Improve your sailing by wing foiling

I have said for decades that if you want to be a better sailor in Archimedes mode you need to windsurf at over 20 kts often. When you are that in tune with your sailing you get on a displacement boat, and you are thinking steps ahead.

Paul loaded up with 11sq-m sail on Mike’s Lab Formula board

Now with wing foiling the same is true. But, wing foiling is a lot easier to learn than windsurfing at over 20 kts, while also being easier on the body. Plus you have a whole new set of vectors to work though. An we all know sailing is about being in balance.

With wing foiling you sail the foil underneath the water, not the board. It is more sensitive than displacement sailing with lateral foils (keel, boards, rudder, etc). It teaches you to become sensitive and understand/react to the changing vectors. You get a much better feel for puffs, lulls, shifts, waves, the same way you do windsurfing above 20 kts.

One of the great things about wing foiling is you are the mast. So all rig tuning is you, which helps you understand, and react to the changes. This is transferable to any boat.

Rob keeping the wing trimmed in balance while coming out of a jibe in switch stance.

Then it is balance, I don’t just mean your balance standing on the board, that helps you with balance on any other surface in life. But, more so balancing the loads, center of effort (CE) of the sail plan (wing) which you control, with the center of lift, and lateral resistance (CLR) of both foils, foil mast, angle of attack (AOA), distance between foils (fuselage length) with or without shims.

Then there is the type of foils you use. Be it low aspect, mid aspect, high aspect, dihedral, anhedral, sweep, tips of the foils, all with different areas. All of that matters. But the big effect is the sectional shapes which are overlooked by a lot of sailors and foilers.

My previous 2024 gear set up with MA1000/Flow 235, Performance 865 mast.

Another area is where do you place the foil mast on the board to match your style, keeping you in balance for maneuvers, and straight line speed. Moving it three millimeters is a big change. Then add waves, going upwind, down wind for a whole new set of vectors. All of this transfers too balancing a boat. Where rake, rig tune, rudder angle, sail trim, crew weight are critical.

And let’s not forget inflatable wing shapes. Again aspect ratio, section shapes, luff curve, span, strut length, leech load, weight, leading edge/strut diameter, where you grip the handles, how you trim, how soft or stiff the wing is, with all these new vectors, you learn a lot fast.

We have had so many different wings, this is a 6.0 light air wing foiling in Nantucket.

So once you have all of these in equilibrium, the feeling is magical. Effort is low, you keep flying, and can stay out for hours. This keeps us going out hunting for that feeling. This spring I am still working back to where I was prior to my October TKR, about 85% at this time. It is coming back, and teaching me to re-learn some of the basics which always makes us better sailors/foilers. And hopefully to get into flow more often.

Is this not what we all want with our sailing? These are some of the many reasons I think wing foiling is not only extremely addicting, but will also makes you a better sailor on anything you sail. And it all fits in the back of your car.

Carol and Rob showing different wing vectors. Carol about to jibe and Rob running straight and fast.

This is just a taste of wing foiling. On future post I will dive further into this and other subjects. The mistakes we have made, the tricks we have learned, and hopefully that will help you in some small way.

Have fun, be kind, get on the water with human or wind power. See you soon, Paul