Hi, i'm currently sailing a mixed formula foil and iqfoil gear:
Starboard Foil 100 board
Severne HGO 9.0 sail
Patrik carbon boom
Severne blueline Mast (old no so good one)
Starboard foil with C300 mast - 900 frontwing - 115+ fuse - 255 stab (old version -3.5?)
I'm really getting with this gear to sail between 7-8 to 20 knots (comfortable)
We have some choppy 1 mt waves when it's blowing, but we also have offshore winds where it's flat and you can charge the foil faster
Top speed so far: 24,5 knts
Average session: 22-23 knots
Around that speed, 23 and up, I'm not as comfortable as I would like
What bugs me is that I commit fully to the harness and sail but still can't go faster, specially downwind (or reach)
A friend of mine, with better equipment ( patrik 9.0 sail - phantom iris x foil 930 front wing - patrik v2 comp 100 board) gets 2 knots more than me going downwind, and a bit less upwind
Now: How much does equipment makes a difference? Thoughts?
Obviously, racing (regattas) is totally another chapter
I am convinced that the best is to:
- good starts!!
- be consistent (avg speed)
- tactics
- tacks
The foil makes a big difference, imho. You have a flexible mast, an upgrade to the IQ will be noticeable. The original Starboard fuse and milleneum wing are great for riding around and club racing in light air but not as clean as more modern gear. Even going to a 900 will help a bit. I'm slow so not sure I'm a decent benchmark but my PB on the 900 is about 2 kts faster than the 1000 (I have older kit, too).
The board and sail aren't holding you back at your level (or at least enough worth spending money on). Lina Erzen was winning races in Japan on a Starboard IQ Jr. board and HGO 8.0. I'm not going to say she wouldn't have gone faster on newer/better board and sail but it does show that there's some "headroom" in your board and sail. She was, however, using Evo foils from what I've heard.
Yes, clean air, good transitions and picking the right sides of the course all matter. Even with good gear, it can be hard to dig out of the hole of a bad start and dirty air.
All that being said, you can still learn, race and improve on your kit. Spending money may make you faster but not necessarily happier.
My top speed is about 23kts and that seems to be the case on the wings I've used (650, 725, 900 SB) and the board (95cm IQ).
I think there are a few things keeping me from going faster:
*Skill/balls/fear
*Water state vs wind state
*Board width
When it gets ripping and I'm on a 9.0, there are spots where I get high perceived chop/swells that can be chaotic. I can't seem to find a good angle where I'm not digging the rail or foiling out. I think with some less board width I could have a better heel angle while still clearing chop and not foiling out. BUT maybe I'm just scared and not as good as others in similar conditions? Either way it's been an obstacle I haven't overcome yet.
If I fly higher I feel like if I sneeze I'll be airborne. But I really just don't know.
The topic title is "Foil Racing - is equipment what makes a difference?"
All things equal, I think you already know the answer. Have you tried switching gear with your friend and compare the numbers or VMG?
I agree with @Paducah that the biggest difference is in the foil itself (1st gen mast, older front wing), and a bit potentially also in the trim. We don't know skill levels-comparisons.
Personally, I'm also on 1st gen SB 900-1000 foils. I'm far from the fast guys, haven't cracked 25 kt yet (not even trying), but I am having tons of fun and the foils are easy to sail, stable, hard to screw up with improper tuning, etc.
We saw in Japan how Lina Erzen annihilated others on a Youth IQ foil board, HGO 8.0 & 6.0 sails, and SB 550 & 725 EVO foil. It would definitely be interesting to see how she would race with newer-faster gear, but even this was so satisfying to watch. 4 elimination wins in a row, and also in the 2nd elimination she was leading up to the final mark when she made an unforced error and didn't foil the jibe.
To sum up, equipment does make a difference, but ultimately, it's the skill that matters. Nico Goyard did 32+ knots on IQ foil gear with 900 wing.
I have gradually upgraded all components as I've progressed and found that the foil made the biggest difference for sure! I was on an older Starboard C300 mast (one of the first ones) with 1000 millennium wing/800wing, 115+ fuse. The C300 mast was way too flexible and noticed huge overall improvements as soon as I upgraded to a Z-foil Course racing set up - 95cm Mast (super stiff!), 960 front wing and 115 carbon fuse. The handling is way more stable and is definitely more powerful and faster overall. The extra stability and lift allowed me to concentrate more on the racing. I've cracked steady 20 knots up wind and max 25.6 knots downwind on the 960 wing! I also have a 620 front wing which I got to 28.5 kts on. Both wings way quicker than I hit on the old SB foil.
I also went form a 10m Sail Loft Course Racing sail to a 9.5m Severne HGO which made another BIG difference. More tune-able, points better and handles gusts better. Can't comment too much on boards as I've been running a 91cm wide FMX Hyperion which works great.
I have very similar gear to you, except i have a JP 100 wide course racing foil board, and i also dont go any faster than around 23-24 knots downwind as i dont feel comfortable doing so. I find my gear wants to either shove itself onto the water at speed and send me over the front, or drive me up out of the water at speed with the slightest movement. I run around 2.4 degrees rake in the mast to help with the touch downs.
When it comes to racing, i rely on getting a good start, getting clean air and then making sure i get to the top mark first with a decent amount of distance (via good VMG) before the young guns come screaming downwind past me with no fear. I have to use tactics to be competitive with the young guns as they are so much quicker than me downhill.
A lot of people talk about how on the IQ World scene they are going for faster speeds with lower angles to the wind, however that doesnt work for me as im not that fast, so i rely on good height upwind and a decent board speed to try to win races. You need to see what works best for you and go with that, however a good start and clean air is vital in any kind of sail based racing in my opinion.
The comments in this thread made me realize that I should probably experiment some with rake. I think that's part of my problem with heavier water state and heel. I may not have enough rake...
The 1000 wing is good and works great in winds below 10 kt. The main issue is a flexy mast, paired with a big 1000 wing. I had a 1st gen Race model too, and now have a custom-super stiff SB-compatible mast. Quite a difference, especially in chop or winds above 15 kt.
Try changing just the mast (C400, IQ, or C600) even for a single ride and it should be a noticeable improvement.
I have gone through 4 foils and there is usually more you can find with setup and time on water. the slingshot was very low aspect and thick and had a wall at 20kts. Definitely an equipment limit.
the AFS was great and a little too powerful at speed but in hindsight with more use I could have got more out of its full carbon design. I got rid of it prematurely when I thought it was causing me to be a little unstable upwind with 88cm fuselage cf the iQ crew on 115. Turns out half the issue might have been mast base. Oh well.
I got StarBoard to be comparable with the masses. Learned a great deal about setup and it helped talking to everyone. For speed I got the 105 fuselage and 550 front wing. I thought it was small but maxed out at 28 or so I think. Later a friend did 30 with the same setup but it looked difficult following him on speed runs!
F4 was a handful at first. I admired the thin profiles but setup for 20kn was not right at 25kn. More ToW and it was a definite upgrade but I'm still learning how to handle more power. 3 years in and I'm still adding power shims for light wind and learning to control it. When I was new I needed depowering shims and was still scared.
So I think there is a lot that can be done with setup that is board foil and sail dependant. Even harness type and position.
meanwhile there has been a lot of development across the brands since iq project started.
Agree -- I'd say what makes the biggest difference is how to make the gear work for you, which as Berowne suggests requires TOW. Sadly it's usually also the one thing we can't buy more of: time...