts are aluminum, wings are carbon. Original intent was for SUP surf foiling & windsurf foiling. Didnt intend for winging until very recently. Decided to jump into winging and got the new Naish S25 (4.6 and found that was too small, trying to sell it), now have the 6.0.

At the moment, im on a large lake (gusty wind) without a good launch for jump in & go...requires some upwind maneuvering to the windline. Ive successfully tow foiled the Hover Crossover 120 behind a boat with the L surf foil. Ive successfully used the wing on 11’ SUP in light wind. However, ive yet to successfully fly the foil with the wing...even with XL Thrust Foil and 6m wing in 15-20mph wind. Board/foil feel sluggish...i bear downwind a little bit and pump, but still not able to fly the foil.

Anyone here have experience with this setup and have some tips?

DavidJohn

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I have friends with that same set up and are doing very well .. but they are lighter than you.

I’m your weight and I’m using the 125 Hover 1650 (XL) and after needing more wind than expected bought the big 2450 foil.. Getting this made a big difference learning and with the big 6m S25 I made big improvements. I can now use my 1650 much easier and recently bought the new HA 1800 and I’m loving that. The big 2450 still gets me up and going sooner.

If you have a windsurfing background (like me) you were probably making the same mistake as me and trying to get board speed by pumping the wing and not the foil like you do windsurfing.. This will often not get you up unless the wind is very strong.. I recommend learning to pump the board and foil because that’s the trick.. I’m no expert but I hope this helps.

Once things start working for you I’d recommend going to a longer mast (75-85) and I found doing this made me also improve heaps.. Your board is probably holding you back a little and moving to a shorter chunkier board will help with learning to pump the foil and be easier when flying.

There are plenty of people here with much more skills and experience than me that might have more advice to help get you going..

Solent Foiler

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I have the 2020 120 Crossover on the Jet 1650 foil, 85cm mast and have been having a great time winging on it, but with a couple of caveats - I weigh 65kg and I had some front footstrap inserts put in which helps in aggressive foil pumping. To be fair I don't normally have to pump the foil unless it's marginal conditions. Normally just pumping the wing and timing the pop up off as I come down a bit of chop is fine:

- start pointing quite far downwind,
- wait for gust, and give 3 to 4 slow wing pumps to build up board speed
- as board accelerates, and I feel apparent wind /power building in the wing, start pumping wing hard
- if there's a bit of chop to accelerate down use it but before I run into the back of the next wave, weigh the back foot and pop board up, whilst simultaneously turning crosswind to keep windspeed up.
- if I'm going to pump the foil I do it more as a way of getting the board out of the water if there is no chop, and give 2-3 really aggressive pumps
- one tip that really helped me was to move my back foot forward, see here:
https://youtu.be/EBsIeHFswOw

It's a lot of technique, and once you've cracked it, it all makes sense and things become a lot easier.

EDIT - if you feel like the board is sluggish then perhaps you're not pointing far enough downwind. Trying to reach crosswind to get foiling just loads up the mast like a massive windsurf fin and pulls the board sideways rather than pointing downwind and pumping which loads up the foil to generate lift.
« Last Edit: April 23, 2020, 04:10:54 AM by Solent Foiler »
I'm 5'10", 66kg riding:
Swift Foil Boards custom 4'10 x 19.5" 35L
Gong Lethal 4'6 65L
Axis ART 799, 899, 1099, HPS 880 US & CS Adv fuse, 85cm mast
Gong Fluid L-S, XXL-S on 85cm and 65cm mast
Takuma RS 5.1, 4.3, 3.5

mbarnhar

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Good stuff...thank you both for your replies...very helpful...will give these tips a try! (My S25 4.6 is for sale in Classifieds if you know anyone looking for one).

 


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