IQFoil Kit Review

I figure I will write my thoughts down here while it's still fresh on my mind.

I'm somewhere in the intermediate range of windsurfer. I restarted last June/July after having taught myself a few years back. I've progressed a LOT since I restarted, and am probably 10x better than I ever was before I took a several year break. That said, I have still not completed a fully planing jibe (but I have entered planing and exited sub-planing to then get back planing on both 145L and 115L boards), nor a foiling jibe. But, I feel it's very close now, at least a foiling jibe. Part of this is local conditions, which was a lot of the reasoning in putting the money down for the full IQFoil kit. Summers here in FL aren't that windy except when storms roll through, but evening seabreezes that are pumpable for a big sail on a foil are very, very frequent.

I weigh about 85kg now (185ish lbs depending on the day), in pretty good shape, and didn't have much of a problem with the kit other than uphauling the sail with a luff sleeve full of water. I'll probably start just waterstarting the big 9.0 4 cam sail soon just to save some energy. It really, really sucks to uphaul that sail. I've waterstarted the slingshot kit when it was high enough wind, but I haven't bothered yet with the 9.0 just due to the size and complication of getting all that water in the luff sleeve. But, I hate pulling that sail up, honestly, and I think waterstarting it if the wind is there will be a better move.

The board is fairly durable. Within the first week I had cracked the nose a couple times in some gnarly catapults, which were my fault for beam reaching in gusty conditions somewhere in the 15-20kt range. But, those didn't soften up the nose and appear to be watertight, so I'm not too worried. My crashes have (mostly) been more benign since then, except for losing control downwind in a 26kt or so gust that sent my hip straight into the mast, which I am still sore from and which is why I didn't go out today, just to give myself some time to heal up a little more.

I've put a LOT of sessions on this thing in the month I've had it. It's hard to resist because I don't need multiple sails, I don't really need to think too much about the conditions, I just load one board one foil one mast one sail and GO. I've ridden in everything from ~8kts or so to over 26kt wind in that time, at least a dozen sessions. Top speed so far has been about 25mph.

This whole kit exaggerates my windsurfing weaknesses and forces me to find a solution. I cannot blame a mismatched kit or suboptimal board like I could with my freeride (slingshot) foil and hybrid board (Blast 145). It's all on me, because these kits have enormous capability.

Here's what I've learned so far, in a month:
*I was mainly mowing the lawn when windsurfing, except when catching waves on the dyno. I was blowing up on the IQ by trying to beam reach in 20kt gusts, going as far to go to the -1deg shim with a very forward mast foot. This was wrong and me being dumb
*I have since learned to go deep upwind or deep downwind with a 0deg shim and central mast foot, in up to the above mentioned 26kt or so gusts. I still have some stability issues going downwind but my fear of turning that way is much less than it was
*I have learned to zig zag up and downwind in order to reach a set bearing without getting too much lift
*I have gotten a lot better at riding the harness, but I think I still need some tweaks to keep my heart rate from going almost to 200bpm while screaming around
*I have gotten much better at rigging a 4cam sail by adjusting downhaul for getting the cams on there easily without wasting too much time
*I'm trying to get better at adjusting outhaul, and someone told me that it's pretty much necessary for this kit and I understand why now
*I've learned to pump to foil in about 8kts wind, maybe a bit more, and found it extremely rewarding. It's much easier to pump than the slingshot/blast combo due to the width and volume distribution of the board
*I started with all 6 straps (adding the 2 extra downwind/chick straps), but have since moved to only 4 straps by removing the chicken straps. I did like the feeling of chicken straps when going downwind, but also like the freedom of moving my feet when downwind. I'm not sure on this. I hear lots of people don't bother with the chicken straps at all. It would be interesting to know what others think here.
*Almost all of my setup now is mast foot in the center and 0deg shim. I may start using -0.5deg in 15kt or so wind, or -1deg when it's really howling, just to get some more speed and see what it can do. I just handle gusts by looking ahead and adjusting my angle to the wind. It's easy to go too far upwind and slap around not fully foiling, then bear off to get back flying and angling the board more. Downwind is more touchy, but I think I'll eventually get it.

