i am looking for kite foilers or wingers that have experienced mast ventilation on a F-one 14mm carbon mast?
thanks
Yes, lots. I ride a 105cm and escape 630 strapless. I had much worse ventilation with my old thicker alu mast though. I did a ton of research, tried ventilation fences, sanding the mast, tried changing my stance and weight distribution and not twisting my hips as much etc. Etc. Etc.
Iv tried a lot of foils but never a race foil so cant compare, but apparently its one of the best masts for the money and is not typically prone to ventilation. Out of all the foils iv ridden its still the nicest by a long shot. A lot of the ventilation i was experiencing was also the wing ventilating a bit i think at high speed and hard angles. I kite a lagoon and typically dont ventilate at all anymore but some days the chop/wind direction/tide combo does make me ventilate a certain direction.
Best advise i can give is to sand the mast and foils down 800/1200/2000. You dont have to take much off at all. Do a bit of research but basically 45degree angles to the direction of travel, both ways so it looks like a criss cross. I also windowlene before every session now. The harder you push upwind the more likely you are to ventilate. I only get it above 25knt upwind but can control it now by pushing down with my toes at high speeds instead of even weight through my feet or more pressure on heels. Also, my worst experiences were the first 10 or so sessions. It was much faster than my old setup and i could push it much harder, i think i just needed a bit of time to get used to it too
Hey dude thank for the feedback. Same here.
When it's good weather Ie flat and not turbulent it's fine but as soon as there is chop side on then I get it ventilations going hard upwind and in tacks. the thing is I have a Gong Hm carbon mast and it NEVER does it. from all the research I've done it's a profile issue. the more low drag a masts is developed for like the F-one the more it can be prone to ventilations.
my Gongs chord is tapered and does not ventilate. i have found different company's that develop masts especially with ventilation in mind like Alpine foils, Cedrus, Chubanga and the one thing they all have in common is a tapered mast profile.
it's a ashame really as I quite enjoyed the F-one setup but mast ventilation are not acceptable in my opinion as a kite Foiler.
Let me know what you end up getting.
I have a mirage 1000 too, if i put that on i never ventilate so im guessing its because of the speed difference.
Iv never tried a chubanga/cedrus/alpine they not available where i am, and wont buy without testing. Woukd love to compare to a chubanga. Cedrus has aluminium parts and im not interested in corrosion issues again.
Would love to find something similar to the escape 630 but for now iv learnt to live with it i guess
Do you guys spend a lot of time above 25kts? Reading your posts it seems like it's only an issue at that speed and above?
My current gear tops out around that point and for me 20-25kts is fast enough to be fun and leave the dingers floundering if they try to keep up. I wouldn't want to be going any faster as the stacks start getting more serious.
We don't really have anyone riding race gear or even speed oriented kite foils around here, so I'm not sure how others like to ride...
I measure in km/h. When i convert properly i also max out at 25/26knts upwind i see. Off the wind i touch 30 on a good day but its a big difference from 25 to 30 for me. I ventilate around 21.5-25knts.
On a fast foil it doesnt feel particularly fast. Going to a slower foil seems extremely slow now though, especially tacks and surface maneuvers. I can do all the same tricks etc. Its just a bit more technical, its worth it though. Once guys get comfortable on a fast foil where i stay they dont go back
