Longest foil runs so far - several over 1 km!

I headed out to the Launch Pad Island for my 7th straight day of windsurfing! I'm not sure that has happened at home for many years - if ever. Certainly not since I started writing this blog. A new fascination with wind foiling, working via remote access and better weather reports via the internet sure helps with getting more sessions.

The wind was from the south at 10-15 knots and I set out on the BIC Techno and the Slingshot foil with my 2005 7.0 NP V6 sail. This was my 8th time out on the windsurf foil board.

After getting upwind, I started having foil runs immediately. Many of them were over 1 km long! I'll admit it requires a lot of concentration to keep up on the foil. It looks so effortless when the pros are racing like they did at the IWT Rio Vista event. I did touch down from time to time, but never enough to slow me significantly.

My multiple km long foiling runs. I hit 30 km/h!

I've read that front foot pressure is important when foiling. I'll agree it is when you really get going. However, to get going I still need to put a lot of pressure on the back foot to break the surface tension on the board and "pop" up onto the foil.

In just over an hour I sailed 16 km. I was pretty tired from keeping my core so tense to balance my arms, feet, ankles and play with twisting my body to be able to use the harness. I need to get some more tips from other foilers.

As it happens I was a housemate with Venezuelan windsurfer Diony Guadagnino in Morocco. When he was a kid he used to caddy my wife and my gear in Margarita to and from the beach. And then he'd show off in the late afternoon out on the water. He is a pro now and I read some good tips he gave at the recent IWT event in the gorge. I think I need to move my boom up and move to shorter harness lines as he recommended.

I also got some quick feedback on my videos from the folks at Slingshot. Very nice and I look forward to their next set of videos.

Top speed on the foil was 30 km/h. 2 of the runs ended in very soft catapults because I got too high and breached the water surface. The BIC board seems to be good in that way. It might be time to graduate from the 30" solo mast to the full 36" mast.

I would have gone out for a second session if the wind had stayed, but I timed my session perfectly for the best wind of the day. I certainly wouldn't be planing in that wind with a 7.0 and a regular windsurf board.

I look forward to doing more foiling with some board and sail comparisons.

My track in Google Earth - always fun to see the shoals that I missed!