Not sure if it’s going to be any good, but at least it looks stable. One can only hope. If the stars align, Wolf will be the place.

7.5 and some lucky gusts.

Huh, that was an unexpectedly nice session !! I had a blast with the 7.5/110 from 13:30 till 16:30. Looks like I could have come earlier, but I got tired as it is so no regrets. Only 5 sail dudes/ me included/ and bunch of kiters which are going nuts with the foils now. Started to figure them out, this are people that just need to have the latest thing. It’s all best for the economy I hope, so go for it folks!
Man, I’m really good with the 7.5 I wish I was this good with the 4.7 too. Lacking strong wind practice unfortunately .

Looked better at calumet than up in Wisconsin this time! At least I got the windsup out and had fun in 6-10kn on Lake Winnebago with the family!
Foils are here too with the kites. If it’s fun and helps the renaissance of the Windsurfing industry, i see no problem. Foils are the only one out when everyone is watching. A few are foiling in higher winds with no regrets it seems. ...tempted to trade my 9.4 NP V8 for a foil.

Greg, I don’t know if you had the same issue with your ex Atom, but I had a problem finding the back footsraps sometimes. I just kicked the front of the strap usually. Decreasing the spread to minimum helped, but not 100%. The other day I was browsing through old pictures and the straps alignment on my ex Firerace came to my attention. That board was 70 cm wide and the front straps were more inside placed compared to the Atom which is 75 cm wide. So before yesterday’s session I moved them to the next positions on the inside but left the back straps at their most outside positions which aligned them better with the front ones. OMG, what a difference! My foot got in the back strap precisely every single time, to the point where I stopped paying attention like it is supposed to be. I also think that my overall planing stance became more comfortable and it may have affected jibing positively too because I didn’t blow a single jibe. I should have thought about that long ago.
Old settings:


Firerace settings:



New settings:

Ady, your observations on footstraps placement is making a huge difference. If you recal, on the 100l Starship, I had my front straps set on the outside and the back as a single on the inside. This might have been what led to my MCL injury during a failed jibe where my front foot got stuck in the strap... who knows?! For sure, front and back were misaligned and once I changed it things got less strenuous on my quads and made everything safer!

I remember my footstraps inserts on my Atom were slightly different than yours with only 2 rows. Also the 124l 2016 had a wider tail it seems and the inserts appeared to lineup right. The pic below shows how I used to rid it. Most forward and outward inserts. This was comfortable for my back foot to find its way in the strap naturally without the risk of getting it caught in the water. I’m 6’2” and the stance was just wide enough for me without feeling stretched.

My most comfortable riding stance is on the Falcon Lightwind. It is a more compact stance than on the Atom or Starship, but I like the wider stance on the Starship since I sail it in stronger wind and it helps with control in the chop. On the Goya Bolt, the current setup is too wide and I do have some issues finding the back strap - especially after riding the Falcon. I already moved the front strap back a notch and I need to move it back one more I think.

I’ll have to mesure and will post what I found.

Atom as I sailed it last


100l Starship with the wrong (and unsafe!) setup


And the Falcon Lightwind- hard to see the setup but I know I’m riding it more inward and back (challenging enough to slide the back foot in the straps without getting dragged in the water!...


...like here.

I can see the difference in your pictures. While the alignment on your Atom is a bit better then on mine it still may need an improvement . Your longer legs have definitely helped to decrease the issue . While the alignment on the Falcon is exactly like on my ex slalom board-right on. Clearly the designers are paying a lot more attention to the competition boards then to the freeride boards. It’s not fair, but I get it.
Btw, speaking of windsurfing foils, a friend of mine brought one to Wolf yesterday and I was less then impressed. He had it on a huge board with a 5.5 sail when the rest I was on a 7.5 and I didn’t see him lift it even once. He said he has for a whole reach after I came in, but in my opinion something was off-sail or wings too small, or both. This makes me think that if you buy a foil specifically to plane in as little as possible wind you need to go for the lightest /carbon/ and with the most wing span and not to rig too small. Probably 8.0 to 8.5 for the conditions in which you use your 9.4 typically. My friends foil was one of the cheaper NP aluminum ones and it felt heavy and had a bit small wings for the big board he was having it on. Also that was his second session with it so he needs more practice to get a better grip of it.

Right-on Ady. According to the research I did over the past few months on foiling, the correct sail size should be 1 to 1.5 sqm less than what you would rig in classic windsurfing. When you see a vid of someone riding a foil with a small sail in light wind, you will notice that the pumping to put it up on the foil is rather vigorous! I agree: $1,200 gets you a foil, an extra $500 get you a carbon. I was looking at the LP or the Starboard GT freeride that looked like good options between accessibility and performance. Also, prices have came down a bit and there are a few good deals out there...

So, the more I look at it, the more I’m tempted to try it! Why? I would like my biggest sail to be 8.5 at most (pumping the 9.4 is killing my joints!), and I’m curious to discover what the sensations with a foil feels like. I think the right thing to do though, would be to learn it somewhere with an instructor for a couple of days as opposed to buying and finding out it’s not for me! Although, it appears that people dedicated to learn it long enough often get hooked. Ben with Windsurfing TV gave it a shot on his recent videos... worth a look.

I think that you already have the best light wind toy ever invented and it looks like junior agrees with me. What’s his name btw?

Ady wrote:
Ha! You’re probably right!
His name is Nico.