Smaller foil for lake winging

tobiasg

Hi,

I (88kg) recently switched to the glide 1305 for winging on Alpine lakes with thermal winds of typically 10-15kts. Love the glide a lot, but also the front foot pressure, feels super solid and stable.

Occasionally we get stronger winds (Seasonal storms, Föhn..) and I wonder what smaller foil to get for those days. I demoed the 1085 glide and it feels too similar to the 1305 for me. Now I'm pondering the glide 905, or the free 800 or 1000. I'm a bit worried about getting up on foil in our typically very choppy conditions, so would really appreciate any recommendations!

Note that I also rode the free 1250, which I liked for it's ease of riding and comparable ease of turning, but I prefer the glide 1305 in my conditions.

craig

A good partner to the 1305 is indeed the 905 for more wind, if you want to have a 2 foil quiver - the 1085 is indeed quite close in terms of range. I ride on Alpine lakes quite a lot myself, using either Free 1000 or 905 mostly as smallest there....below 900 on light wind Alpine lakes, is more difficult with the big wind holes.

tobiasg

Thanks a lot craig, that's what I thought.

How do the free 1000 and the glide 905 compare, any clear pros/cons for you? How does starting them differ?

craig

They are fairly close in lift, the Free will start earlier as not as high aspect, the Glide will glide longer. Free will turn tighter, is easier to setup before a jump. Pumping/power once up is better on the Glide. Top end speed is fairly similar on most foils to be honest, this depends a lot of skill level. The Glide will feel faster due to the extra lift/power it generates while riding, but it is also possible to reach 24-26knots on the 1000 Free. So mainly a question of style/conditions/skill level/type of riding you want to do.

tobiasg

Hi, I followed your advice and just received my new 905 glide.. would make me very happy except that it has a small hole in one of the tips 🙁

hole

Now I'm scared of processing it as warranty because I'm hearing that there is scarcely any wings available at the moment. And I was so looking forward to try it out on Silvaplana lake! Is this something that would be fixable locally?

craig

Hi there, sorry, can you post the link again so I can see how bad it is - if it is a small hole or scratch, you can sand it easily, my foils are constantly getting a bit damaged on tips during launching/jumping too close to the beach - a bit of light sand paper usually does the trick - but I can't tell without a pic. Indeed foils are sold out, so I would try to fix it after taking pics first, as you may need to wait quite long, depending on the stock the shops have in your area. Also a custom board maker/repair shop should be able to fix most smaller issues if it is a serious one.

tobiasg

Let me try again to share a link:
photo of wing tip

It looks (to me, for whatever its worth) like that one should first fill it before sanding. What do you think?

craig

oops, no that needs some filler/Epoxy, otherwise it may split further. Would definitely repair it first properly.

tobiasg

I was lucky and got a replacement wing under warranty within 1.5 weeks. No more holes! Now looking forward to the next day with strong winds, last weekend would have been perfect to try out the new foil, but next opportunity will come!

craig

tobiasg glad to hear it worked out so quickly!

tobiasg

Now had a few sessions on the 905, really love it when up on foil. It's nice and fast, and quite reactive/agile for its wingspan, but still feels very stable when I want it to, not nervous at all!

The one thing I have to say is that on a lake, it takes quite some effort to start at 86kg (without gear). with small chop that I couldn't use to push me, I felt I had to take a size up in handwing and still had to work hard to get the board up to the speed where the foil starts lifting. While up on foil, it's glide is so good that I didn't manage to stall it even once during the lulls.

craig

tobiasg thanks for the feedback. Yes, the Glide does have a bit less starting power, due to the reduced thickness and therefore efficiency in gliding. But it is also aimed at the slightly more skilled rider, vs the Free which will pop up earlier but then has less overall glide in total. It is also a bit of pumping technique, which improves with each session. Don't be afraid to use bigger foils, right now the trend has been going smaller and smaller to get a few % more speed and manoeuvre - I was using a 725 Glide last year a lot of the time, even with 6.0, having to use bigger and bigger wings to get going - now I am regularly back on 1000+sqcm wings, due to the bigger range. 76kg's

tobiasg

I enjoy the (smaller) glides so much, I'm contemplating one of the thinner downwind boards to get going more easily..

craig

tobiasg yes those newer type downwind boards are indeed excellent for getting up and going - in Tarifa last week during our importers meeting, we had the Ventis 7 and 8.0 Wings out with new downwinders, wind was max 8knots, dropping below and we were still planing. Kites could not fly! So a real game changer for light wind locations, especially gusty lakes or super light thermals.

tobiasg

Yes that's the most marketed story, i.e. that these boards are enabling light wind sessions not possible before. The other side of the coin is less talked about, i.e. allowing (me 😉) to use smaller/more HA foils with less effort, also in 'normal' wind conditions.