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cglazier
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Postby cglazier » Wed Oct 16, 2013 1:44 am
I own and ride both a raceboard (North LTD 2013) and a hydrofoil board (Carafino). Certainly my raceboard is faster. But there are faster hydrofoils than mine out there now.
When riding a raceboard under ideal conditions, the board barely touches the water and the fins act like foils. And raceboard fins have gone through intensive development in the last few years to optimize their performance at high speeds.
A very fast hydrofoil board should beat anything going upwind in a straight line under ideal conditions. But I have tried to use my hydrofoil racing and it is a problem when rounding mark in crowded conditions. It is also difficult going downwind (actually it is a bit difficult all the time
). And I am uncertain about the range of a hydrofoil board. One that works for light wind may not be capable of high speed.
Don't be too quick to presume one board is far superior to the other around a race course.
CG
Last edited by
cglazier on Wed Oct 16, 2013 1:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
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andrewkiter
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Postby andrewkiter » Wed Oct 16, 2013 1:47 am
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experienced1
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Postby experienced1 » Wed Oct 16, 2013 2:00 am
not sure about the #s, and of course there is wind speed and ebb/floood consideration, but two years ago Bryan Lake set a new course record in the ronstan Bridge2Bridge annual race (Golden Gate to the Bay Bridge.) Last year, Johnny Heineken established a new course record of around 14 min. Both Johnny and Bryan were on Mike Z 70cm course board and I think techtonic fins. This year on a foil, Johnny established a new record of like 12 min...beating his old record by 2 min. For those that don't know, this is basically a DOWN Wind Race.
steve
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Tone
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Postby Tone » Wed Oct 16, 2013 9:24 am
Hawaiis wrote:It's all because of that stupid box rule that handicapped the raceboards. With long enough fins, the raceboard would levitate like a foilboard
nope.
The board would not levitate, unless there was horizontal foiling going on.
Yes going fast the board appears to be almost out of the water the whole time but it is not. The fins add drag and when the hull hits the water it also adds drag. On mega flat water the board is skimming the water, only the tail of the board is touching periodically but that is still drag. In chop the raceboard will be a lot slower.
BTW that photo is of a rider going over a small amount of chop the board is not constantly riding like that.
If Johnnys board was flying it wouldn't have a wake (well not much)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpvzX0lidyw
end of.
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Hawaiis
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Postby Hawaiis » Wed Oct 16, 2013 9:55 am
The canting on the raceboard fins can count as part of the horizontal lift. The Sailrocket and America's cup use J foils.
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Tone
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Postby Tone » Wed Oct 16, 2013 10:26 am
Most riders use under 3 degrees canting.
The canting required to lift the board out of the water on traditional fins would be so extreme that riding the board would be a mental experience.
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ronnie
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Postby ronnie » Wed Oct 16, 2013 10:46 am
These were 3 races across the wind on flat water and all 3 were won on a Spotz foil and Aguera board by Nicolas Parlier (green vest, white helmet, yellow board).
Mixture of foils and raceboards.
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Don Lester
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Postby Don Lester » Wed Oct 16, 2013 5:43 pm
It never ceases to amaze me how easily guys can get "off topic".
The question isn't which is faster, that's obvious, the question is can both coexist and grow, or will foiling capture the market so much so that 70cm Race boards will end up gathering dust in the garage..........
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SalmonSlayer
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Postby SalmonSlayer » Wed Oct 16, 2013 6:34 pm
Don Lester wrote: or will foiling capture the market so much so that 70cm Race boards will end up gathering dust in the garage..........
This
The racing community is still small. I don't see a need for 2 classes. Who wants to race in the slower class when the barriers to entry into the faster class is a small additional cost? These are racers, not riders.
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ChristoffM
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Postby ChristoffM » Wed Oct 16, 2013 7:22 pm
I can't see the race boards surviving too long. Hydrofoils are so much more fun that they perform much better as a free-ride category for non competitive riders. And now that they are proving to be faster already (with improvements surely to come with development), I cannot see why anyone would want to stay on a 70cm wide raceboard anymore.
Are there anyone here that can ride both types of boards well, and still prefer a race board for general cruising? I'll be surprised to find anyone.
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