Hi, I’m learning to wing foil with a limited knowledge of windsurfing and sailing, I’m just at the SUP (with DIY daggerboard) stage learning how to control the wing and go upwind etc.
What I do remember from sailing is how to read the Tell tales, especially when trying to go upwind. I’m surprised to find almost nothing on the suject of sticking some telltales on a wing to help learners tweak the wings to get the best position, I thought about giving it a try. What are your opinions about using telltales on a hand wing? Are they used for windsurfing? Am I being stupid and overthinking it?
Thanks
I am came to foiling from a sailing background, raced lasers at national level. I personally can’t see the benefit of tell tales since trimming the wing doesn’t really work like trimming a sail. To go upwind it will be more about digging in the unwind rail of the board, and pulling in the wing until the front edge almost stalls. Tell tales in sailing help you identify when you have over trimmed your sail (to far in) and when you are about to undertrim (no in enough). The wing will tell you these things with no power/load in the handles.
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you feel the trim through your hands rather than visually
sailing less so because of all the rigging
The wing moves around way too much for tell tales to be effective IMO. Sailboat is far less dynamic than a wing, and I think tell tales would be a bit distraction and the riders head would be pointed in the wrong way looking at the wing the whole time rather than where they’re going.
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Thanks for all your replies, makes a lot of sense. I think my question does sit in the “being stupid and overthinking it” category 