Saturday was another very frustrating day. The wind was a light 10 knots with the obligatory low tide. Late for the start the guys were already long gone by the time I arrived.

Then the frustration really started.

In the marginal conditions, it appears that I am the only one that can’t get up and foil when the others can. I threw everything at the boat, full sail, flat sail, rudder flap up, no rudder flap and nothing worked. The only way I did manage to get the boat flying was to sit way back which only resulted in launching then crashing as I scrambled forwards trying to get the bow down.

So what is the problem?

My foils are, well different. They are designed to be clones of the Fastacraft foils that just about every hungry tiger in the country is now wearing. Being a but heaver than most, (90kg) the theory was that a slightly larger foil would provide slightly greater lift for a given speed allowing for a similar takeoff speed as the lighter guys, or alllow me to sail a bit deeper downwind to give a better VMG.

So how big were they ? My front foil was 98cm, and my rear 76cm, with a 120mm chord for the NACA 63412 section. Popping open Adam May’s foiling guide, the foils were within the 75-80% main foil to rudder foil ratio, so that shouldn’t be a major problem, however I think that having 20% more foil area is.

With foils that are 20% larger in area than the fastacraft square foils, the drag could be in the region of 40% more, especially when trying to maximise lift for takeoff.

So essentially I think that my foils are preventing liftoff in marginal conditions instead of making it happen earlier. On Sunday I got the saw out and removed the extra 20%, now at least I am in the same “boat” as everyone else. It also means that I am back to square one from a setup point of view.

I guess that’s why they call it a development class …