FORUM: FLYING IN WING FOIL !!!

Our forum is a great way for those new to wing foiling to get valuable advice from our community and the GONG staff. Philippe is new to wing foil and is experiencing some difficulties in flying. Patrice Guénolé helps him with his advice to facilitate his learning process:

“Hello,

That’s what we’re here for. No problem. That’s an interesting question I have an opinion on. Everyone I’ve seen in your situation has two concerns: 1/ Not enough wind. But this is not your case. 2/ They were bearing away too much. When you go too much with the wind (bear away instead of flying at 90° from the wind) before the flight you feel a strong resistance that feels like power. It’s a misunderstanding of what feeds a Wing: the apparent wind. The real wind is a starter, but not the wind of use during the flight. The one that will make you fly is the apparent wind. So the whole question is not to be picked up at takeoff, or during the acceleration before takeoff. Otherwise you will suffocate your Wing by catching the wind instead of filling it with fresh wind that you will come across at more closed points of sail. This wise dosage can be learned, starting by knowing how to upwind in 8/10 knots without flying. If you know how to do this, you will be able to use the apparent wind because you will be able to manage all the complex points of sail before the flight. In other words, you have to bear up a few degrees (10°, 20° max), launch a pre-flight micro speed, luff up progressively towards the beam reach (90° of wind). The closer you are to the wind, the more precise and quicker your pumping should be. So start with a large pumping and increase your speed to 5 strokes as you luff. Be careful, the Wing is pole dance, not windsurfing. If you want to fly, you have to lighten up by having both hands almost on the same vertical axis to take advantage of the Wing’s lifting power (like a kite). Thanks.” Advisor: Patrice Guénolé and GONG-GALAXY.