WINGFOIL light wind tips for riding and takoff

Light wind wingfoil tips, going over setup, how to get up, and general riding technique with Kane de Wilde
GEAR:
-Board:
Flying Dutchman x KD, 6’ x 24” ~100L
-Foil:
NP carbon 75cm mast
NP modified fuselage (~65cm)
Custom KD foils 890cm2, 85cm span front wing
Custom KD foils “Boomerang” V tail
-Wing/sail:
Reedin SuperWing 3.6m
#wingfoil #wingfoiling #foil

[@windaddict]

With a 3.5 wing in light wind? You are a magician!

[@userTJ39780]

I have been Wind Foiling (windsurfing sails) for the last 4 years, and still haven't had a jibe that smooth!

[@bigbadboomerang]

Really appreciate this video and everything you are doing to increase and share the understanding of hydrofoiling!

[@rutgerdezeeuw]

This was very informative! Please make more content! You have it down really well!

[@geoffnicholls8539]

Excellent! That’s a huge help, Kane 👍👍👍

[@nevertooold3131]

love the video and describing the details. We have a lot of light wind here, so this will help.

[@nottoday611]

Masterclass in winging. Thanks Kane.

[@jhaslam2000]

This video helped my winging so much! I have made a list of all your suggestions and keep referring back to those pearls. One added "James Casey" recommendations was to keep things really smooth. No excessive movements of the foil. Thanks for the share, stoke, and physics. I love watching your other vids....JDcam.

[@MurphCraft]

Great vid! awesome to see some informative 'how to' from someone with good technical knowledge in real time, please keep making more like this. Comparing smaller wings and lightwind ability is really interesting, drag vs lift etc. bringing us along for the gear swap so we can see the differences would be great too. Also would be good to get more in depth on your thoughts on board design.

[@wsurfn]

Wow. Blown away watching those skills. Really, light wind efficiency is so under-rated.

[@IINoisesII]

Really good video, the explanation while riding is very helpful.

[@oumuamuamakemake3360]

Please make more videos your are so good in explaining everything about this amazing sport!!!

[@youhavequasp]

Really enjoyed watching this every single minute! Great tips all the way. I‘d like to add that trying to go out in such light conditions on a high aspect foil mostly makes sense once you’re proficient with your gybes and tacks. The intermediate wingsurfer that I am, I did try it but I found that if you still get off foil every so often and you have to the pumping all over again you simply get exhausted so quickly that it just slows down your progress. So for the next times I‘m going on a lower apect and larger surface foil.

[@akinfar]

Thanks for the insight and inspiration Kane! I'm finally getting on the water this summer with a proper setup. I've got a quiver of BRM (Greg D) hand wings, a set of Alex's GT wings and fixed tails (2200-750) and the big 134L GoFoil board. I'm around 220lbs. Your video will be watched over and over by me I'm sure ha! Very interesting insight on the handwing stalling a bit and resetting it with a quick pump - It would be cool to see a smoke test and watch whats going on there. Very useful tho to keep in mind. Aloha and Mahalo Kane!

[@johngalt9665]

Very insightful! Thank you.

[@flightjunkie808]

Great video Kane. Super helpful. Thx! 😎🤙

[@Style-plus-renovations-NZ]

Nice video. Great tips.

[@scottseale]

Thanks for doing this. Great info.

[@user-vs3sj3le3s]

Learned a lot from this video👍 Thanks a lot bro!

[@gnevesd]

I really liked the analogy you used regarding dinghy sailing downwind with a spinnaker. Bear off in the puffs for speed and head up when it’s light. 👌🏼

[@guywhitworth5764]

Actually it's the opposite to what you described above. You're able to point a few degrees higher upwind when you get a gust, and you need to bear away when the wind drops to incerease the angle of attack and maintain sufficient lift. Listen to what he says at 10:29.

[@harryhalfmoon]

Thanks for the video. Just got my gear and going for my first session when the wind picks up some time this month. So stoked. Tip for you: Try to learn to breath through your nose when sporting. It might take some time to get used to, but it will give you much more endurance and keep you much more hydrated.

[@bobhoskiins6318]

Great narrative, more please

[@makalii]

Awesome stuff.

[@Piros181]

That was awesome, thanks so much learned heaps.

