Choosing your light wind wing board

How to choose a light wind wing board, factors to consider and recommendations for different rider weights and experience.
The two boards used in the video are prototype boards from swiftfoiling.com/
There are available to demo if you want to try them for yourself, contact swift foiling to arrange your demo.
00:30 - Introduction and overview of boards used
03:00 - Prototype board disclaimer
03:40 - Performance analysis
07:41 - How to pick your own board
12:52 - My perfect board
13:31 - Outro
Equipment used in this video:
2024 Duotone Unit 3m / 4m
2023 DuoTone Unit 6.5m
Axis HPS 930
Axis 350 Progressive tail stabiliser
Axis 362/50 Skinny tail stabiliser
Axis 90cm HM Carbon Mast
Axis Crazy short advance fuselage
Swift Foiling 80L 6' x 18" light wind boards
Ion Rogue Wing Foil Harness
Ion Mission Helmet
Ride Engine Impact Vest

[@rmad1311]

Excellent, the best analysis found on the internet so far!

[@Wing-Tips]

Glad it was helpful!

[@salvino777]

You nailed all the important, relevant parameters! Let the production board market catch up!

[@Wing-Tips]

thanks, I appreciate the support - I already see the newer production boards heading this direction, it's jusy fantastic to be able to experience the cutting edge with a board shaper like swift foiling and then just spec my perfect board afterwards.

[@nwkitesurfer]

Great video! I just picked up the 6'6x20inch prototype for the new Cabrinha Swift. It has a front keel, which they removed as it was prone to damage and didn't feel it offered much. I have 3 sessions on it, and I love it. I definitely noticed the added effort it takes to bear away when getting underway. I think the keel on mine makes it even more difficult. For the price I got it I'm super happy. I have ridden the 6' SAB Torpedo and the 7' KT Dragonfly. I like the Dragonfly, the best followed by my Swift prototype. The Torpedo was fun, but it's heavy. The Dragonfly was very quick, stable, light, and felt more connected to the foil.

[@Wing-Tips]

awesome - it's defiitely worthwhile trying various different boards and designs as they can be so different despite looking very similar.

[@user-wu6jf1hu5r]

Perfect analysis

[@Wing-Tips]

thankyou

[@Andysfishing]

I’m only newby, but I found the explanation and information the best out there for board characteristics.

[@Wing-Tips]

thankyou

[@mikaelm4325]

Couldn't agree more! Very well made video.

[@Wing-Tips]

Thankyou

[@BenGordon-Smith]

Good review! I have a 6’4” x 19” x 92 ltr on order can’t wait to try it out! 😎🤙

[@Wing-Tips]

cool, that's pretty much in the ball park of what I would choose to ride.

[@raghuram2815]

Very very informative. Thank you so much for providing allt he details, and elaborating for all levels of riding.

[@Wing-Tips]

Glad it was helpful!

[@raghuram2815]

If the choice is between a 115L board that is 23" wide...and a 125L board that's 21" wide... which would you suggest for a 95kg beginner?

[@mm74forums7]

Very good review! I am intermediate 85kg, and I've made my custom board with same parameters ~7', 19". For stability the feet deck is 3" lower than nose and back deck. Other words the nose and back decks are 3" higher for floatation. :) The feet deck is water surface level when I stay. The nose is wide and round for stability, and to mitigate dives. I've simulated hull resistance with a pointy nose and with a round nose on computer, they give almost same resistance. A nose is usually first out of water and a rocker in 1' backward is almost same. My stern ends narrow, like a kayak, for less resistance, less eddies creation. The bottom is more round. It is a bit heavier, 6kg, because I've made 2 layers of carbon. Volume is about 100-110L. I tried it multiple times. It is very good for light wind. I am ok without straps. I will put picture links into next reply otherwise this one will not be visible. I'd add one more parameter to your list - how round a bottom is. If it is boxy it is less tippy. If it is more round it has more light wind performance.

[@Wing-Tips]

Nice design, I agree rail shape has an effect on stability, I do cover this in my crossover boards video where one board has hard square rails and the other bevelled rails.

[@user-tm9ql4sn2x]

Great vid. I’m 72kg and have ordered a Sunova Carver 5’10”, 85 litres and 20” wide, similar to what you’re thinking for yourself relative to your weight. Should hopefully get it this month fingers crossed.

[@Wing-Tips]

Sounds spot on for your weight - should be a great light wind option. You will lose a little bit of tracking back to the beach (off foil) for dropping below 6 foot but it depends on whether you are prioritising on foil performance or you want that get you back to the beach when the wind dies capability.

[@jbsmith991]

Thanks for your insight. I appreciate your effort to document experience on these new boards. While your focus is on light wind performance; I'm more interested in the benefits of using smaller wings and smaller foils. What are your thoughts on longer and narrower shapes in order to downsize wings and foils? Thanks!

