Every little bit helps

I know from experience how even the smallest things can create a lot of drag. I recently had a 2 degree base plate shim under my mast (thick end at the front), and when coming off foil it was like hitting a wall. That got me thinking about the drag that must be present even with no shim, so I 3D printed a wedge to mount in front of the base plate. I believe this is probably a 1 or 2% reduction in drag, but I can suddenly paddle up kinda consistently vs rarely. If anyone has discovered any other micro cheats, please share.

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Smart idea. This 3D printed part could reduce the turbulences and generate a bit of lift while in the starting phase. Do you have the STL? I would like to try it out for myself

Thanks :grin:

Unfortunately I canā€™t attach an .stl or gcode file here. Itā€™s pretty easy to make one on Tinkercad, or DM me your email address. Considering how much drag one piece of eel grass can create, I figure this canā€™t hurt. It feels more slippery just before lift off.

Have you thought about printing inserts that would fill the pockets in that base plate? Those ribs look draggy

Actually, yes I have :slight_smile:

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I really doubt this is making much difference in terms of drag force. By a third of the way back on the board (or less) the water flow is turbulent which completely changes the drag equation. Same thing on the fuse to mast and fuse to tail connection systems. Making it all fair looks nice but doesnā€™t matter

But if it feels fast to you, then something about it is working.

Your absolutely right. Itā€™s not much of a difference. On a surfski, opening and closing the bailer has been measured to impact speed by roughly 1%. My guess is this might be similar at pre-lift off speeds. Once flying at 15 to 20 kmh, and touching down, the benefit should increase. But maybe itā€™s only a mental benefit :rofl:

Iā€™ve wondered if there could be any benefit to using mini vortex generators for managing turbulence or creating strips of laminar flow in front of a clunky mast base. I picked these up on a whim but couldnā€™t imagine it making a big difference for riding prone.

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This happened accidentally when I used too much epoxy while setting the cassette and it exothermed and melted the eps underneath dropping an even 3ā€™8". It could possibly house the baseplate of mast and reduce baseplate drag. Thatā€™s what Iā€™m hoping for anyway.

That might be a happy little accident. The melted EPS turned into high density foam toošŸ˜‚

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I noticed with the unitfoil wingnut screws that when you touch down itā€™s like hitting a wall. Canā€™t imagine why people would use them tbh other than very new setups where you only need to tune the positioning.

Take it to the extreme and fair the entire bottom setup with a soft mix of microballoned epoxy and see if it makes a difference.

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Yes, given how hard it is to paddle up, Iā€™m surprised essentially zero thought has gone into making the base plate area fast (low drag), while still on the water. The wing nuts do seem like a bad idea.

I was a wingnut user also then I switched to this Torx tool on a necklace in wetsuit. The wingnuts on a low volume prone board was an insane amount of drag that made it so hard to get into marginal waves. I still have a pair for wake or tow because theyā€™re much easier to switch around but yeah they are good for testing new set ups then once you know where to mount never use them again.

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I use a 3 degree shim,thick side forward, for winging.
I sanded the front facing part to a sloped angle a bit like yours to make it a bit more stream lined.
Recently i mounted it upside down (thick side still forward but slope ā€œcatchingā€ water against board) and the drag increase in touchdowns was very noticeable.
So it does help to stream line thingys, every bit counts IMHO.

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Remember the first kitefoil boards used a variety of flush mast/board connections to avoid using a baseplate at all, to reduce drag. Deep Tuttle, Tuttle, KTBox, etc.

For M2O, and other long DW races, guys smear putty/wax into their foil screw-heads, to reduce drag. A bit of a pain to clean out afterwards, but worth a small gain for a race.

This is one area where the industry went wrong, IMHO. A tuttle mount not only has less drag (granted it really only matters when touching down at high speeds), it also uses less material than a baseplate (possibly lighter, possibly less cost??), potentially is stronger, and is simpler to assemble/disassemble. Also, it flatpacks for travel. It seems that the industry went with a baseplate system primarily because of the adjustability, but I think if more R&D were done on the tuttle mount, there would be a way to make it just as adjustable.

totally agree. A tuttle mount that was made twice as long, front/back shims to take up the space, and 4-5 holes for different positions. I think it could be lighter and stiffer in the board, as well as lighter and stiffer for the mast.

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Really wish they made this tool without the sharp point of the bottle opener. Iā€™d be all about it.

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Pretty horrible idea for an otherwise good tool. It also needs to have slightly longer wings for more torque but it gets the job done.

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I had actually converted everything to hex hardware for the simple joy of fitting a titanium hex key in my wetsuit pocket - especially clutch for DW logistics. Glad to hear it works, might have to give it a go.