Windsurf Foil = Easy flights

Many have seen the process I had while learning how to Foil the A-Class, given it was back in 2014 we can say now tech has evolved for better and earlier flights, but still it is not a simple go out and foil task, mainly on the limitation the A-Class rules have which were thought to block any foiling whatsoever. Of course those rules failed big time and now the As fly really good, at least downwind.

Then you have the Kite foil, that flies no issues in every direction and with early lift off and pretty simple handling… well once you’ve learnt to find equilibrium and reach a comfortable stance. Learning how to kite foil its not that easy.

I’ve tested some wake foils behind a Mastercraft and although I consider myself a rather experienced boarder, finding the right spot and forward balance was hard. Same issue Kite foilers have when starting.

I will take out Moths of this analysis, which also have a wetted learning process, and the recreational foiling cats like Ifly or S9 as those 3 platforms rely on the wand systems which auto levels flght height and provide little wheels and additional assist. Nevertheless the Moth its a weapon, thee top racing foiler outhere and requires much skills to race and perform , but sorry, they still rely on little “wheels” assist (wand / stick control) to get airborne.

And here I’m targeting the raw purist sail foiling mode like A-Cat, Kitefoil and finally the Windsurf foil. The WS its natural evolution that is making a big revolution in the boarding industry. At first glance you think it will become more expensive and complicated, it will kill the sport and the usual complains… But after my first sail out with the Exploder 1000mm main wing Foil package, I managed to get instant stable flights out of the box.

I was amazed how easy was to get airborne and achieve a reasonable degree of control on a very first try. This on a PWA designed & built racing Foil.

There were a group of experienced kiters last Sunday, all trying out their new kite foils, and they were struggling to fly, with constant dropdowns and hard splashes. Wind was about 11-12knots building breeze and a bit of chop, excellent conditions to learn.

I assembled the beast and many were looking the Tank Formula board and massive Foil like “yeah, whatever”… I had to make two trips to the water to carry the board and then the sail. Water height was good that day so I didn’t walked much inside to reach depth and allow the 110cm mast to be safe on grounding.

Using a Formula board its a great asset on its width, so hoisting the sail (an old but trusty North Transam 8.1 no cams) was the usual task, no wind for waterstart eitherway.

As soon as I start speeding a bit I felt the board super light (F2 Formula FX V5 designed by Patrick Diethelm, with tuttle box reinforced to stand the foil stress). Hooked the harness (used a waist one) and went to feel the new toy. The board went up middle height like nothing and quite stable upwind. Made a tack and headed donwind no harness, applied a bit boom back force and again that floating feeling became obvious.

I prepared a wide stance and open the boom a bit and voilá, an automatic 1mt height flight was handed out by the Exploder foil. I thought well, I’m going down for a capsize any time soon, but the thing kept flying no issues over the waves/chop. Sensation was really incredible, even though I already experienced the A-Cat foiling for years now, it was a super smooth and perfect glide. Just like that , effortless flight out of the box , first run.

Made about 20 more short runs and every time was the same, even improving. I didn’t pushed this session cause I’m a bit rusty now at 47..

In short, it was a joke easy first time out. Direct result of plenty hours of built / test / development on this foil by Jakub Kopylowicz/ Exploder riders and designed along Gonzalo Redondo / D3 Applied Technologies. Achieving such degree of finesse a PWA targeted Foil you might think is only for PWA Pros , but being 1000mm helps big time for the rookies like me and also provides infinite room to grow as, later you can race with and target top performance.

I got one too for a catsailor friend of mine, and he had the same experience on his first try, so I recommend to any windsurfer with plenty, medium or even few hours to give it a try. Many alternatives in the market like Starboard, Horue, Phantom and else.

The wind range for this 1000mm main wing is huge, so try to get similar size if possible. The ride was so effortless that made me think on how many can return to Windsurfing and have a blast without having to endure the floating planning hard and aggressive punch mode. I

love the planning and splashing waves and jumps, but believe me you need to try the Windsurf Foiling mode, the Real Easy Foiler for the sailing realm.

Will get some videos next time out.