This question may have been answered, if so please direct me to the relevant sub, I couldn't find while searching.
I currently ride a 1m span foil with ar of 7ish.
I'm starting to get most of my gybes and am finding that I want to do a couple things with my setup:
1. Reduce drag as much as possible
2. Decrease my roll stability (increase ease of initiating roll).
I've decided to commit to riding my 75cm may
Mast over my 90 because I think this will achieve both ends, I already have a narrow board, and am thinking the next step would be to change either the foil or the stabilizer.
My questions: assuming chord and foil section stay the same, will reducing front foil span be the biggest contributor to increasing roll?
Does decreasing stabilizer span also increase roll, or does it have a bigger effect in a different plane (yaw, pitch)?
Am I best off decreasing span with the front foil, the stabilizer, or both?
1M wide foil with 7 AR is pretty beefy, so there's a lot of foil to push through the water on the roll axis. The cheapest way to increase roll is a smaller stab. Whenever I ride a big foil, I throw on a tiny stab and a shorter fuse to free it up quite a bit.
Select to expand quotekookfoil4 said..
My questions: assuming chord and foil section stay the same, will reducing front foil span be the biggest contributor to increasing roll?
Correct.Select to expand quoteDoes decreasing stabilizer span also increase roll, or does it have a bigger effect in a different plane (yaw, pitch)?
Yes. I'd say it feels like it primarily increases roll but that roll is enhanced by pitch. I think of it like this: A balanced front vs rear span produces a nice flow and predictable carve and is typically more user friendly as speed increases. An imbalanced wide span foil with a short span tail will grant you a more pivot, hack and slash, aggro low speed turn. Both are fun, just different flavors for different days. Caution to you about overly aggressively sizing down your tail right away. Ease into that style.Select to expand quoteAm I best off decreasing span with the front foil, the stabilizer, or both?
Based on my last answer you can ask yourself what riding style you want to gravitate towards and make that decision from there. The nice thing, like MidAtlanticFoil said, is that you can start with just getting a smaller stab and see how that feels for 5-10 sessions. You'll most likely enjoy that to start. Once that plateaus then you can buy the more expensive smaller front foil to match the tail you already purchased.
If you have the financials to hold on to 3 tails while you progress that can be a luxury that accelerates your development. When you buy a new front put the largest tail on to ease into it. Then go to medium, then small. Once you are riding the small tail with your smallest foil if you feel as though you need more performance then you can buy another front and work your way down from the large tail again. You'll get to a point where those steps aren't necessary but having options while you develop will save you a ton of time.
Honestly, you are riding quite a large foil. 1m wide with 7 AR is about 1400, that is just plain big. The same wing in about a 1000 size will already feel a lot more nimble at minimal expense of lift.
Thanks for the replies so far!
I'm looking second hand, I guess I want to broaden my horizons from 'same foil, different volume' so that I can widen my search a bit.
I also don't have a strong desire to reduce pitch stability, or need for significant glide increase at present. Also, if I can achieve this with an older cheaper foil / stab, that would be better.