[@Wing-Tips]

I do touch on this in the video where I am foiling usig an Axis HPS 930 (1200 projected area) using a 6.5m wing, where as on my normal board I was having to use a Spitfire 1180 in the same conditions to get going (1550 projected area). Generally you can downsise half to 1 meter on the wing and also downsize on the foil. Although downsizing the foil too much can mean you can't create enough speed on foil to get round a gybe without pumping. The overall attraction for these boards is not to have to use massive foils or indeed massive wings and use much more playful gear in light wind conditions.

[@WillBecker]

Swift made me a 6'2" by 22 @95litres - perfect for me at 85kg. I think it's the ratio of length to width that determines speed in displacement mode, rather than purely width If you go longer, you can go faster for a given width before the board has to plane.

[@Wing-Tips]

To a smaller extent length to width ratio applies but it's a valid point. The issue is that at downwind board lengths 7' plus you start to catch the tail on pump up winging and it acts like a hand brake.

[@SUPSUNRU]

Superhandy info! I am 77, on lighter days I ride my own design inflatable 7x21,5x5 which is great for travel too.. Now thinking to add a composite board, may be PPC Link

[@Wing-Tips]

I have ridden inflatable light wind boards, I just find them a bit corky and harder to balance.

[@FoilWays]

I your same weight and rode my friend's 6'6" x 19 x 90L. I liked it a lot. I kept thinking I wanted to go bigger, but only because my mind is on an actual downwind board. But it looks like I either have to stick with something in this size range for winging, or fully commit to a DW board for paddling. For reference, I usually right a 4"8" 62L board that I seem to get going in lightwind just fine, but when it gets really light I have to switch to my standard 5'4" 85L board.

[@Wing-Tips]

The dilemma of whether you go bigger to downwind with a paddle rests on how serious you are about doing that. If it's just an idea and you are thinking you might like to try it then I would put that out of your mind and get a board suited for light wind winging. If you are truly committed to downwinding and are dedicated to learning that over and above going winging then consider the downwind option.

[@FoilWays]

​@@Wing-Tips I used to live on Maui... and there, I would for sure just have a downwind board plus a small board. But in San Diego, there are some guys downwinding, but it generally sucks for here for that. It's only good during winter storms when it's generally miserable to be out. Granted, I'm out riding anyway, but have been winging during those storms. But downwinding offshore in those conditions you almost always need jet-ski assist just for safety. However, surfing fat high-tide swells on a downwind board is very much decent here.

[@bennis123]

Interesting! I just had my first session on a custom board with very similar shape and volume. I haven't struggled this much since my first few days of foiling three years ago. I struggled to find my balance point both on and off foil. Next time I'll try to move my mast back so I can keep the same balance on and off foil. I really think foot straps would have saved me a few times, but unfortunately there's no inserts on my board. I hope I'll figure it out with a few more sessions on it.

[@Wing-Tips]

I have experienced a similar thing and it is not something common to all boards like this. I haven't experienced the issue on any of the Swift foiling boards but I have recently ridden an AFS Whitebird 6'8" x 23" and this was exactly as you describe. It just felt very unbalanced and I had to fiddle around with the mast position to get it to ride predictably. So I would always say to try to demo boards if you can as they do vary quite considerably in how they ride both on and off the foil.

[@rmad1311]

@@Wing-Tips Any idea what could be the reason? I was just about to order the AFS Whitebird 6´6" than read this, and I am far away form your level.

[@Wing-Tips]

@@rmad1311 I don't know why it felt like it did, I wasn't the only rider to feel like this about the WhiteBird - another two foilers from my beach also tried it and didn't like it for the same reasons but this may be something only specific to one size, my experience was with the 6'8" whitebird. I would if you can get a demo to decide if you like it or not as I didn't experience this issue with the smaller blackbird.

[@Wingsurf]

Nice video! Have you tried dw inflatable board? Worth getting? Going to use it only for traveling.

[@Wing-Tips]

Yes I have and whilst they do work and provide an earlier takeoff they are even more tippy and corky to get on.

[@Wingsurf]

​@@Wing-Tips🙏and size? 80kg here. Had 90l not dw variant. Was ok but sticky to the water and not enough stiffness with foil connection. Don't know if carbon plate makes a difference.

[@Wing-Tips]

@Wingsurf I'm afraid I don't recall the size. It was a friend's gong cruzader. It was more sticky than a conventional board of the same dimensions would be but that is always the case with inflatables. The bigger issue was how corky it felt, I much prefer hard boards.

