Recently got a new Duotone Unit to replace my old Slick. All going good but for some reason I am really struggling to tack with it. It feels quite hard to rotate the wing on the axis to get it to fill coming out of the tack, and half the time I end up stuck halfway or going back the way I came. I have no issues tacking with the Slick but my strike rate with the Unit is really low, and the windier it gets the less success I have. Once its cranking i'm pretty much at zero whereas that used to be my 100%.
I am not sure if my technique I am kinda rotating the wing with the boom and the same thing is ineffective with the handles? Any tips would be much appreciated!
The key to a clean tack is to understand that the yaw and roll of the wing are coupled. So if you push your back hand to yaw the wing, that will roll it into the new direction. This was a game changer to me when it clicked. Not just for tacks, but for any wing movement.
Check out this video
Select to expand quoteCH3MTR4IL5 said..
Recently got a new Duotone Unit to replace my old Slick. All going good but for some reason I am really struggling to tack with it. It feels quite hard to rotate the wing on the axis to get it to fill coming out of the tack, and half the time I end up stuck halfway or going back the way I came. I have no issues tacking with the Slick but my strike rate with the Unit is really low, and the windier it gets the less success I have. Once its cranking i'm pretty much at zero whereas that used to be my 100%.
I am not sure if my technique I am kinda rotating the wing with the boom and the same thing is ineffective with the handles? Any tips would be much appreciated!
I've had the same issue a couple of times after changing wings, some wings like to tip over in the tack and others seem more "sticky"... Currently on Gong Neutras and it took me a bit to get my tacks back. What worked for me is releasing/switching hands early and then pulling the wing down onto my head after grabbing the new side along with a late, whippy turn through the wind. See this video at 3:00 for an example (not me)
Maybe your front hand was more forward on the Slick boom, which kept the leading edge from lifting up.
Thanks folks, I will work through these videos and test a few theories. "Sticky" is the right word JonahL. Something to work on!
Ok, so one video (Gwen) says release late and another recommendation is to release early. Interesting. My feeble old guy experience since my first sloppy tack around Nov 2019; ...more dihedral always made wing roll easier during a tack, and rolling from toeside was always seemed easier than from heelside. My original Duotone wings (2019) had gobs of dihedral and I learned my first toeside, heelside, and behind-the back tacks with those wings. They probably rolled too easy and would flip the second you tried to flag them so people hated them,..but then again everyone cared way more about flagging than tacking. Probably still that way today.
When I graduated to Echo's, Slicks and SLS Slicks the ease of rolling the wing during a tack dropped off a bit but the flagging behavior improved. So I assume it's a design compromise. I'm ok with it since they seem to have just enough inherent "roll" to get the job done. Maybe that's the reason Slicks don't flag quite as well as a wave specific wing.
I do a few more variations on tacks now (despite being older and slower). Other than occasionally doing a release-hand-push during a heelside tack (to help roll the wing) and a rare head-shoulder push on a toeside tack, I generally rely on the inherent roll properties (pretty much have to on behind-the-backs or tacking from the leash)
It is indeed a wing design compromise - many wave wings have a very flat profile (little dihedral) which makes them always want to fly flat and horizontal.
When you turn into a tack you have to send these wings a lot harder for them to roll onto their wing tip and stay there.
Wings with a lot of dihedral that are a bit more nervous when flagged out - they tack great as they are much happier to roll onto their wing tip. This is true as per the original posters comment - which is that the slick is a more nervous wing when flagged but it does tack extremely well, the 2024 Unit is better flagged but not quite as good in the tack.
My own take on how to tack is in this video ...
Thanks DSpace and MeonAsh, this helps. The slo-mo in the above helped quite a lot. My feel is I am probably grabbing the back hand too early (when I think back on it i may have started doing this because I was missing the handle coming out of the tack as i was used to the slick boom).
I probably need exactly this, someone to video it and it will become very obvious. Its hard to critique the move yourself because you can't really see the wing through a lot of it.
I ride Units exclusively and when I started trying to learn tacks, I listed out all of the steps required for a successful tack and I would say them out loud (literally) as I was doing them. Here's what I came up with:
1. Switch front hand to overhand grip (if it isn't already that way)
2. Generate speed (so much easier to do this maneuver when you have good forward momentum)
3. Wake up your legs (I found that my legs got stiff if I had been riding on that tack too long)
4. Look forward and find a bit of flat water
5. Turn hard into the wind (the slower you turn, the less time you'll have before you slow down and drop off foil)
6. Push down on your back hand and roll the wing over your head (this puts the wing in the powerzone for the new tack and avoids you having to drag/push it over your head. really good to practice this on the beach a bunch of times)
7. LOOK WHERE YOU WANT TO GO (before I figured out to do this, I was constantly finding myself "head to wind". by looking where you want to go, your body will follow)
8. Spot and grab your back handle
9. Sheet in and GO
I would practice and visualize these things on the beach both before and after my session.
Another thing to mention is ride height. Try to stay high on the mast and resist the urge to lean back too much as you'll just do a wheelie, breach, stall and crash.
Good luck!
I found this problem on the older SLS Units and Slicks and learned to give my back hand a downward flick before releasing the boom/handle. This redirects the wing to the other side with no stalling above you.
But, I tried it n the later models and the tip was in the water before I had a chance to slow the wings progress, seems the 2023 and onwards models roll much better.
Select to expand quotegneve said..
I ride Units exclusively and when I started trying to learn tacks, I listed out all of the steps required for a successful tack and I would say them out loud (literally) as I was doing them. Here's what I came up with:
1. Switch front hand to overhand grip (if it isn't already that way)
2. Generate speed (so much easier to do this maneuver when you have good forward momentum)
3. Wake up your legs (I found that my legs got stiff if I had been riding on that tack too long)
4. Look forward and find a bit of flat water
5. Turn hard into the wind (the slower you turn, the less time you'll have before you slow down and drop off foil)
6. Push down on your back hand and roll the wing over your head (this puts the wing in the powerzone for the new tack and avoids you having to drag/push it over your head. really good to practice this on the beach a bunch of times)
7. LOOK WHERE YOU WANT TO GO (before I figured out to do this, I was constantly finding myself "head to wind". by looking where you want to go, your body will follow)
8. Spot and grab your back handle
9. Sheet in and GO
I would practice and visualize these things on the beach both before and after my session.
Another thing to mention is ride height. Try to stay high on the mast and resist the urge to lean back too much as you'll just do a wheelie, breach, stall and crash.
Good luck!
Cheers, i don't think i will be able to stay up on my HA foil long enough to say all that out loud 
I am good with everything else in the tack- ride height, turning, body position- its entirely something to do with the holding of the wing (if I swap out the wing the tack comes out perfectly, then when i go back to it I end up being pulled backwards because i can't get the wing down and in the powerzone in the other direction).
I find most tacking problems (for people who can occasionally pull it off) is related to wing steering/dragging problems. If you get the wing to steer through the turn ahead of your board, the wing will lead/pull you through the transition. If you are dragging it the whole time, it's drag and can counter-rotate your progress. Get the wing over early and pull your front hand back and downwind... if you just push the LE upwind the wing can stall through the turn and then it's just drag.
