most of us would change to smaller gear, you cant fight the laws of physics
edit: Even if you did everything right like lower the boom, move mast track forward, adjust harness lines and your stance, if you are severely overpowered at best you'll be fighting to stay in control, crash less, but use up so much physical energy, disproportionate to the amount of fun you would have, so if possible change down. Smaller fin, smaller sail, and smaller board. If change down not possible eat cement and and grow larger testicles.

How heavy are you and what size sail and fin were you using?
A local here had an iSonic of around that size, used it with a 7.8m 3 cam freerace and 46cm fin. In light winds he was ok, but 15 knots average and he was all over the place. I was fine on a 110l/67cm freerace & 7.5m, 38 or 40cm fin in those winds.
He didnt have the weight (78kg) or skill to use it. That size board is made for 90kg+ PWA sailors with 8.5m+ sails.
That board has a wide tail so needs a large fin to match. You cant just stick a 38cm fin in as it wont cope with the leverage of the wide tail so well.
I see the brochure says fin 44-52cm fin and 7.8m - 9.6m, but thats for skilled heavy sailors. Lighter sailors would be on smaller boards.
Try a 42cm fin with 7.8m sail and move the mast foot forwards, but it still wont be comfortable in chop. After the wide board 'revolution' I saw a few people out on wide boards and they struggle when the wind/chop picks up a bit.

hardie said..
most of us would change to smaller gear, you cant fight the laws of physics
edit: Even if you did everything right like lower the boom, move mast track forward, adjust harness lines and your stance, if you are severely overpowered at best you'll be fighting to stay in control, crash less, but use up so much physical energy, disproportionate to the amount of fun you would have, so if possible change down. Smaller fin, smaller sail, and smaller board. If change down not possible eat cement and and grow larger testicles.

I agree. Boom height, mast track position, fin, harness lines should be adjusted.
If you get to the stage of having to move foot straps forward on a large board to keep control then I reckon its way past the time to change down.
I've tried a 7.5m sail, 40cm fin on my 125l/80cm wide board, wide tail of OFO 57cm and it feels terrible.

This is a good video of how to make your slalom board fly or not fly too much. But there are limits.

Hi all, thank you very much.
I'm 192cm and 95kg (am trying to get the weight down but it seems to be a long term project)
I was on a 7.8 freerace and a 44cm fin. Wind was over 15knts and by the end of the session I think closer to 20knts.
I have been thinking more about what happened, there was a buoy upwind from my and I was trying to reach it, I was pushing to close-reach so I could get to it. This put the chop directly in my path, I think I was leaning out and back more than I should of and as I went over the chop
well I just could not handle the wobble.
No question, the best thing would of been to get onto a smaller board and I could of been easily ripping it up.
Thank you so much for the videos, I watched them and yeah that Italian bloke is really at the edge and loving it. It does seem that his stance is more outboard then mine. But I have never recorded myself so I am not sure.
I do find that with these types of boards it makes my legs feel like thin little bread sticks (sorry I just can't think of a better way of describing it). With a smaller board I feel that, when I am in the straps, that my feet and legs have more control over the board but with this larger board my front foot seems to be constantly working in a toe up position and having to readjust it's position.
Any remedy on how I can get a bit more comfortable and get more control in the straps with this wider board?
Sorry to carry on with questions but I really want another go on it, it was pure fun and I enjoyed the feeling.

Commit to the harness, keep the weight in it

On that board, with your weight, sail and fin - 15 knots should be a piece of cake, perfect cruising with that set up. This assumes that harness, straps, mast base, etc are in balance. 20 knot wind with that set up should be doable with the comfort level variable depending on skill. iSonics are rough riding in chop. I have an old 111 with a 42cm fin and the perfect sail is my 7.6 race sail. Works best for me in 12-18 knots of wind. I weigh 170 lbs.

Henners said..

Subsonic said..
Agree with everything everyone's said above. Adding onto all of that, Once you've got it all fine tuned you've really got to keep the hammer down. Stay out at maximum stretch, keep the weight in the harness and keep plenty of foot and pointed toe pressure on. The second you let up the board will go wobbly and you'll end up doing a "rail ride half twist into catapault". Very entertaining for spectators, not so much when you're the unwilling participant.

You'd be surprised what you can get away with, even if you're a lighter/shorter rider, but as hardie said there is a point where the laws of physics should be paid attention to. We don't get nine lives like cats.

I was just reading your comment again do you think the best thing to do is stay outboard when you hit chop or get a little bit more on top of the board? At a guess, the chop comes in small waves of about 20 to 30cms.

I find things tend to go better with weight off the side, main reason being i find keeping the sail locked down is critical. If i sit up generally it means the sail twists open somewhat. That means a loss of downforce at the universal joint which lets the nose of the board come up which leads to acrobatics/pain/suffering.

