Advice needed. Struggling with dedicated wing board.

Hi everyone.

Ive learned to wing on my Naish Hover 142 wing foil board and the SS infinity 99 foil. Its been amazing and I've considered myself past the beginners stage as I can now go upwind, use a 6m wing and a 4m wing and handle chop as well as the occasional gybe.
The Naish works really well but it lacks deck pads where I kneel (ouch) and is a bit too long when its windy. I have been able to foil comfortably in 13mph wind on that set up and learned to pump the foil well.

I took the plunge and bought a dedicated wing foil board that is 5 foot 10 long but has 135 litres of volume.
I did 3 sessions out on it with minimal wind to get used to the shape and it supports me ok (although it feels very tippy when kneeling) and I can slog about ok in as little as 10 mph. Ive even gybed it when slogging.
Yesterday I had two sessions with more wind. The first on very flat water 16-22mph. I slogged about and suddenly I got up on one run with a bit of pumping and went along for 300m. The windfoilers near me didn't get going and I left them behind. That was it for the rest of that session. Wind came up and i couldn't get going at all. I tried every conceivable foot position. Downwind pumping, overhead pumping etc. No joy. Board mostly kept lifting to a massive nose high position and then stalled. If I tried to keep my weight more forward to try and keep the board flat and be ready to weight the front foot on lifting it just wouldn't go.
Later in the day the wind was even stronger (18-25mph) so I went back to the beach and went out with a 6.0 wing. Much easier to get on to the board with loads of power in the wing and but 45 minutes of manic pumping in very powered conditions produced ZERO flights.

It feels like the board just wants to push through the water and when it reaches the speed the foil works at it just jumps up nose high. Too quick to catch. Even when powered and having the wing high it still ploughs through.

Im 104 kgs and the 135 feels ok under my feet and is only 7 litres less than my Naish 142.
The wing is the same, the foil is the same but I cannot make it work.

Any suggestions please

If you were getting up on foil initially with a nose high scenario, I would try moving the foil back a hair in the tracks. On my smaller board (+10L) when schlogging and pumping on foil, my rear foot is a full 6"-12" forward of my normal flying stance. That foot placement effectively centers my weight at a better balance point on the board and launch angle for the foil. If I don't move the foot, my nose is slightly out of the water and it's difficult to balance.

A front foot strap really helps on a smaller/shorter board as well. It takes that guess work out of the equation so you can focus on back foot placement for launch, then step back slightly when up on foil. It also helps with pumping the board, as you don't need to worry about your foot slipping around or rising off the deck.

Also play around with starting your wing pumping motion/board pumping motion with your knees bent a good bit. That can help you push the board down into the water slightly as you sheet in on the pump. It can allow a slight dolphin rhythm to develop where the board can pick up more speed and foil engage quicker.

If you have any shimming capabilities, you could also try and decrease the offsetting lift from the tail.

Hope this helps! Don't give up on the smaller board, it's worth the shorter length!

Difficulty with new board most likely related to foil positioning vs foot placement. I would put foil onto old board and take some careful measurements (front foot relative to front wing, for example) and then make sure you replicate the setup on the new board. Also possible that tracks on new board are positioned such that angle of attack may be different from what you are used to. If you can get a session behind a boat, it may help dial in new setup.

With a 6m in 18 to 25 mph winds, you would hardly need to pump the wing or the board to get going. As Emmafoils pointed out, I would be paying some close attention to foil angle on the board and positioning.

I get my best and earliest lift on the SUP foil board by having the foil positioned to the front of the board. Least speed required and least powered required for me. My other mates are running about half way back.

I have a friend who was having similar issues to what you are describing on a custom foil board build. Struggled to get up. I swapped him on to my board with his foil and he got going without any issue. He retired his board and got something similar to mine.

Thanks everyone for your input. i will measure the distance on my old board and see if I can replicate.
I do have the foil right at the back at the moment to give stability and trying to stop the nose rising too quick. I will have a look at bearing off the wind a lot more. My one run that I got going may well have been very off the wind but it happened so fast I can't really remomebre

Thanks once again

Take a look and listen to Alan Cadiz explain about how to get the board to lift (wing board) at around the 7 minute mark of the video below:

Foil placement in the track and back foot placement are crucial to getting on foil -- depends to some extent on wind speed. You have to get enough forward momentum to get past the foil's stall speed -- if not, then you lift and then immediately slap back down.

I was out yesterday in 20 to 25 m.p.h. with my modified Wasp (carbon boom) and 6' 120 litre Ride Engine Moon Buddy wing board. I was a bit frustrated at first trying to get on foil so I moved the foil back to about an inch from the back of the track and took the back foot strap off. That was my ticket to ride. I had a lot of fun up on foil -- definitely addicting!

Thanks for the input.

Update.

I already had the mast at the rear of the track and my front foot was almost on the front strap position. I moved my back foot forward which felt like it was going to be way too far forward and keep the board from lifting but it smoothed the lift and I got the rides and then fine tuned the foot position. Front straps went on the next day and I've got dialled in.
I moved the mast back even more by using the inner pedestal plate holes to get and extra half inch which didn't really change much.
Ive now decided i want to get the back strap on but the position of my back foot is an inch forward of the further forward screw hole so Ive now set the infinity 99 up in the A position. I will probably have the mast towards the front of the track but it will bring the foil back 3 inches and then I can tune it backwards as needed.. Front straps are already 2 inches further back in their fittings.
Im hoping the shift to the rear doesn't mean i drag the tail too much and stop acceleration but these things need to be tried.

3 days ion wind just gone which helped dial in and experiment.

Video of the sessions

Gong Flint 5'10"
Duotone Echo 4m and 7m
Slingshot Infinity 99

I had a go of a RideEngine/Slingshot combo for a friend who was stuggling (learning) to get going. And It took me a good five minutes to get it up on the foil in 20+ knots. Once up, it was super steady, but quite different getting started to the AXIS I normally ride.

I popped on my friend onto my AXIS 1020 and he immediately popped up on the foil.