Duotone Diversity Magazine No.02 2020

CHOOSING THE RIGHT MAST LENGTH 60 CM In our experience, 60cm is only best for the first few hours of a school foil course. As soon as you develop a feel for the power of the foil, a longer mast will be more forgiving at higher speeds as it allows you more room for pitch adjustment. 75 CM This length is great for maneuvering through the waves and allows more scope to actively work with the foil. A 60cm mast is difficult in the waves as the board is always close to the water surface. 75 cm is also a great choice in shallow water where a 90cm mast would scrape the bottom. 90 CM The ideal mast for more stability when riding fast. A 90cm length won’t be affected in the slightest by choppy water, which makes it possible to tackle extreme angles into the wind as the long mast ensures the wing always stays below the surface of the water. Follow this tip to learn quickly even with a 90cm mast: shift your weight onto your front foot to keep the foil under water at the start and control the lift. Then slowly position your rear foot further back or shift your weight slowly backwards to allow the foil to rise gradually in a controlled manner. WHAT ROLE DOES FUSELAGE LENGTH PLAY? The fuselage, or body of the foil, determines the distance between the fixed wing positions. This length must be adjusted to ensure stability when riding in a straight line to limit pitch sensitivity and to avoid “rodeo riding” if you choose a fuselage that is too short. We have selected the ideal length for all our foils so they can tackle any riding conditions. This involved determining the ideal balance between pitch stability and maneuverability. IS A LARGE WING BETTER TO START WITH? Not necessarily. It’s true that larger wings offer exceptional stability in terms of lateral tipping. The drawback, however, is they create lots of lift even at low speeds, which means the foil will rise at even lower wind speeds. This means you need to put even more weight on the front foot to counter the lift of the foil. Large wings might give you the sense that you are standing in a stable position, but they reach their limit more quickly with a lower top-end speed, depending on the choice of wing profile. The ideal choice for your first introduction to kite foiling is a medium sized wing with good lateral stability but which doesn’t tend to create lift too rapidly at the start. In our experience this will be about 700cm2. To give some indication of the foil’s lift, we calculate the lift factor for each of our wings. THE CRUCIAL RIDING TIP Lots of kiters want to ride a Foil Board like they do their Surfboard or Twintip – in other words, they stand with rear leg bent, front leg straight and their weight on the back foot. This technique sends the foil in just one direction: it catapults upwards and out of the water. On a Foil Board, you need to stand much further forward than you might think, then gradually feel your way backwards step by step. This is because your stance on the board is what provides the downward force to counterbalance the lift generated by the wing. Our Duotone Free Foil Boards have positioning strips marked on the upper deck which you can use to work out where you need to stand. WING FOILING For wing foiling, it’s nice to have a bigger wing to generate lift and glide. 2000cm2 wings are the current standard here, but skilled riders can easily manage the 1500cm2 and 1250cm2 wings or even smaller. The overall setup for wing foiling needs to be stronger and stiffer with a wider mast and larger mounting points to better distribute the higher loads of the bigger wings and larger boards. The larger the wing or wider the span, the higher the torsional stresses in the mast and fuselage. A fuselage that is too flexible can result in undesirable wing oscillations, which becomes especially apparent when pumping. You will find the perfect range of wing foil wings at Fanatic. 91 T E C H N O L O G Y T E C H N O L O G Y 90 S K Y W I N G 4 ' 8 " / 5 ' 0 " / 5 ' 4 " D U O T O N E E C H O P H O T O M A X M A T I S S E K / R I D E R J A I M E H E R R A I Z ADD I CT E D TO R I D E – BOARDR I D I NG S I NCE 8 1 FO L LOW U S FANAT I C.COM/ FO I L I NG DUOTON E S POR TS.COM The second edition of our Duotone Foil Wing answers all demands. Introducing the Echo, inspired and shaped by the visionaries, specialists and watermen/women of our brand, it’s dynamic and premium. Now, the power is in your hands. × F L Y O N T H E W A V E O F I N N O V A T I O N Harness the power of the elements and take flight with our Fanatic Sky Wing. Bridging the gap between the SUP and Surf line, this Foil Wing- focused shape is ready to advance with you. The brand new Aero High Aspect Foil range is the perfect match. K I T E F O I L I N G