Flying high

I have just returned from the Europeans in France. It was awesome. I improved my flying a lot and had my moments of glory while foiling. Foiling through a fleet where many were just floating and then see the surprised faces.. Priceless.
Glenn simply outsailed the rest of us. I could keep up with anybody downwind but with Glenn.
He simply sailed deeper and faster and gained hundreds of meters downwind even on the foiling boats.

Learning to fly is a lot of fun and the learning curve is steep. After just two days of training my foiling was competitive but lots need to be learned to foil at the level Glenn is showing.
The DNA, The Exploder and the Scheurer were all flying fast and easy. Sandro has the most stable and consistent flight on his Scheurer. He used big asymmetric J-board which he designed with his brother. He is the new European Champion. Jason Waterhouse showed some really stable flying on the Exploder and is the new kid on the block, all DNA's with the new boards (PJ, Chirs, Arno, Glenn)  showed excellent speed downwind.

Conditions at the lake were difficult; big shifts, windholes and often just not enough wind to foil properly. Once you get it on the foils you can gain hundered of meters, but if you try to force the boat on the foils, you start sailing too high and will loose many meters as well.
If you can make it work foiling is blazing fast, but it sometimes hard to find the right setting if the circumstances are not ideal. We definitely need more practice.

The trick is to get the boat in second phase. Second phase is when the boat is high on the foils and starts to accelerate. The sensation is incredible.
Due to the winglets you will not capsize easily in a cartwheel. Basic flying is not more difficult to master than to trapeze in a C-foil boat with winglets. The winglets (or elevators)  give you the control.

Foiling has one big downside:
Non-foiling races become unbearable....
You need just one big gust, but if the gust is not coming you will not foil.
If you can make it fly in the right gust you can have a prolonged flight even if you sail in areas of less wind.