Another reality check: tried the drift anchor with my 5.5 strike v3 in powered conditions today. Definitely sketchier then in light winds. The Strike V3 has so much lift that it was yanking the anchor out of the water before it had time to fully fill up. Tumbled 2-3 time before the anchor would catch and hold. Not a big deal if you have room but certainly felt less comfortable then in less powered conditions. The Strike V3 flags like a dream though so I just stopped dropping and enjoyed the flagged riding.
Wing drops might just be a light wind activity for me going forward. Just updating the thread to make sure people have realistic expectations. Might be better to have the leash mounted on the front handle in stronger winds, just a theory. But not really curious enough to try that, living in Florida I have no shortage of light wind days to use the drift anchor.
Definitely seems like it will vary a lot depending on wing shape and leash placement. Got one of the 24" PVC drift socks. Works great on my 3.5m mojo with leash attached to handle. Was out in 20-30knts+ and it drifted very slow through 1m windswell upside down our not (slightly faster than me sitting in my board). Too slow though compared to how quickly you ride swell downwind which made for long paddles back up at times, especially if riding swell sideways too far. Though it was very interesting riding without the wing, which I guess I was still using for balance. Definitely fun and good practice for prone or downwinding without wing! Looking forward to more, or getting out for some ocean swell roller tow-ins in lighter conditions.
Thinking of cutting a bigger hole, maybe some sort of heavy duty zipper to vary the hole size/drift rate. Tricky though since you have no chance of catching a wing if you miss it and itâs drifting faster than you paddle, which is still way slower than riding swell. Maybe in the future weâll have ai Bluetooth proximity Drifters.
I used my anchor for the first time today.
25" Moocy drift sock with my 5m wing.
Wind was light 10-12.
Lots of fun! Trippy feeling dropping your wing and suddenly having nothing in your hands to manage.
Only Negative were the long paddle outs. My wing did not drift at all.
A smaller drift sock would probably let it drift a little more.
Thanks to this thread for getting me started!
Good to hear some are having success in higher winds. Will need to add drift anchor performance to wing reviewsâŚlol. I love my new strike v3 though. Best wing I have ridden to date. Will have to try putting the anchor on the handle to get it to stick to the water more. Forgot to mention I tried dropping the strike upside down, didnât matter, that wing wants to fly. Just occurred to me I could try lower leading edge pressureâŚhmmm.
Stoked to hear others are enjoying this new angle on foiling. Yeeeew
Tried my 18" Amazon special today for the first time in pretty solid 3.5 wind but smaller waves. The V2 Strike 3.5 was a bit more unruly upside down than right side up as youâd expect but probably ends up further downwind that way. Never pulled free and deployed every time. I just took the cuff off and attached directly with no extension. Stuffed it between my harness and body (made hooking in a chore, needs work).
The big issue though is the paddle and potentially losing track of the wing. As Jon mentioned you end up really far away really quickly. I just jumped in after 1/2 a mile or so several times and used the remaining moments up high to locate which wasnât that easy.
Interesting, but not quite the aha moment I was expecting. Turns out the 3.5 and 2.8 at least arenât really much of an encumbrance. Might make more sense in ocean swell with 4.5 and bigger where youâre constantly outrunning the wind speed.
Sounds like you guys that are getting really far from the anchor need a buddy to trade wings with. Looking forward to my first tandem downwind sharing one wing. Should be epic.
I am using my Fone bungee leash to connect to the anchor. Wondering if shorter non stretchy line would prevent the bucking bronco effect which was pulling my anchor out before it could deploy.
Yeah 321, a shared wing downwinder has a lot of potential for fun. Unfortunately Iâve never been able to talk any wingers I know even into a car shuttle downwinder. I donât mind the paddle back, in fact itâs kind of a nice break getting off my feet and using some different muscles. Way more aerobic than foiling upwind.
I was thinking of the logistics for a two person wing sharing mission without a shuttle involved. I think a towrope tied to the winger in the beginning pulling up the non winger. Then fly way upwind. This part might be tricky. Then when we are upwind and both on foil, the towee peels off and starts his downwind leg while the winger stops and stows the rope and then wings down to the foiler. The winger flys slightly downwind of the foiler and then ditches the wing and deploys anchor and foils downwind for a bit. . Foiler grabs wing and wings down to new foiler and repeats. Am I missing anything or will this totally work?
Towing someone winging is super difficult if even possible for most people. Towing with a kite is way more feasible.
My friends have done it by both sailing upwind, then one deflates and stuffs his wing in a pack. Then follow your process sharing one wing back to the beach
Wing towing could potentially work with both riders on Kalama style long boards. I volunteer to be the towee My fingers and elbows are unhappy enough just towing myself around. Part of the attraction of this to me is to actually spend âlessâ time on foil and use some different muscles but Iâm still concerned about getting so far away from this expensive inflatableâŚ
I didnât have the nerve to do further testing yesterday with the 2.8 fully sheeted out and flapping though it probably would have been perfect in the stronger than average upwind current of this spot. Waves were as good as it gets for us. Itâs enough for me just to make it back without breaking anything, the upwind legs suck in this stuff, the downwind makes you keep trying.
Would you trust something you bought on Amazon in this?
I donât think you need to tow when sharing wings as long as downwinding in decent conditions. One person gets up with the wing and rides just upwind of the other and ditches the wing to them while riding the swell. Second rider uses the wing to get up and rides to the first once they crash to drop the wing and rides swell away and cycle repeats. If not downwinding, could have the winger drag a rope and tow the other back upwind. Might give that one a try if I can convince someone to tow me around!
Howâd it work?! I made a small one (not quite as small as yours) and went out with a friend close by on his e-foil. Worked great until wind picked up and the wing jumped over me and was going downwind faster than I could paddle⌠very glad I had the e-foil backup!
I would not go smaller then the anchorman anchor. Personally it sounds too small as there have been multiple reports of it not deploying reliably in certain situations. I use a 24â vinyl anchor from amazon and it has never failed to hold the wing. Had it take a couple of extra tumbles before catching on a higher wind session because it was on top of the wing after release but once it caught it held.
I think regardless the size of the parachute, if the parachute donât take a bucket of waterâŚyouâre screwed!!! It doesnât need to take a lot of water to hold the wing however. some wing are more wild horse than other when you drop themâŚ
Been experimenting around with my drift anchor a bit. Was trying to do some wingless freestyle, aka ditching the wing before going for an air, or using the wing for liftoff and then ditching it Mid air to try some trick without the wing getting in the way. Variable success, found it pretty hard to get much air without the wing and no swell, but did almost pump away from an air without the wing. Also managed to ride some swell and pump back up to where the wing drifted to. Thinking about putting a floaty on a string behind the drift anchor so you could ride by and grab it from behind to pull the wing out and not have to stop to use the wing again.
My fingers and elbows are unhappy enough just towing myself around. Part of the attraction of this to me is to actually spend âlessâ time on foil and use some different muscles but Iâm still concerned about getting so far away from this expensive inflatableâŚ
