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Balance question - before I get my drill out....

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merl
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Balance question - before I get my drill out....

Postby merl » Wed Dec 06, 2017 5:50 pm

Hi

Noob question. Been out about 10 times in very varied conditions and kites. RL variofoil with 70cm mast. In good conditions I'm foiling OK, but it feels like I need to keep all my weight on my back foot so not very relaxed. And toe-side foiling seems impossible at the moment (although the board is very easy to ride on the surface).

I can move the base plate forward one whole base-plate length (i.e. there are 6 holes in all) but when I tried this once it seemed impossible to keep the board down. Just looking at the position of the front wing in relation to the front and back foot hooks I would expect it to be at around the mid point. So it looks to me like the ideal posiotion of the base plate would be about 1/2 a base-plate-length forward.

Does this make sense? I confirmed with the guy who makes them that one can redrill in the usual way, but should I wait a bit until I have more experience and I am foiling at higher speeds?

I have attached a picture showing the approximate position of the wing in relation to the board. The mid point between the foot hooks is at 35cm. The current centre of lift is at about 25cm from the back hook. The back hook can be moved forward a couple of cm but the front one has no adjustment possibilities.
IMG_1849.JPG

Mossy 757
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Re: Balance question - before I get my drill out....

Postby Mossy 757 » Wed Dec 06, 2017 7:13 pm

Before you drill new holes, have you experimented with shimming your stabilizer up or down?

https://youtu.be/q1abYwkEscE

merl
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Re: Balance question - before I get my drill out....

Postby merl » Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:32 pm

Looks tricky in my case. But I don't have the problem that it dives at higher speed, it just feels like I need a more balanced stance

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Re: Balance question - before I get my drill out....

Postby BWD » Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:42 pm

Just remove foot hooks and find your balance.
Strapless it will take a few sessions. Strapped it could take a few years. Once you find your proper stance, add inserts if needed to use foot hooks again. But decent chance you’ll be happier strapless. Definitely easier to avoid hard crashes strapless. You’ll crash more at first, but more gently....

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Re: Balance question - before I get my drill out....

Postby Mossy 757 » Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:09 pm

merl wrote:
Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:32 pm
Looks tricky in my case. But I don't have the problem that it dives at higher speed, it just feels like I need a more balanced stance
So to be clear, you cannot or will not put a shim in between your fuselage and stabilizer to see if that solves your problem? It's literally 30 seconds to install and could save you the effort of permanently modifying your board...

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Re: Balance question - before I get my drill out....

Postby OzBungy » Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:19 pm

10 sessions? You haven't even begun to foil. You haven't developed any of the muscle memory or skills to begin foiling properly. Come back after 100 sessions then talk about modifying your gear.

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Re: Balance question - before I get my drill out....

Postby Peter_Frank » Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:32 pm

OzBungy wrote:
Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:19 pm
10 sessions? You haven't even begun to foil. You haven't developed any of the muscle memory or skills to begin foiling properly. Come back after 100 sessions then talk about modifying your gear.

Agree - dont change radically till you have more experience :thumb:

8) PF

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Re: Balance question - before I get my drill out....

Postby windmaker » Thu Dec 07, 2017 5:09 am

There is also no point continuing using something if wrong.Bad habits are hard to change.

Have an experienced foilboarder try your foil first or as mentioned previously go strapless and adjust the foil position accordingly.

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Re: Balance question - before I get my drill out....

Postby foilonfoil » Thu Dec 07, 2017 7:02 am

Have an experienced foiler test-drive the board/foil for you before making any changes.

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Re: Balance question - before I get my drill out....

Postby merl » Thu Dec 07, 2017 9:21 am

Mossy 757 wrote:
Wed Dec 06, 2017 10:09 pm
merl wrote:
Wed Dec 06, 2017 8:32 pm
Looks tricky in my case. But I don't have the problem that it dives at higher speed, it just feels like I need a more balanced stance
So to be clear, you cannot or will not put a shim in between your fuselage and stabilizer to see if that solves your problem? It's literally 30 seconds to install and could save you the effort of permanently modifying your board...
I thought (as per the videos) that I would need to shim between the fuselage and the mast. But between fuselage and stab - that should not be difficult to try. I didn't find a video explaining that but I can probably work it out.


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