Hi,
I'm thinking of upgrading from my Starboard Foil 147 (essentially a foil-ready slalom board from a few years ago) to a Junior IQ foil board. I've experimented with using long harness lines on my current board but have found it impossible to keep enough pressure in the harness lines and have had to revert to short lines with an upright stance. Is this down to the board not being wide enough at the tail or is it more likely to be a question of technique? I'm considering upgrading to a Junior IQ foil board (I'm light at 72kg) and am hoping this would enable me to try longer lines.
Guessing both gear and technique. The wider tail will very much help, especially when you are going upwind and have a much more square body stance but the IQ jr is a bit more narrow so you'll be a bit "closer to the rig" when it's vertical. What foil are you using? How high is your boom?
Thanks for your helpful reply! I'm on some 'junior' permutation of the IQ foil with an alloy vertical section and 900 front wing. I'm basically riding with my boom at the very top of the cut out to ensure I can keep pressure through the harness lines.
I'm not the fastest but when sending it downwind to try to go fast I get my hips really low in long lines. On upwind I like to shorten them and try to maintain a taller stance if I'm really trying for angles, but I sail my race kit pretty casually compared to the pros.
Really depends on angle to the wind and stance, and I'm on the 95cm wide not the 85 wide. I'd probably go a little bit longer even if I used the rear straps more often.