[@josephk.1842]

Super helpful. Thanks

[@robadair]

Superb, thanks

[@enigmaticsurf269]

fantastic, thx :)

[@Cufisz]

Awesome walk through, thanks! It would be great to see a full body shot of you pumping the board up if you ever get the chance - just to see how the board transitions from standstill to displacement mode to planing? to foil. It feels like I would make little progress raising the board with so little power. Cheers from Toronto, Canada

[@kanedewilde]

Been thinking of building a foiling camera rig that I can tow along. Would be a pretty cool POV.

[@Cufisz]

Waaat? That would be insane! The RC trimarans do a good job balancing themselves on their foils although they seem to come off pretty often. Circular ring foil for recovery? Probably needs a lot of damping whatever the solution is. If I'm pumping ~10 times on take off it starts feeling like I'm getting stuck, hit a ceiling and almost never takeoff. I'm sure my 6'6" inflatable board doesn't help but I'd be curious about what the early stages of pumping in low wind should feel like on a proper board. What does the progress feel like? Height? Speed? Lighter board?

[@kanedewilde]

@@Cufisz I think weight is my friend with the camera platform. A pretty standard foil setup should do the job (4 dihedral surface piercing) as long as they are tuned at the right angle. I’d also want to minimize aerodynamic effects on the hull. It seems like the RC tris need longer, more vertical foils as everything happens so fast on that scale

[@jamesdougall2886]

awesome video! really clear, technical tips... super useful thank you! One question: to get up, should you always be on a broad reach / slightly down-wind? I read that if you're heading up-wind the drag on the mast is quite a big impediment for getting up...sounds logical but I'm a newbie... would appreciate your view...thanks bro!

[@thailandtime2468]

That was cool to see the turtle

[@MickeAndersson67]

Skills. And whistle.

[@onion.express]

Wow is that wing generating that whistle in 10:30? Looks like you've really pumped it to its' limits :D

[@samuelbardchrisman3671]

Thank you Kane for an interesting and informative clip. Thank you again… Great work! Amazing, what you accomplished with a 3.6 handwing! I take it you are a pretty fit guy and at the top of the game. Your breathing suggests a different story from the camera - A lot of hydro-pumping going on to stay on foil? Do you think you could have enjoyed the same success with an 85cm mast?

[@massimopinelli6555]

Imoressive!! How strong was the wind condition? 8-10 kts?

[@flyingfootage]

This is pretty impressive for me it is nearly impossible to be standing on the board

[@maca5645]

Great tips! Regarding upwind angle performance,do you know what GPS angles are you achieving between tacks? .Not specifically in light wind,just on average good conditions. Thx!.

[@kanedewilde]

It really depends on the front wing and wind conditions, when powered up, small span foils do like 50-60° and large span foils can do 35-45° off the wind. The best combo is super wide span and tiny sail in lots of wind.

[@TheGuido4949]

Be interested to know your thoughts on if you find the pintail to have noticably less drag getting up over the standard square tail. Or does that just double as a dw board?

[@kanedewilde]

The pintail let’s me rotate the foil off the water easily without needing to add tail rocker. The wetted area also quickly decreases as you speed up. This tail is definitely a little small, my next board will have a larger tail with less flat bottom.

[@TheMat45260]

Great video, very informative ! Can you explain how do you position your sail/wing to benefit from the apparent wind ? Thanks in advance 🙏

[@kanedewilde]

As vertical as possible is generally best, I try to endplate the wingtip on the water to reduce drag. Within 6” can shave off up to 50% of induced drag!

[@akinfar]

@@kanedewilde Wow! I was wondering what term you were using in the video "endplate" I'll look that up. Thanks!

[@droniefilmguide4089]

Great video! I have sabfoil w1000 HA wing , i didnt try such a light wind because on instruction book wrote at least need 13-15 knot to take off but depending on your technique which size wing and board should i choose, my weigh 80 kg

[@kanedewilde]

With the right sail and technique, that foil will fly in less but the high stall speed can make it tricky to takeoff in light wind. I’d recommend a board with similar features to mine- long, skinny, flat bottom, and around 100L. I’d also use a short mast as that can help takeoff too.

