Wing and foil pairing

I road the Armstrong HS1250 today on a 3m Cabrinha X2 Wing and then on a 2.5m Armstrong 2nd Gen Wing. I found that I had to adjust my pitch control and stance a noticeable amount (I was fairly powered on both, riding on the same mast position on the board and under fairly consistent conditions). I searched the forum for a discussion on foil and wing pairings, but did not find a thread specifically on this aspect (more on board-foil paring). I was interested in seeing if there are some thoughts on the interaction between handheld wings and foils, and what trends and generalities might have emerged from people's experience thus far.

I would say basically the more powered up you're on your hand wing the smaller foil you want to ride. This is a moving scale and depends on skill and board length/volume used.

Hmm, what I've found is that different wings react differently to gusts. I've not yet managed to match the foil correctly, but an example is that my Strike 5.0 accelerates a lot more with an even powerdelivery, whereas the Swing V2 my school uses gets a lot of pull on the front hand causing the nose to dip (the tradeoff for its increased low-end power and easier pump for beginners). I put the foil further forward when riding the swing to compensate.

Another thing I've found when moving from the Swing V1 to the strike was that the strike works better with faster foils as its a faster wing. Pairing the strike with a smaller/thinner/higher-aspect wing actually makes it feel lighter in the hands, whereas the Swing V1 doesnt like the faster foils, the cannopy start collapsing when too powered up (aka moving too fast, in my mind those are practically synonyms when using the wing in its designed windrange).

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Windoc said..

dapara2004 said..
I road the Armstrong HS1250 today on a 3m Cabrinha X2 Wing and then on a 2.5m Armstrong 2nd Gen Wing. I found that I had to adjust my pitch control and stance a noticeable amount (I was fairly powered on both, riding on the same mast position on the board and under fairly consistent conditions). I searched the forum for a discussion on foil and wing pairings, but did not find a thread specifically on this aspect (more on board-foil paring). I was interested in seeing if there are some thoughts on the interaction between handheld wings and foils, and what trends and generalities might have emerged from people's experience thus far.

Which wing did you prefer with the 1250? I've ridden my friend's 3M Mantis and my Armstrong V2 back to back on both the 1250 and 925. The Mantis feels a littler more twitchy initially until I kind of let it do its thing in the gusts and it has a bit of "anxious dog on a leash" feel when letting the back hand go in jibes or drifting. This makes pitch control tougher until you get used to the Mantis. The Armstrong, in my experience, feels very easy to manage pitch control and is less frenetic to ride. I feel like I can really let the Army wing accelerate the foil quickly without any weird pitch changes or sudden surges forcing my weight through the foil in a weird way. I like the 3M Mantis but am really loving the 2.5 Armstrong despite preferring the Mantis style mini booms. The power link bar for the Army wing does work really well though...

The 3M X2 Crosswing has camber defined by the double strut so is probably less twitch than the Mantis, but also might not drift as well which could make transitions more tricky.

I like the 2.5 Armstrong a lot and agree that is relaxed but powerful. In the strongest winds, I'd prefer if the forward handle were attached a bit further forward if possible (maybe a few cm would make all the difference for me). I think I would be able to carve upwind even better, and also be able to depower and rest the forward arm a bit better in the really big gusts. The power link bar is very helpful when it's gusting 45+ and I need to dump extra power by holding the wing more parallel to the direction of the wind. I like the Cabrinha boomlets in cold weather more than the Armstrong handles, and don't find the cross handles on the Armstrong all that useful for my riding. I definitely prefer rounder long grips myself, and think the Cabrihna concept works very well and avoids a boom. Looking for that in more winds to come I hope!

I was surprised how well I was able to pump the 2.5m Armstrong and get up on my 1250 in what I would typically call 4m wind; I'd have preferred a 3.5 or 4 but made the 2.5 work to extend my session without coming back in. Impressed by the ease of use (like Armie's foils) and performance characteristics. Just wish it had the handle style of the Cabrinha, or something similar (and maybe no windows since they don't really help me that much, especially in the small size that I use).