Comfortable on the new foil board!

Exciting 3rd day on my new foil board. The cold morning north wind shifted to west and we all headed out to the Launch Pad. Vanessa had her good session the day before, so it was Len's turn to go out on the Techno and her 5.7 sail while baby Timo watched his other windsurfing parent.

I was on the new Fanatic Stingray 140 and the Idol 5.6 sail on my Slingshot 76 foil wing. Wind was west at 10-12 knots. It was nice to have company out on the water and Len was enjoying the sun and  wind and clear (not salty) water.

As the wind was steady and it was my 3rd session on the new board, I felt much more comfortable than the first two times trying the Stingray. I still only like the rear footstrap for heading upwind, even with the straps on the inner setting. Having my back foot in the centre of the board is much more comfortable for cruising, especially when going downwind. The board has nice nose rocker and even the odd overfoil doesn't result in a catapult.

Len from Bonaire and Carl from Canada at the Launch Pad

Len heading out - he got one planing run!

The map (2 versions, same data) shows how easy it is to go up and downwind. I think that a full foil jibe might be months or even weeks away - previously I thought it would be years! I managed to get a couple of jibes where I was still on the foil when switching my feet, and then splashed down but continued out of the jibe with some power. 

The 5.6 Idol was a different feeling from the 6.5 V6 cambered sail. Much more responsive and then also easier to uphaul. I'm excited to try a downwind carving 360?

Garmin GPS uploaded to Google Earth - fun up and downwind

Garmin GPS Here map - fun up and downwind

Vanessa got some footage of one of my first jibe attempts of the day - later ones were a bit better.

3rd day on the new wider windfoil board from Canadian Guy on Vimeo.

Looking forward to getting more time on this new foil board!