Author Topic: Got Fanatic Sky SUP WS edition- need to learn to use it  (Read 2412 times)

FloridaWindSUP

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Got Fanatic Sky SUP WS edition- need to learn to use it
« on: December 25, 2020, 04:34:15 PM »
My christmas present to myself was a 2020 Fanatic Sky SUP ws edition. I've had it in the water three times but first two times were not nearly windy enough with a 6.8 sail, and third time was only briefly, maybe, windy enough with a 5.7 sail. I can say that the board floats nice and is surprisingly easy to slog upwind despite being so short, but it feels awkward to try to fly it with sail power. I'm really comfortable foiling with my Slingshot Infinity 76 foil on an old formula windsurf board, but I had a tough time getting on the foil and struggled to keep the sail sheeted in and maintain the right trim and elevation when on the skysup. Is anybody else riding a similar style of crossover foilboard that has tips on trimming it? I was thinking I might try putting the mast base as far forward as it will possible go, because the mast track is much further back than it is on my other board.
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Dwight (DW)

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Re: Got Fanatic Sky SUP WS edition- need to learn to use it
« Reply #1 on: December 25, 2020, 05:21:30 PM »
Is it the type board were the foil is mounted way forward? Not back in a normal windsurf fin position.

I made one of those years ago. What a hot mess. Jacky hated it so much, she refused to foil it. I thought it was fun to foil, although far from easy compared to a dedicated windsurf foil board.

The forces and balance are super sensitive with the foil moved way up. The board surfs nice. Turns quick. But no way is it easy compared to proper boards. I refuse to make them.


FloridaWindSUP

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Re: Got Fanatic Sky SUP WS edition- need to learn to use it
« Reply #2 on: December 25, 2020, 08:26:18 PM »
At its farthest back in the track, the foil mast is like directly under the back footstrap, which is a bit further forward than it is on my formula board, but I think kind of similar to where the foil mounts on like a slingshot foil windsurf board. The mast position on my foil itself is adjustable so I moved it from the most forward position to the middle position. I think a bigger issue might be the mast base attachment being so much further back than I'm used to. I'm missing that third point of stabilization and downward pressure that I usually get from the mast base.
14x23 Riviera RP
14x27.25 Fanatic Falcon
11'8 Exocet WindSUP
10'4 Angulo WindSUP
...and a bunch of windsurf stuff

Dwight (DW)

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Re: Got Fanatic Sky SUP WS edition- need to learn to use it
« Reply #3 on: December 26, 2020, 03:33:34 AM »
Could be a few things affecting you. A Slingshot Wizard foil board has the mast position way, way, back. It’s a tight compact, responsive, sailing setup. Instant pitch control and very fun. Where the formula windfoil boards are less so. Big foiling sails, although more compact than regular sails, are still stretched (mast foot to foil mast location) compared to the style of foiling done with small wave sails like Slingshot.

There are two camps. The Slingshot free riding versus the race foiler setup.

If the board has SUP rocker, instead of windsurf rocker, then that could be hurting your ability to get on foil with the small free riding sails of the Slingshot style of foiling. It might work better with big surf foils to allow smaller sails and the compact riding style.

All just a wild guess not having seen or ridden one. But those are some of the issues I’ve experienced trying different gear and making a few boards in the early years. A few of the guys here would have me ride and tune their new gear before they tried foiling. So I got to try a bunch of stuff.
« Last Edit: December 26, 2020, 03:36:24 AM by Dwight (DW) »

starman

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Re: Got Fanatic Sky SUP WS edition- need to learn to use it
« Reply #4 on: December 26, 2020, 01:25:06 PM »
I read your post FlordiaWindSUP and I feel your pain. I've have the same board for over a year and experienced similar issues when moving from an old Mikes Lab formula board to the Fanatic. In my case I had to move to the Infinity 84 wing on the formula board to get flying earlier as the 76 needed too much wind and sail for my liking.(I'm 100kg wet) So when switching to the Fanatic involved a lot of frustration and fiddling with all the positions of the mast base and foil mast. (Oh and ditching the 71cm mast for the 90 cm mast made life much better) The biggest problem was the formula board worked great using the 42" distance between the foil mast and the mast step but as you know the Fanatic is a like 8-10" less so what's the magic number? Well for starters I put the foil mast as far to the rear as it goes, that position I've never played with. Then the 84 wings needs to be in position C on the switch fuse vs B for the 76. All my tweeking has been with the mast base position. I started with all the way to the front, in that position I found it very had to pump up onto the foil. I put it near the rear, that made it unridable as it breached faster than I could react. Basically the short span from the two masts makes for subtile adjustments. The weight of the rig really influences the wing and where you stand. I've found that all my adjusting needs to stay between the center and front of the track for best results. My biggest sail for this board is a 5.9 and I hate using it as the smaller sails are just so much more fun to foil on and easier to control in gusts. Also really play around with your stance and foot positions. The board is very sensitive to where you stand and I often have to shift my feet for pumping and shift again once on foil. I installed the rear strap but rarely use it except to know what my back foot is doing. Often standing on the mast to pump up on foil and then shifting forward of the strap to keep the nose down. My front foot can be as far forward as the mast step and sometimes further when I'm overpowered and trying to keep from breaching and getting launched when I go past the wings speed limit. (mostly get launched when I push the 84 too hard) So I would suggest playing with your feet to find the sweet spot when trimming the sail. But it's not going be like the formula race foil boards that use big sails and were you can really lean on the sail and hike out. The fanatic is going to be a very erect stance and very little load on the sail once flying and using the apparent wind. It's much happier with the smallest sail you can pump onto the foil.

I think Dwight is spot on with saying the compact foil to mast distance is more freeride type windfoiling vs the longer "wheelbase" of the formula boards. The Fanatic is not nearly as good pointing upwind as my MikesLab foil board conversion did. But I had to switch to my Fanatic as the 39" width of that board made it like trying to fly two wings at once when the wind picked up. I plan to start winging in the spring and the Fanatic will be just fine for that especially the light wind days but I still love wind foiling so maybe it means getting a true dedicated windfoiling board and maybe a different wing setup. But not quite sure where the $$ for that will come from. Boards, foils, wings more sails more wings and foils it's just a bottomless pit.

 


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