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Which equipment should you choose to improve your wing foil performance?
Wing foil is a water sport that has been gaining popularity in recent years. But how to increase your performance in wing foiling? It’s important to choose the right equipment. In this article, we will give you some tips on how to choose the right wing foiling equipment to perform better.
Performance can be defined as the ability to go faster, jump higher, or start earlier. However, it’s important to note that hardware isn’t everything. If your technique is not enough, you can buy all the necessary equipment to perform, but the final result will not be there. In addition, performance requires an in-depth knowledge of your equipment. If you change your equipment too often or if you have too much, it is impossible to master everything well and be totally efficient. Therefore, technique is the first prerequisite to be successful.
How to be efficient to go fast in Wingfoil.
To go fast, it is important to push your own limits in speed and to accept that you are in a situation where the slightest mistake in support will give you a guaranteed fall that you will remember. To do this, you need to be balanced on the water, stable in the different axes and rather overdriven. Indeed, going fast without having a lot of power in the sail is impossible. To reduce the drag of the foil, it is recommended to decrease the size of the front fin, stabilizer and drag of the mast and fuselage. The drag is proportional to the surface area you will have underwater. So the bigger your kite, the slower you can go. It is therefore important to reduce the surface area of the front fin and stabilizer.
1. The foil, fundamental to be efficient in wing foil.
The foil is a key element in reaching high speeds. There are two types of foils: the aluminum foil and the carbon foil. With an aluminum foil, you can reach speeds of 25-26 knots, or nearly 46 km/h on the water. As a reminder, there is 800 times more drag in the water than in the air.
However, if you want to go faster, you’ll have to switch to a thin and stiff carbon foil to be able to exceed this speed of 25-26 knots. The SROKA Elite Carbon Mast has been designed to allow you to go as fast as possible with the minimum amount of drag. An aluminum mast is a mast that will necessarily need to be thicker to be stiff. As a result, drag will be increased. If you want to exceed an average speed of 26 knots over 500 m, we recommend that you sail on a wing in 810 S HA or 670 S HA. It will allow you to surpass yourself and it will be your perfect ally with the Elite 14 mm carbon mast.
Tips: To go fast, it is important to have slightly more pressure on the front leg to be comfortable and stable at high speeds. This is because if you are balanced on the water with equal pressure on both feet, it will be difficult to be balanced at high speeds. The faster you go, the more pressure you will put on the front leg.
2. The board, another performance factor in Wingfoil.
The board is also a key part of pushing the speed limits. The larger the board, the more drag it will generate in the air and can cause lateral movements on the foil, leading to a loss of stability. To go fast, it is recommended to use a thinner and smaller board. The construction of the board inevitably leads to a gain in performance. It is therefore preferable to choose carbon boards and, if possible, full sandwich carbon boards to obtain the maximum stiffness and therefore reactivity of your board and consequently performance.
Tips: To increase your speed and have better control of your board with the foil, you can use foostraps. Footstaps allow you to feel your foil better and control your board better, especially at high speeds. It has to be set rather tightly.
3. The Wing, one of the keys to performance.
Finally, to break records, it is recommended to overshoot the wing wing and take the smallest foil to have the maximum glide and the minimum drag. Staying in your comfort zone is not the way to beat your own limits.
A wing with a small leading edge will allow you to go faster. It is for this reason that a wing wing of less than 5m will allow you to go faster. The wing wing must also be a taut spinnaker that allows more power to be generated.
It’s important to note that going fast requires learning and a habit to go fast. It will therefore be necessary to take the time to tame the speed. You will also have to learn how to adjust your foil correctly to go fast. We recommend positions quite far back in the US rails.
How to be efficient to jump high in Wingfoil?
To jump high:
It’s important to pick up a lot of speed and turn a horizontal speed into a vertical speed to climb high. To do this, you need to choose fins with “pop” and an ability to rotate quickly, especially to give a big push. It is therefore recommended that you do not take front wings with ratio aspects that are too pronounced, as this will limit your ability to take a good momentum.
The weight of the board and foil set is fundamental if you want to make rotations. You’ll be able to jump with an aluminum foil and a big board, but the lighter the set, the easier it will be to turn in the air. For this reason, the carbon foil will be the most suitable for jumping high. It will bring stiffness, responsiveness and speed to the pulse.
To jump, it is recommended to take a board smaller than 5’0 to facilitate rotations. Of course, a board built in full carbon sandwich will be stronger over time, especially when landing jumps.
How to be efficient to start earlier in Wingfoil?
To get off to an early start, it’s important to reduce the drag associated with the board while keeping enough volume to glide and fly as quickly as possible. To do this, a slightly longer and tapered board is a good option. However, you will lose lateral stability. If the water is choppy, it is recommended to opt for a board with a little width.
To start early, it is recommended to opt for a high aspect ratio foil front kite that will give you an excellent glide with a very early start. The choice of thin and narrow carbon foil will give more glide and less drag. You will be able to optimise the start even more in very light wind conditions.
It is recommended to choose a powerful wing wing to have the maximum power at low revs.
Tips wing: When it comes to winging, it’s important not to overinflate your wing attack board. Indeed, a slightly underinflated leading edge will make it easier to pump and will allow you to have a spring effect in the power of the wing. At SROKA, if the recommendation is 7 psi, it is recommended to put 6.5 psi in light winds.
Tip On the foil: To start early, it is recommended to choose a slightly larger stabilizer to help you at low revs to start very early and to use a front foil wing in Hight Aspect Ratio.
In short
To perform in Wingfoil, you need to reduce the drag of your foil, gain weight and rigidity on the wing foil and foil board and optimize the settings of your equipment to be more precise, sharp in the use of your equipment. If, for example, you have a very thin rigid carbon foil with an inflatable board, you won’t be able to go fast. The inflatable board will warp. It is therefore recommended to increase the stiffness, lightness and “rest your brain” to go faster or take the maximum power to jump.
If you are looking for a high-performance wingfoil equipment, look at the Elite carbon foil with the range of superfly boards that will allow you to perform well on the water.
For your safety, we have developed a Pro Impact Jacket to absorb shocks in the event of a fall. It has been reinforced to allow you to absorb shocks as much as possible if you fall into the water.
Push your own limits with the ELite 14 HM85 Carbon Mast and the Superfly: top-of-the-range Wing Foil board!
Optimize your performance by choosing the right equipment to go fast, jump high or start very early.
If you still have questions about this, or for any other request, please do not hesitate to contact us !
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