I'm finding no trouble going a few hundred meters in each direction.
I'm finding my back hand is getting tired as I'm constantly feathering the power on and off, while other people seem to be locked in.
Eventually I get overpowered in a gust and the foil breaches. I'm then letting the wing go on the leash and back slapping into the water, resulting in body jarring and sometimes water up the nose. Should I be trying a smaller wing or foil.?
Any tips on how to bail out when out if control?
How do people absorb the power of a gust?
Any tips appreciated.
I'm using mainly axis 1050 hps with 440 freeride tail short fuse and a 5 or 6 m wing. In around 12 to 18 knts.
Your struggle seems to be coming from your windsurfing background. I had similar issues when i first started. Two things really helped me:
- You don't need to use your back hand as much with a wing to control power. The position of your wing will help you a lot more. If you bring the wing up it will generate lift and help you get though gusts (or breaking waves). It's a bit like kitesurfing: you can control power by flying your kite up or down in the wind window.
- You need to control your foil with your feet. You shouldn't rely on your sail as you would windsurfing. If you feel that the foil is about to breach increase pressure on your front foot by shifting your weight forward. You need to find your own equilibrium on the foil without the help of the wing as much as possible.
Guessing you are a windsurfer from your profile pic. Whereas windsurfing you sheet in and out with back hand for power with wing foiling, because the wing is not connected to the board it is more three dimensional so instead of keeping wing in the same plane vertically you can change the angle of the wing to fly it higher which changes the angle of the wing to the wind. If a guest comes push down with your back hand and the wing will rise up taking pressure out of the wing but still keeping some power in the wing to keep driving you forward.
Good advice already in the previous posts. I think this might be because of various reasons, but hard to know for sure without seeing a video.
- Make sure you're standing on the board and not hanging from the wing. Stand straight and hold the wing fairly close to your body. If a foil hits, you should be able to let go of the back hand and still keep foiling unpowered for a while.
- Try to find a stance (and hand position) where you need to use less force and have less back hand pressure.
- If possible, ask an experienced wing foiler to try out your kit to make sure it's trimmed properly.
- I know it might sound hard, try to relax as soon as you get up on foil. If your muscles are tensioned, you're going to have worse feel for what's happening with the board and the wing. If you still need to use force to keep sailing, adjust your stance to "trim" it away.
- When you fall, try to analyze what went wrong and fix accordingly.
Absorbing gusts is easy when you're relaxed and everything is balanced, but it takes time and practice. Just keep at it and you'll get there!
Ex Windsurfer
Dinging is about the foil, not the wing, hard to break multiple hours of muscle memory, stick at it, stay centred over the foil and it will come. For me quite slowly 
You don't 'absorb' it, you let it go. The wing is a LOT easier in gusts than the windsurfing sail. You let the wing get in neutral position and straighten out your back hand so the wing is like a airplane wing going into the gust.
Also, the 1050 is a great foil but you should also expand your quiver to include smaller HPS foils and eventually try an ART.
Have fun!
DC
Thanks for all the tips.
38 years of windsurfing and 1 year foiling so I get the idea on breaking the different muscle memory.
A tip on a technique following a breach to avoid back slapping: Rather than letting the wing go, stressing the leash attachment, and violently yard sailing, let the board sail away and keep the wing overhead to steer/glide down to the water. 2 benefits here; you keep random contact of wing/foil to a minimum and you have a much softer entry into the water. I rarely let my wing go in a fast breach. Your leash and wing will thank you and your body will take less punishment.
Select to expand quoteWindoc said..
A tip on a technique following a breach to avoid back slapping: Rather than letting the wing go, stressing the leash attachment, and violently yard sailing, let the board sail away and keep the wing overhead to steer/glide down to the water. 2 benefits here; you keep random contact of wing/foil to a minimum and you have a much softer entry into the water. I rarely let my wing go in a fast breach. Your leash and wing will thank you and your body will take less punishment.
I was going to recommend the same as above. One caveat would be regarding board leash length. If you have a short one, this method can result in the board and foil rebounding back at you and your wing, leading to punctures (hopefully just the wing 
). I use a retractable reel leash from blue planet so this is never and issue for me.
The tips above about gust handling are right on. Keep that front hand a bit higher than the rear hand to keep that wing at a less vertical plane. Pushing the rear hand down and away (while keeping front hand stationary and higher) can help get it rising if you find yourself stuck, just like when a tip catches.
I just dialed in my chest harness setup and for the first time I was more comfortable in way overpowered conditions hooked in than unhooked. At times I could barely pull the 3M wing in to hook in due to the 25-30+ knts. With a waist harness, I always felt way too uncomfortable and scared in those scenarios. The motion to unhook is more dramatic and harder to pull off in an 'oh **' moment. The chest hook in means that it just falls out of you pull the wing towards you - as opposed to down and away. Keep your eyes peeled for chest setups that im sure will be coming out this season. The upwind angles are insane too.
Select to expand quoteMidAtlanticFoil said
The chest hook in means that it just falls out of you pull the wing towards you - as opposed to down and away. Keep your eyes peeled for chest setups that im sure will be coming out this season. The upwind angles are insane too.
Do you have a picture of your chest harness?
I find different mindsets
Windsurfing is getting as much power you can handle by pulling back hand in more.
Wingfoiling is getting at little power as you need to keep foiling
Great advice above. Mine woukd be just do the hours on the water. You will Sort it.
Select to expand quotebhc said..MidAtlanticFoil said
The chest hook in means that it just falls out of you pull the wing towards you - as opposed to down and away. Keep your eyes peeled for chest setups that im sure will be coming out this season. The upwind angles are insane too.
Do you have a picture of your chest harness?
www.wingman-products.com
I kept shortening my mono line 10cms at a time and after the fourth adjustment, I think it's perfect. The rounded semi rigid shape of the mono line, thanks to the 3d printed fitting, really helps absorb gusts and straightens out when really trucking. I also got the middle handles, which work perfectly.
Select to expand quotebhc said..MidAtlanticFoil said
The chest hook in means that it just falls out of you pull the wing towards you - as opposed to down and away. Keep your eyes peeled for chest setups that im sure will be coming out this season. The upwind angles are insane too.
Do you have a picture of your chest harness?
www.wingman-products.com
I kept shortening my mono line 10cms at a time and after the fourth adjustment, I think it's perfect. The rounded semi rigid shape of the mono line, thanks to the 3d printed fitting, really helps absorb gusts and straightens out when really trucking. I also got the middle handles, which work perfectly.
Select to expand quotebhc said..MidAtlanticFoil said
The chest hook in means that it just falls out of you pull the wing towards you - as opposed to down and away. Keep your eyes peeled for chest setups that im sure will be coming out this season. The upwind angles are insane too.
Do you have a picture of your chest harness?
www.wingman-products.com
I kept shortening my mono line 10cms at a time and after the fourth adjustment, I think it's perfect. The rounded semi rigid shape of the mono line, thanks to the 3d printed fitting, really helps absorb gusts and straightens out when really trucking. I also got the middle handles, which work perfectly.
Select to expand quotepatronus said..
I find different mindsets
Windsurfing is getting as much power you can handle by pulling back hand in more.
Wingfoiling is getting at little power as you need to keep foiling
Not always, if on a wave maybe yes, if jumping a wave no, if turning and burning on flat water also no. Personally, unless in waves, and not all of us have those on our doorstep, I like to go as fast as possible using my harness and back hand and small foil. Great thing about winging is u can do what you want in whatever conditions u find yourself in.??
Mike
