F4 have made the smallest foil I've ever seen,.. A new 290 front and 135 rear set!
The new generation foils mean you can fly with a 100cm less foil than before and I was pleasantly surprised by this foil, despite the size. Today had a great forecast but underwhelming reality with wind around 12-18 knots with lulls to 6 and gusts to 22kts.
First run and I was not setup well with the mast in the middle of the box. I had way too much nose pressure and had to slide the mast all the way to the back of the track (insert slot just visible) to get flying. After a few 24 kt runs I moved it forward about 1cm and felt really smooth!
To get this tiny foil flying you need 18kts board speed, so a fast planing board, slalom style, with both feet in the straps, harness on and power in the rig. At 18-20kts bounce off a chop and get airborne. If you have enough speed you'll stay up with a lot of back foot pressure (sheet in with backhand a long way down the boom helps). Acceleration comes on quickly and you'll soon be moving weight forward to tame the lift.
At 25 knots this foil is comfortable. With wind you can keep accelerating easily to 30kts.
Unfortunately the wind died before I could really push this new foil but suffice to say it has great potential for such a tiny wing!
There is one downside, with a minimum flight speed of 18knots, air gybes are difficult. I didn't manage one with the light winds but I've heard it is possible!
I started the session with the new 135L tail giving the set a 99cm length but with the light winds found the 170L and XL (118cm) gave more lift (and stability)!
F4 Foils new tiny 290cm2 front foil and 135 rear. Smallest available speed foil ever! Test on 6.1m CHS and Phantom 85 with forward mounted straps.
