I'm interested to hear how people are thinking about balancing wing size to foil size. Seems like there are many schools of thought here. Do you prefer a smaller/lower lift foil with larger wings, or a larger/higher lift foil with smaller wings, or something else? How do you think of the tradeoffs?
In general, I'm keeping my foil constant these days with a Lift 200 HA front (1290 sq cm) and 38 stab and modifying my choice of wing to suit the conditions. I find that this is my sweet spot that feels pretty fast and efficient, but also doesn't require wings larger than 5m in most conditions worth riding (down to ~13 kts or so), and I ride a 4m most of the time (probably 17-high 20s kts). Ive used larger foils and they generally feel too slow (both draggy and slow turning) for me. I haven't used a lot of smaller foils (although I'm curious), but my sense is that I wouldn't want to work any harder to pump up onto my board and I'm also not inclined to size up in my wings. For reference, I weigh about 80 kgs, use a 90L board and have been winging for about a year.
conditions held constant, I know other people who prefer a larger/liftier foil (1500-2000 sqcm) with smaller wings, others who use smaller (750-800 sq cm) HA foils, but bigger wings. Then there are others who constantly change their foil size to suit conditions (seems like too many variables to me).
Part of what brings this topic to mind is looking at some of the new foils coming to market and how small they are getting. For instance, Cabrinha's new high aspect H-line (similar aspect ratios to Lift HA series that I'm riding) ranges from 650 sq cm to 1200 sq cm. The designer (not a small dude) says he's winging on the 650 and 800. Im sure he's a super talented and efficient rider, but he's got to be using a bigger wing with a foil that size.
I realize that not all foils are created equally, so surface area is not the best comparison, but it seems like most are on mid/higher aspect foils these days and surface may be the best comparative metric.
Unlike in sailing, we can't flatten our wing (reduce camber) to reduce drag as we gain speed. So if there's enough power in the wind, a smaller hand wing will be faster than a larger hand wing at speed. But large foils also max out as they get to a certain speed, where they create too much drag to overcome.
Assuming the objective is to achieve highest possible speed, you obviously want to minimize both the foil size and the wing size. But also assuming you have adequate technique to get up on foil with a large wing and a small foil, but also a small wing and a big foil, the limiting factor would be which one maxes out first. My intuition here would be that it's the hand wing that maxes out first? Could be wrong though...
However if the objective is not to go as fast as possible, but rather to be able to ride a small(er) HA foil (for waveriding for example, more glide, better upwind abilities), then a larger hand wing to get that small foil up and going would be the way to go.
On the other hand, small hand wings are much nicer to handle, so perhaps that's why people choose to go small hand wing and large(r) foil?
I (95kg) use 1 foil and 1 wing for all conditions. Its a 1480cm2 f-one Phantom foil (slim & medium-high aspect) and 5m Strike wing. I tried the 1080cm2 Phantom foil but that doesnt really feel much smaller than the 1480. The 1480 is big enough to pump without a wing / dockstart, so in my opinion I never need any bigger, because I can always pump through the lulls. I think any bigger would probably pump less well because of the diminishing returns with regard to drag, my lighter (75-80kg) mate has a 1280 Phantom and feels exactly the same about his setup, for him the 1480 is already too big to efficiently dockstart / pumpfoil. I foil my kit in 10 to 30 knots.
If I were to add any kit to extend my range it would be a 3.5 Strike for 25-35 knot region where the 5m becomes a handfull. But in honesty, I really dont need it and I think I'd buy a 940 or 840 Phantom foil first to get more speed and air (and less chance of breakage) for freestyle moves.
To be honest, its really the Strike which does it, its incredibly stiff frame & high skin tension increase range tremendously. I could not have the same usable range as comfortably with the Swing V1 or the GA / Ozone wings I also tried.
Same goed for the flat & efficient mid-high aspect foil btw, with a fat & low aspect foil I could never get the same usable range.
I tried a 4.2 Swing in 45 knots witha Gravity 1800cm2 foil (thick&low aspect), I got back, but it wasnt really what I'd call fun.
Must admit i use one wing and one foil to 90
percent of the time. 1250 armie with a 4.8 ppc - which to has a stiff frame. I also use the 1250 95 percent of the time for proning (75kg ish). That being said over 20 knots im reaching for the 3.8 and nuking days the 2.8.
and i couldnt resist getting a 925 
so yeh nah my one wing and one foil idea
isnt real after all ??
Yeh nah not in waves. and thats our predominant mode here. Smaller the foil the better. Big foils become a handful way to quickly and smaller foil can turn better back into the power source of the wave. Of course better to have a small wing to flag but its easier to learn to manage a bigger wing when flagging that it is to hold down a big foil on a wave.
the wing after all is just a vehicle to get on the wave, then its all foil baby.
The answer is where you have most fun
foe Me. I love to carve on a wave-even if it's only bay swell. So I would go for a small foil and a larger range of wings