This whole kit is actually fairly easy to ride. Due to the sail stability, that hasn't been a large of a factor compared to my freeride sails. No twitchiness. It's all been in riding the foil. I don't think that this kit feels very difficult to jibe on the foil, either, I just have to overcome my fear. It's intimidating being up there 2-3ft above the water and just committing to the turn. I feel like I'm right there, I just need to dedicate a session to it.

Also, I want to note that the shape of this board makes it VERY forgiving to overfoils. I've ridden out some crazy out of control situations when the foil gets aerated or even jumps out of the water, and somehow come crashing down without catapulting, many times. I still do get into irrecoverable situations, but I'm amazed at how well it recovers. It takes a lot of the fear of overfoils out of the situation. If it's not too gnarly, I'm going to have the whole thing back in shape fairly quickly.

All in all, I've put some serious time and miles on this since I picked it up a month ago. I really like having a dedicated race foil and board, with matching sail, to eliminate everything from the equation other than my ability to rig/trim and my own skills and tactics. Hopefully I'll be landing some foiling jibes soon, meaning that I'll actually be able to attend a local race at some point and then keep pushing harder.

Some videos I took recently to give you an idea (or maybe some chuckles or comments?)...


Here's me chasing down a regatta just recently:

Don't hesitate to pull more outhaul than they recommend (with moderation) and to try to sail with longer lines when the wind picks up.
Also, you can move the front foot strap forward (and keep the rear footstraps at the same spot) to have more control if you need to.
I found that having a wide stance helps a lot.
When it's really light, you can move the mast track back a bit.

Chasing down sailboat video, you were hitting the chop a lot, would focus on having a level flight, faster and more comfortable. Are you using back foot pressure to keep board nose up and getting tired and so hitting the chop?

Looks lovely, would really like to get a run in the IQ kit to see what it's like but they're not really taking off over here in Ireland yet.

Little observation on the gybe entry, try keeping the front arm a little more extended on the way in. This keeps the rig more upright and centred over the board, also gives more room between you and the boom to help pivot the rig through the backwinding caused by the apparent wind in the middle of the gybe. Having the back hand a touch further back could also help, the cleat for the adj outhaul looks around where I would put my hand so maybe just behind it?

An update:I broke the first mast somehow. From the video (may upload later), it looks like the boom rotated quite a bit before I even hit the water, so I think the mast was broken before I was even in. I watched the video over and over and I cannot think of an explanation of anything other than I came off foil due to hitting a stingray or fish, and when the board hit the water the mast snapped just from my weight in the harness.I remember seeing what looked to be a superficial crack on the roughened spiral-wound outer surface, nearly vertical, about 1cm long, and not being too worried about it, but that may have been a defect or a start of the failure.

It was warrantied no question.

After 2 weeks of not sailing on that kit, but using my freeride foil, I got back on it and feel like I lost some skill, but also I think the wind direction changed enough to make my nearest spot quite a bear. I realized how difficult this spot is due to the buildings, trees, and landmass that makes a swirling vortex where the wind can change about 20-30 degrees when it is gusting close to 20 or over 20kts with that direction. It put the intimidation factor, as well as the recent memory of breaking the mast back up there.


From the recovery, I also put a small hole in the bottom of the board, due to a long scratch from the boat, which I needed to patch as it was sucking up some water. I let it air out and dry out in the sun first. The bottom of the board seems very thin, easy to put a hole through. There's another hole that's almost through and I will patch that soon, so that's hole #4. I

Today I did a short run, finally trying the 95+ fuselage. I forgot I had it, honestly. The wind was gusting over 20 knots and due to the shiftiness and strange behavior with that direction, it was difficult to deal with the 9.0, but that fuselage made it feel much less like a survival situation than the 115plus does in similar conditions. I felt a LOT more comfortable being overpowered on that 9.0, and had much less breaching issues without going to extreme angles, but it was still tough after lowering the boom and giving more outhaul on the sail. At the very least, it's extended my comfort level about 5kts or so. I would still shy away from a day where it's going to 30 kts. And it felt like pumping onto the foil was pretty easy, but I didn't really have to do that much of it. Stomping on the rear to get completely out of the water felt more responsive on the shorter fuselage.