[@michaellambert8606]

This is one one the most impressive light wind videos I’ve ever seen. As a Mainer this is helpful. Questions: when adding waves to the mast drag factor, how much of the extra efficiency from riding the foil close to the surface from there being more energy up there, vs lack of mast drag? I ask because I’m trying to stay in small waves pretty often. Also, how the hell do you not crash into your wing in the jibes at that speed if you can’t even see ripples?!?!! It doesn’t look like you hold it up much at all! Edit: at 15:00 or so you give it a shove with your back hand, and you aren’t lingering at dead downwind that’s for sure.

[@kanedewilde]

The actual wing efficiency should be better below about half the span down from the surface but mast drag makes a bigger difference than that. The most usable energy in waves is also near the surface so ride as high as possible for the best efficiency. Gybing like that is all about predicting the apparent wind angle. On my toe side gybe, I stay powered all the way around and keep the wing pointed into the apparent wind, on my heel side the wing is facing the wrong way, but positioned to slip sideways or backwards through the apparent wind. Biggest advice is to turn as quickly as possible and come out of the gybe on a reach or higher!

[@michaellambert8606]

@@kanedewilde thanks so much! And another question: are you timing the sail pumps with the board pumps? I initially tried to coordinate them but I found I had the best luck pumping hard with the wing like you did and simultaneously trying to step the board up out of the water, and increasing the frequency of the sail pumping when the board seems unstuck. The actual getting up technique part is key since it helps you try all the other stuff again!

[@Cufisz]

@@michaellambert8606 you need to coordinate the board pumps with the wing pumps. The idea is to pop the board up then pull on the wing to accelerate the foil through the water which lets you pop higher which lets you accelerate more until you're flying. It will feel wrong if the timing is off. See this kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4O8iWptiNaZgsU

[@michaellambert8606]

@@Cufisz thanks, since writing that comment I happened upon a new-to-me technique: forget about any ollie type board pump, and instead lift both feet simultaneously. It’s easier to coordinate with the sail pumping and the board comes up just the same anyway. My kujira 1440 got me up with less pressure in the sail than I had previously experienced with any combo.

[@bigtone667]

Quite a different tail on your board compared to the square tails on most of the commercial manufacturers. Do you think that improves your release from the water?

[@kanedewilde]

Yes but I’m kind of a roundabout way. A pin tail isn’t a very efficient planing surface but lets me pump off the water without any tail rocker and quickly decrease surface area as the nose rises on takeoff. Main disadvantage is lots of curve in the outline means more drag in the transition to planing and it’s very unstable. Wider tail at the deck and a v bottom would probably be better

[@nicbritton4310]

Great footage kane. did you choose the small wind wing to show that it can be done or do you prefer riding with a small wing, You mention it would be easier to use a larger wing, would you ever consider a 6 meter, what do you weigh. Is this wing you are using have more power than its stated size. cheers Nic New Zealand.

[@kanedewilde]

Hey! I mostly chose it as a challenge, but it has its advantages especially surfing. I have up to 7m but perfect my 5.2 in light wind because it’s a more efficient sail. I weight 88kg. That 3.6 definitely has more power than it’s stated size, more power than an ozone v2 4m for example. In this wind I would reccomend around 6m and the widest span front wing available

[@nickbritton8519]

Thanks for your reply Kane. I could talk about this stuff all day 😛 I Come from a boatbuilding sailing and surfing background. Just discovered wing foiling 5 months ago and loving it. I have an Armstrong 80 litre wing sup, and the cf 2400 plus Hs 1850 foils. I’m 73 kg but I can’t get going in under 16 knots with my 4 mtr ozone wasp V1. What is potentially missing in this combo that I can’t get flying. I am considering buying an Armstrong wing and building some foil boards soon 🤙🏼

[@kanedewilde]

@@nickbritton8519 wing and board for sure, look at the Armstrong, ensis, duotone slick, or reedin, they all offer much more power than your v1 ozone! Building your own board is awesome, keep the bottom simple and low rocker and no kick out the tail, you’ll be up so much easier. Look at something like the levitaz wing board for inspiration. Hard to say but if you’re coming from the last gen Armstrong board, a new board will probably make a bigger difference than new sail

[@Yanivkahana]

Super Cool!! .. when I hold my wing in this angle it's always tipping over.. (naish wingsurf s25)

[@kanedewilde]

Make sure to push the back handle downward using the weight of your arm! The wing still needs to point slightly up

[@Yanivkahana]

@@kanedewilde Gotcha!! Thanks I'll try it next time... I think I'm not aiming the from edge up enough.