Use a whip and chair,......... sorry wrong forum

Subsonic said..
Agree with everything everyone's said above. Adding onto all of that, Once you've got it all fine tuned you've really got to keep the hammer down. Stay out at maximum stretch, keep the weight in the harness and keep plenty of foot and pointed toe pressure on. The second you let up the board will go wobbly and you'll end up doing a "rail ride half twist into catapault". Very entertaining for spectators, not so much when you're the unwilling participant.

You'd be surprised what you can get away with, even if you're a lighter/shorter rider, but as hardie said there is a point where the laws of physics should be paid attention to. We don't get nine lives like cats.

You'd be surprised what you can get away with, even if you're a lighter/shorter rider, but as hardie said there is a point where the laws of physics should be paid attention to. We don't get nine lives like cats.

Yes I just found that out..stuck out in a S change with the big kit- 112ltre board - 7.5m - 35cm fin , 61kg rider overpowered with 1.5m chop = OW..

To be honest, even if your brain says back off and sheet out/stand upright, you just have to stay sheet'd in to fly smoothly over the chop when over-powered.

As soon as you sheet out, the chain reaction starts, less mast foot pressure, nose rises, speed reduces, then chop starts smacking the board giving control issues.

Sheeting in = fun

ahh yes wide boards in high wind and chop ,i social distance myself from wide boards in chop now ,smashed to many board noses
being a hard arse .

Wide boards are all about lift ,As the board hits the chop and airborne happens ,they are just doing their jobs lifting ....as many have said a small fin will help keep it down .the wide boards can act like a sail too ...

and up and over you go .and ankle killers as you said .in 15- 20 knot chop ,you survived ...and you found the boards limit ...

every board has its limits ,that why we have so many ....comfort in the right conditions ..having the right combo on the day is a dream come true .

mark62 said..
To be honest, even if your brain says back off and sheet out/stand upright, you just have to stay sheet'd in to fly smoothly over the chop when over-powered.

As soon as you sheet out, the chain reaction starts, less mast foot pressure, nose rises, speed reduces, then chop starts smacking the board giving control issues.

Sheeting in = fun

Ditto that.

Henners said..
Just to add a bit more, there was one think that I neglected. I have been using a seat harness. A few day's ago I borrowed one of the local members waist harness and there was so much more stability and control. With my old seat harness I always felt that I could never truly locked the sail in and I was always moving the sails balance point around. I've seen some of those videos were the riders take a hand off the boom and run it in the water. Never been able to do that when using my seat harness as if I did take a hand off I need to get it back onto the boom to keep things balanced. Thought it might of been my harness line settings and in the past I could get them positioned quite well but they never felt perfect. But with this waist harness I just hung off the boom could take a hand off and felt like everything was balanced. Wind was up and I was screaming along, the board was doing it's job and we were flying. Yeah I did have a little stack but I was pushing as hard as I could and I was getting more experience. So now I am saving my pennies to buy a new harness and retire the old 14 year old waist harness. I did have a bit of back pain after using the waist harness but I think it is just stance and using muscles that have not been getting a work out.
Thanks for reading.

I have always used a seat harness, first a big comfy Dakine XT for over powered windsurfing, and now for foiling a Dakine Reflex, they work perfect for me, super stable locked in feel and hook is always were you expect it to be.

Henners said..
Just to add a bit more, there was one think that I neglected. I have been using a seat harness. A few day's ago I borrowed one of the local members waist harness and there was so much more stability and control. With my old seat harness I always felt that I could never truly locked the sail in and I was always moving the sails balance point around. I've seen some of those videos were the riders take a hand off the boom and run it in the water. Never been able to do that when using my seat harness as if I did take a hand off I need to get it back onto the boom to keep things balanced. Thought it might of been my harness line settings and in the past I could get them positioned quite well but they never felt perfect. But with this waist harness I just hung off the boom could take a hand off and felt like everything was balanced. Wind was up and I was screaming along, the board was doing it's job and we were flying. Yeah I did have a little stack but I was pushing as hard as I could and I was getting more experience. So now I am saving my pennies to buy a new harness and retire the old 14 year old waist harness. I did have a bit of back pain after using the waist harness but I think it is just stance and using muscles that have not been getting a work out.
Thanks for reading.[/quote

Sandman, why did you change harnesses for foiling? Was it just time for a change?
My current harness is a Dakine blast seat. It does not have the molding of the current harnesses. Before posting I looked through some of the old posts on seat harness Vs waist harness. In my seat harness I can last a 4 hour session without issues but this waist harness I tried I was on the water for an hour and a half and had back pain. So I prefer a seat harness but a waist harness got me more control and I could push harder. But is it worth the pain?...
I want to see if I can borrow the harness again and see if I can change my stance to avoid pain.