About a year ago I got Fone Rocket Air 125L and a Gravity 1800 foil.
Considering I'm 70kg I wanted to focus on learning fast with a large board and foil. Since then I put about 20h into the sport but I haven't progressed as much.
My board doesn't have rails and has a fixed mount point and I cannot slide the mast.
I finally have enough experience to understand the problem:
When taxing I need to stand back because otherwise the board wants to nose dive as I pick up speed.
When getting on foil I have to drastically move myself forward to counter the lift.
This has been hindering me greatly. I do not have enough experience to understand the movement and it's extremely easy for me to under or over-correct.
I have tried a rented setup and I started foiling instantly without any issues.
Now, I have a choice. Do I swap the board or the foil?
Swapping to a board with rails would help this problem, and I was thinking about getting something like an Armstrong Wing Sup from 2020, however I cannot easily transport a larger board so I would be downsizing to probably something around my weight - which again may be a risk and slow me down in learning as I do not know how much different it will feel with a smaller board.
Another option I was thinking of is a foil with less lift. However that is a risk again due to not knowing which foil to get and maybe end up in a similar or even reverse issue where a smaller foil would be harder to get started lower winds.
Please give any advice you can.
Select to expand quoteShaping3263 said..
I have tried a rented setup and I started foiling instantly without any issues.
Now, I have a choice. Do I swap the board or the foil?
I may be stating the obvious, but you should try to swap with the rented gear:
rented board + your foil, and rented foil + your board.
It should help understanding what is the issue...
just tune the foil for less lift. thim the angle of the stabalizer so its pointing up (towards the board) more. you can use piece of plastic cut from packaging etc. I the case of a top mount fuse like F one you would add a piece of plastic to the front of the wing to increase the angle. This will move the center of lift and your balance point back.
It's just time on the water. The kit you have will fly fine. 20hrs in a year means big gaps between sessions. Dedicate a week or two to put some serious time in then get your kit sorted.
come on people read the post. Board doesn't have tracks because its the inflatible. Can't move back in the tracks - can't have a local shaper instal tracks (this is a crap idea anyways - tracks installed by a local surfboard shaper would have a lifespan of about 30 min foiling). Just do the tail tune to decrease lift.
Rocket Air 125L is not a long board, and its stubby shape would cause a fair bit of drag when taxiing. which diminishes quickly as it leaves the water. Also, it'd tend to suck onto the surface a bit, making lift-off more sudden. A rigid board or even a longer i-sup should decrease that effect.
As for the foil; there's a lot of complexity in foils and bigger foils don't necessarily fly earlier in light winds (due to increased drag). If you're able to try different combinations /demo gear & get advice from the sales guys, that should help.
Also, trying shimming of the stabiliser as suggested above is a fairly simple thing which may help. but my guess is that the drag of the stubby board is the main issue.
Absolutely ditch that board. You need one with real tracks in it so that you can progress to other foils and not constantly be trying to decode the shim needs of every other foil you try. You also don't need to be wasting your time hopping forward and backwards on a board because the foil placement doesn't match the balance point. I've done that too, it sucks.
The gravity is just fine as a first foil. Lots of people learn on it and it gets the job done. You'll outgrow it quickly, but for now, get a real board.
Thank you all for comments!
The place which rents doesn't have all gear available as it's a learning school. I would still need to do some thinking based on availability. Since it would be too expensive to change up the entire setup, I could try out some of the smaller boards to see if I can downsize.
@TooMuchEpoxy I'm just googling this. It seems like a cheap solution I can try out and at least get some fun in before changing the board because I would need to downsize with a firm board. Quick search didn't return anything for Fone in New Zealand.
@BWalnut Sad to hear you lived through this. It's been frustrating with so many variables at play. Would you recommend I still stick a larger volume board if I change? I don't know how complicated it would be if I were to get 80l (10kg more than my weight) at this stage?
Like one of the other posters said, you need more water time I think. That looks like a short board for the volume so you have given yourself more of a challenge of learning the balance front to back on the water and then the change to accommodate flight. However if you had to change one thing or the other I would say the board needs to change also to give you more flexibility for foil placement. Having said that that board and foil should fly no problem hence the more water time comment.
Select to expand quoteShaping3263 said..
Since it would be too expensive to change up the entire setup, I could try out some of the smaller boards to see if I can downsize.
@BWalnut Sad to hear you lived through this. It's been frustrating with so many variables at play. Would you recommend I still stick a larger volume board if I change? I don't know how complicated it would be if I were to get 80l (10kg more than my weight) at this stage?
Definitely try before you buy and use your own foil if possible. Everyone is different on their downsize but IMO liters should not be your first question about the next board.
I'm a perfect example for this in winging and am 85-90kg with or without wetsuit:
My first board was 123l and it was a lot of fun.
My second board was 83 liters and I absolutely hated it.
My third board was 83 liters and it was great.
My fourth board was 83 liters and gave me lightyears worth of improvement.
My fifth board (arrives tomorrow!!!) is 85 liters and I expect will be my favorite so far.
If I were you, I'd try to demo boards that are around 6' long and 25" or narrower. Everyone is different with their ability to balance on different widths. I had no problem paddling an 18" wide board my first try, and it was even easier to wing. Others would say I'm crazy. For you, I'd recommend staying around 6' and trying progressively narrower boards until you find a "tipping" point where it starts to feel a bit too challenging. Then go back an inch. Most likely the volume will be fine no matter what size you pick since boards of that length don't tend to be low volume boards.
Select to expand quoteBWalnut said..
Everyone is different with their ability to balance on different widths.
Now that you mentioned this, before I got my setup I had two different boards during two learning sessions. I remember that one of them was significantly easier even though it had similar or lower volume. I vaguely remember the easier board to balance on was wide but not as long. I think it was maybe even 90l or something like that..
Select to expand quoteShaping3263 said..BWalnut said..
Everyone is different with their ability to balance on different widths.
Now that you mentioned this, before I got my setup I had two different boards during two learning sessions. I remember that one of them was significantly easier even though it had similar or lower volume. I vaguely remember the easier board to balance on was wide but not as long. I think it was maybe even 90l or something like that..
There you go. The hull shape makes a big difference. Rounded is traditionally tippy, harder edges is typically more stable. Keep notes on everything you can think of about each board you try. You might start to find a thread of similarity between some that you want to pursue.