[@Yanivkahana]

Came back seeing this video again. Great talk during the surf! Why did you choose the 75cm mast here?

[@wildhogget69]

My thoughts on moving the foil all the way forward is really only valid if the foot position is fixed, for example with straps, when strapless you can place your feet any position over the foil to gain lift. My impression is that if the straps are on and you need more lift fine tune the lift by moving the foil forward, and back for control. Nice video any way

[@kanedewilde]

In this case it also moves the center of lift of the foil closer to the center of buoyancy of the board, meaning I do not have to move as much between floating and foiling. Mast position is extremely important strapless as it also sets your ride height through turns!

[@user-xo6so1fe3c]

Hello! Thank you for this great video!! I’m considering to start wing foiling, but I got really worried at 7:32 minutes. Can you say how high is the risk of a collision with a sea turtle? I’m actually living in an area with a high turtle population..

[@kanedewilde]

They’re pretty easy to spot here as long as there isn’t a ton of glare from the water. I’ve hit some and they seem to take it pretty well, of course board size, straps or no straps, speed, and foil make a difference. Beginner foilers move slower, but are more likely to hit one. Good foilers move fast but have the skills to avoid one.

[@user-xo6so1fe3c]

@@kanedewilde thank you for your reply I appreciate that a lot! I hope you didn’t break your foil due to collision.

[@tonolegarda9919]

Great vid! Board volume? Foil component lengths? Thanks.

[@kanedewilde]

Board is about 100L, mast is 75cm, and front wing is 890cm2

[@FunSeekersorg]

@@kanedewilde and what is your weight Kane, please, Aloha

[@kanedewilde]

@@FunSeekersorg 195lbs/88kg

[@R020777]

Putting more pressure in your wing means make it stiffer,yes,but it damage it because seams and textile stretch(before it brakes)....

[@kanedewilde]

Good point! I am only going 1psi over the states maximum and also do testing for this brand. The stated pressure should be well within the safe range.

[@R020777]

@@kanedewilde Hi,I observed that it depends of cloths wingmakers use,with a heavier cloth less pressure is needed to have the same rigidity feel.I don't know how maximum pressure can be determinated in order to make sure it doesn't damage,but consider that dacron tend to elongate if stretched,so little by little to have the same rigidity you make your leading edge and strut diameter bigger(and more fragile).

[@lunrya]

Awesome video. I’m definitely going to have new things to try. Any idea what the lower wind limit would be for my setup? Lift 170 HA with 25 tail, 5M strike, 75L fone rocket board, me about 70kg. Right now it seems hard close to 10kts, 15 is easy. Thanks!

[@kanedewilde]

Sounds like you’re doing great! 75L and 5m is pretty small for super light wind, lift 170 is perfect. Main advice is practice your wing and board pumping technique to takeoff.

[@lunrya]

@@kanedewilde thanks! Will do.

[@foilsurfmachines]

890 foil….span or area?

[@kanedewilde]

Area, span is 850

[@AngusMcIntyre]

How much do you weigh? At 90kg I'd barely be able to stand on my 100L board.

[@kanedewilde]

88kg

[@WhiteSliceMedia]

get yourself a 5m/6m wing and it would be much easier in these conditions!!

[@kanedewilde]

I have a 7m too! Prefer my 3.5 most of the time because of its that light I’ll just surf :)

[@droniefilmguide4089]

@@kanedewilde When are you using 7m ? I have 7m also my feeling to much drag when you jibing . Thanks for nice video

[@bbanl]

Hé, zoon van Ivo? 😊

[@kanedewilde]

Yes!

[@bbanl]

@@kanedewilde Haha, cool! I thought you might, noticing the name and the writing in your board. I know him from university, back in the old country 😅

[@rjbuiso100]

You could just windsurf

[@kanedewilde]

Where’s the fun in that ;)

[@mtumix]

Haha. Plz cut the video to the interesting parts...

[@gcammar]

blah, blah, blah... the only thing that made sense in this video is what the guy on the other side of the parking lot said in the first 10 seconds of it... LOL! cheers brah!