[@bstr77]

hi, thanks for this great video and all advises. So what volume would you recommend for 65kg beginner, learning jibes (one side already ok). 5'8- 80ltrs, 5'10- 90ltrs or 6'0 - 100ltrs? (all aprox 20inch wide) now I'm on 74ltrs standard shape board. thanks.

[@Wing-Tips]

If you are riding at plus 10 litres for your normal board then you could go with either and I'm sure you would be fine. The longer board will have a little better off foil performance for slogging back to the beach when the wind dies completely.

[@bstr77]

@@Wing-Tips thanks 👍maybe bigger board and keep 74ltrs for stronger wind is the best. And can you estimate wing size decrease with light wind board assuming same foil and wind (8-10knots). As I'm not too tall and my 7m2 cwc v1 is difficult to pump and maneuver. Do you thing that 20 inch width would allow to use 5 - 5,5m2 instead of 7m2 for my weight ? New type of wing, like fone origin vs old cwc 7m2? thanks

[@Wing-Tips]

@@bstr77 in very basic terms you can drop 1m in size but this very much depends on the sea conitions. If it is very flat then 1m drop is easily achievable, if it is very choppy sea state then gathering speed to make a small foil take off is much harder.

[@bstr77]

@@Wing-Tips thank you !

[@franpinyol8500]

Hi, another hard question, in THE SAME conditions (wing size, foil, and board VOLUME ) ... how many wind knots do you gain VS a "standard board" ?

[@Wing-Tips]

there is a limit to how low you can go with any wing before the pressure in the wing becomes not enough to pump the board onto foil. The narrow boards push you down into the sub 10 knot area for getting onto foil (less if you have flat water conditions). But the actual advanatge is using a smaller wing and a smaller foil in the same conmditions that you would be using both larger wing and foil for a standard board - so it;s more about having a faster and more playful setup, rather than a massive wing and a slow hard to turn foil.

[@franpinyol8500]

@@Wing-Tips Would you say you need 2 Knot less that with a classic 85L, 25" width board ? ... or maybe 4 knt ?

[@Wing-Tips]

3 knots perhaps - but you can definitely use a smaller wing and foil in the same conditions as you would be on a much larger wing and foil for a standard 85L at 25" wide.

[@furrfurr]

Do you SUP downwind on that same board?

[@Wing-Tips]

no I only wing foil

[@franpinyol8500]

Which board is easier to fly: the one with a flat bottom and angled edges, or the one with a pure "displacement hull"? Which board would you choose? For your information, I'm an intermediate rider, weighing 93 kg, and I've been using a custom board by HAVfoilboards, 6'4''x20'' and 98 L. I'm extremely satisfied with it as my go-to board for all conditions, ranging from 6m^2 to 3.5m^2 sails. However, I faced a dilemma about whether to shape it more bulbously, similar to the KT Dragonfly, or with a planning hull.

[@Wing-Tips]

in terms of take-off I don't believe bottom shape is the most crucial factor, width is a larger factor in being able to gather speed for the foil to activate and lift. The rail shapes do have other effects though such as susceptibility to side chop or if the rails catch when turning on a wave. I'vre now riddeen planing hulls, displacement hulls, hard rails and bevelled rails and in every case the width has been the most important factor where as rail shapes affect other areas that I mentioned.

[@franpinyol8500]

@@Wing-Tips thanks! So, I'm interpreting that you don't have any preferred 85L board.

[@Wing-Tips]

In a length over 6' - no I don't currently have a preferred board if the width is 20" or less. For normal style boards I ride a 80L SwiftFoiling NG board - which has a very early take off for it's size due to the flat hull right to the tail.

[@franpinyol8500]

@@Wing-Tips hi, thanks. My question was, which one of the two boards of the video do you prefer ?

[@Wing-Tips]

​@franpinyol8500 of the two I preferred the one with the harder rails and more typical bottom shape. They were not much different to ride overall.

[@deltaskilo6932]

How these boards behave at winds more than 20-25 knots?

[@Wing-Tips]

Absolutely fine, no issues at all. They are actually very pitch stable and the extra length is much less apparent than on larger normal style boards, which catch the wind more and seem to have higher swing weight.

[@raghuram2815]

Hello, If the choice is between a 115L board that is 23" wide...and a 125L board that's 21" wide... which would you suggest for a 95kg beginner?

[@Wing-Tips]

pick the narrower one - 23" is wide for a light wind board and is not going to be efficient through the water to gain speed.

[@raghuram2815]

@@Wing-Tips thanks. But in your video, you did say beginners could go up to 23" width. So I thought I'd ask.

[@Wing-Tips]

@@raghuram2815 If you can demo them then I would try that. Certainly if you are a total beginner then you might appreciate a little more width for stability reasons - as long as you understand that you are sacrificing some light wind performance in going wider. If you are very new and not on foil yet then the 23" may well be the better option