Hydrofoil Rear Wing position

On the Carafino Foils you can mount the rear wing in one of two places.
Having discussed this with Mango he told me that in light wind the ideal place for the rear wing is in the rear position.
Once the wind becomes stronger it is better to reduce the space between the two blades by moving it forward.

However, the Taaroa crew from Frujus in France, are telling us that they are using the board in the opposite manner. Maybe it all boils down to personal preference but if any one can shed more light on this subject - I am certain we will all be happy to discuss it more.

looking forward to hearing from you...

on the aluminum foils, we generally use the rear wing position to adjust the response speed of the foil. Meaning, in the forward position, you shorten the fuselage, which 'quickens' the foil. In the rear position, the fuselage is longer, and thereby 'slows' the foil down.

That said, you 'should' get more moment out of a longer foil, so smaller moves should do more.

I would guess that the rear position would make it fly better/more stable in light winds, and you could benefit from jumping in the front position once the winds are blowing.

I haven't ridden the Carafino, but I would just try it in both places and see which one works best.

That is exactly what we have been doing Brett but thanks all the same for the info. Very informative and some terminology that I have not heard previously - but it makes sense
Just one thing can you define the term 'moment'

That said, you 'should' get more moment out of a longer foil, so smaller moves should do more.

If I understand correctly - small body / weight input will produce greater results out of a longer foil fuselage and this is due to the 'moment'

Thanks Brett

tinyE a écrit:

on the aluminum foils, we generally use the rear wing position to adjust the response speed of the foil. Meaning, in the forward position, you shorten the fuselage, which 'quickens' the foil. In the rear position, the fuselage is longer, and thereby 'slows' the foil down.

That said, you 'should' get more moment out of a longer foil, so smaller moves should do more.

I would guess that the rear position would make it fly better/more stable in light winds, and you could benefit from jumping in the front position once the winds are blowing.

I haven't ridden the Carafino, but I would just try it in both places and see which one works best.

My native language is french therefore my understanding is not Chris's.

When you say that you quicken the foil by shortening the fuselage, do you mean you enhance the responsivness for jumps or it give more sailing speed to the board ? I guess my first option is also yours. Less lever between both wings makes it easier to change the angle of attack (assiette in french) in order to sunden change for vertical speed.

by moment, yes, I meant less input force = more output change, i.e. by moving your weight the same amount (say back for instance), the foil will change direction more drastically, which creates the pop out of the water. We have found that the increase in air (without using the kite for lift) is directly related to the 1) speed that the wings change direction from down to up, and 2) the tension on the lines.

This is purely for jumping of course. I don't think that the long tbar benefits you much if you are sailing in light winds unless the chop is really big, or you are flying somewhat unstable going up and down.

By shortening the fuselage, you do enhance the responsiveness. I don't believe it really affects the sailing speed, though I haven't run that experiment. You can get the foil to be too quick though, which could cause flying problems in general. Personally, with the kite, I like to slow things down a bit.

sorry for the new language. We have a whole list of new jargon to go along with the hydrofoils. I'll try to offer a little more explanation in the future!

No problem - it's always fun communicating transatlantic were, separated by our common language + with the jargon - its only the initial few posts we need to decipher.

As you have probably understood, I am stoked to be learning more about the tweaking and variations that are possible and so eager to get back out onto the water. Glad I bought shed loads of guitar picks last time I was in the music store - looks like I might be visiting it more regularly...