Thin boards = more direct control?

1

So I’ve been thinking about it and don’t quite get it. The KT Ginxu has a thin area where the mast mounts and they claim a more direct connection to the foil. I would imagine thin wake foil boards would be similar. Is this direct connection/better feel a result of the board being more dense/rigid or is it because the mast is physically closer to your feet?

2

Depend of the wake foil. If you mean thin board like wakeboard, I do go behind the boat or even wing with a Pocket Board.(Used that board to learn dock starting). It’s kind of the same construction as a wake foil board…and there is more flex into those board so not as direct as a small surf foil board or small wingfoil board at 3" thick as an example. I tend to prefer thinner board even if they need to add up some length but take this with a grain of salt, I’m advocating for a theory…then get better a year later…and I find myself contradicting my statement by saying the completely the opposite the more I improve. ;))

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3

Any flex in a board is terrible, but you can have a thin, light board without too much flex. My favorite surf prone board is 2.25 and there’s zero flex. Being closer to the foil does give a bit more control, its just more leverage over the foil and it puts the mast flex closer to your foot so its more predictable. Super stiff masts give the same control. And shorter masts more than longer.

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4

Mast flex is insanely destabilizing! I tend to prefer 75cm for the more direct feel, but yesterday I was on a hurry and I was very unstable and felt terribly bad on my gear. I turned many time my board to see if anything loose…weeds…cracked…
When I unmounted my board I realized my base plate wasn’t mount correctly, my 4 bolts were not really snugged…was tight but could do 1 to 2 more turns on each bolt. Do you think a mast that flex more near the base plate is worst than near the foil? Some compagnies like cabrinha seems to have a narrower mast section low, that must flex a bit more than the top part, is that a desire behavior?

5

That was a marketing strategy for Armstrong for a long time. The mast flex is “down low where you want it to flex.”