I would really like to take it out with my camless 6.6 and give it a go on a day like that. May tomorrow, or may just hunt he waves and give the neglected Dyno some time.

Scenic View north of the Skyway bridge is a great spot. When i snowbird down there I foil there. If the wind has any west in it, you have to go over to 75 cent beach further west on the way down to Fort Desoto. Since I live north, my favorite spot is the north side of the Dunedin Causeway. Plenty deep even at low tide, and empty of other craft compared to the massively crowded south side. Fred Howard is foilable only at high tide.

And, yes, with experience you have enough mast to fly a bit higher off the water and avoid the wave tops. Good videos.

Here is how I get my assembled foil in a Passat 4-door sedan, fold rear seats, move front passenger seat forward and recline as far back as possible until it touches folded rear seats, slide board in through the trunk with nose sliding over the reclined front passenger seat, then for the foil open drivers side passenger door and insert foil mast and stabilizer into car with front wing to your upper left above the door frame/window, then once mast and stabilizer is inside, slide front wing between door frame and car body and drop down and then into car, then the whole foil is in with mast laying flat on top of board, with wing behind driver seat and stabilizer against the inside of the car. Works for Goya Bolt 135, AFS W95 with F1080 wing, and I then slide sails mast and boom in from the truck over foil mast. Works even better in a Toyota Venza, more room for extra sails masts and booms.

I am guessing you have the 900 wing, right? You could try the new(ish) 725 or 650 SB slalom wings maybe.

Hey aeroegnr, in your sailing around thursday video your form looks much improved over previous videos, good job!

Had a shortish sail yesterday in really gusty conditions that had out of proportion unorganized chop from the bay.

Observation:
These are the gusty conditions that got me scared when I first got this kit, and it still worked up my anxiety over losing control and overfoiling. However, this is mostly in my head.

I started out with a -0.5 shim, as I had before, and was having a hard time getting going. Due to the chop, gustiness, and patchiness, my pumping wasn't great, and the shim hurt it noticeably. I did go back and swap for the 0 shim and it made it so much better. In fact, I think a lot of my problem early on was adjusting shims too early. With just that half degree of difference, I got lift a lot earlier, which helped me get above the chop and be less worn out.

I think I felt a slight difference in stability with that shim as well but I'm not certain on this.

I did also notice that staying in both straps as long as I could made the ride much more enjoyable. I am starting to get closer to reaching than before, but still haven't had the balls to turn more broad in both straps. Also, for a moment I figured out a much better body position that was closer to windsurfing, committing a lot more to the sail. It took longer harness lines to get there. Initially, I had them way too short. They did help going upwind but were destroying my forearms from not being able to lean into the sail as much.

My height preference still needs work. I am flying too low, which is hurting performance and keeping my jibes from flying. When I get scared I get that. Not sure what to do other than force a higher altitude with more TOW.

Hey aero, what was the location where you were foiling around the sailboats? I'm always looking for new spots when I snowbird down there. Scenic, 75 cent, and north side of Dunedin Causeway are my current spots. Dunedin is the best because it is really big and really deep, and closest to home.

Also, exactly where is the gusty spot you showed in your earlier video? Since I foil during the summer up in the Gorge, I am very accustomed to virulent gusts.

For the first time today I tried out the 650 front wing. Everything else standard with 115+ fuse and 0deg shim

Wind was marginal. I was really pushing the low end on this. I think it needs about 10knots minimum with this setup, but it's hard to tell by anything other than feel. Because of the marginal wind I didn't hit any new speed records, but just wanted to know what the minimums were for this wing.

I say the same thing at the end of the video but it felt really good once up and on the foil at about 20mph. Stayed in the straps and maneuvered a little bit up and down wind without a problem during the few flights today. I only crashed once when I tried to get too high upwind and stalled one side and fell over backward at a pretty low speed, very undramatic.

Looking forward to a little more wind with this.

First flight: