New custom setup. Sabfoil w940 Lessons learned.

so..... how does it ride? Looks like a sweet combo of parts - use what you have!

More lessons! Hahahhaha

This wing is definately a sticky wicket! Day one, went out and got on foil fine but couldn't keep the speed and couldn't pump at all. Maxed out the shim (rear wing up) and it helped, made a handfull of connections.

Went home, cut that shim angle into the fuse, went out again. Better but same feeling, couldn't get up to speed. Again maxed out the shim and sent the foil all the way to the front of the boxes. Speed was better but i'm still falling out on my pumps, couuldnt even consider Max effort on pumps without the wing stalling.

Went back to the Naish 1240 HA wing setup for the rest of the day and it was a RIOT. Digging deep on pump effort the wing could sustain full effort pumps even at low speeds. Looping 6-7 waves, 2 pump cadences (cruising pump for distance and acceleration for re-connections), loops at the top shooting the peak, sketchy inside shorebreak. Phenomenal, felt reliable like an old friend after the w940.

I think whats happening to me on the w940 is the rear wing is so big when i go to pump its anchored in the water colum, moving more force to the front wing and its dropping out on the downstroke. Cutting a little more of the shim angle into the fuse and putting the rear wing on a diet for next session. I think with a reduced rear wing when i go to pump the rear wing will do a little more kicking (like a doplhin!) and not move the front so drastically causing it to drop out.

Another feature of the w940 thats worth mentioning is the tips have alot of relief to reduce tip vorticies and induced drag etc. This is great except now those tips aren't doing anything so effectively the Surface area is less. Really difficult for me to ride what is already a borderline rig at my size.

Gonna keep at it for a few more sessions (the first part of the session at least) to see what else i can learn about foils, what features correspond to the things i like, and maybe get a new rideable rig. (Maybe save it for LIT downwinders!)

The mast is definately a winner though. The plate is going to get epoxy filled (little movement there that i want gone) but otherwise perfect. Next weekend i'll make a fuse for the naish 1240 HA for that mast and rear wing so i can take a known quantity to get each componenet dialed one at a time.

Yeah @martyman I've been building my own foils since I started kite foiling back in 2015. I bought one surf foil back in 2018 but been back on my own stuff since then. 90% of why I do it is stiffness and reliability. Also, there's not many other riders here so I never get to see or touch production gear without buying it. It seems like every time I take a risk and order something I'm really disappointed - boards too heavy, too weak, foils have too much flex, ****ty connections.

that's one thing I'm really proud of on my setups, there is no movement, not a wiggle, I'll stand on the board and grab the ends of the wing and twist it around and **** and there's not a creak, none of the joints move. Haven't touched many production setup that can say the same.

@grantmac ive always found a clean, properly torqued, butt joint to be excelent. Like with all things strength is in the design but a wobble free connection is the resuly of a clean fit. Getting a clean fit on 2 flat surfaces is really easy with my mill setup. If i ever have problems i can re-flatten in 30 seconds and i'm good to go. Getting a clean fit on a socket is miserable, the plate is the weak part of that setup and is going to get permanently bonded and epoxy filled this weekend to take out the wiggle.

I've never touched a doohicky connection in person so i can't speak to it but i can get a Butt Joint PERFECT (+-.001) and keep it that way. Two Machined pieces 3d pieces is a tricky thing to make perfect and even more difficuly to keep it that way. As i said before i test my connections my standing on the board and putting 30+ lbs of pressure on a wingtip, feeling the mast flex and still 0 movement in the mast fuse. Not many other setups i see on the beach perform as well on that test.

ADJUSTMENT UPDATE. Putting the rear wing on a diet made a huge difference. Nearly equal performance to my 1240 now but faster and less rear foot pressre. Slippery in the turns is nice but taking some getting used to. The pump is still not 100% but making long tripples and with cadence adjustments it will improve and i can see it eventually being atleast equal. It was bigger today so i don't know if its going to end up as my daily driver but time will tell.

3 sessions of adjustments to being happy on a new wing is good for me.

@grantmac yes, i use them in the ocean and being uncoated is a feature.

The galvonic corrosion that occurs between carbon and aluminum occrs at a rate determined by the amount of exposed carbon...and acts on the area of exposed aluminum. This mean that if you have alot of exposed carbon(wings with worn through paint) in the water lots of corrosion is going to occur, but where it occurs is based on the aluminum coating. If you have an uncoated aluminum part you get a light coating of corrosion everywhere. If you have a coated aluminum part that corrosion will find the one scratch or weak point in that aluminum part and go crazy in that spot. I've seen moses factory fuses with structural problems because all that corrosion occured dramatically and catastrophically in an area the size of a pencial eraser where a small scratch had occured. The only spots i coat are those essential to the connection, i thoroughly lubricate tapped parts and seat the front wing in a layer of epoxy (with release agent applied to the wing).

Best thing to do is paint the wings white so you have a better view of what carbon is exposed and you can touch up to keep it to a minimum. Its hard to see where carbon is exposed on a black or clear coated wing.