PWDW forum posts in last 60 days

Had a proper session on the 750 today (short fuse, UG41 in short position, skinny 80) doing parawing laps on wind against tide bumps at around 25 knots. What a foil! I have been a big fan of the Enduros, the E900 being my most used for parawing but the 750 takes bump surfing to another level. The E900 has many fine qualities but the span makes itself felt when you really want to push hard through a turn. I wing on the Pure 700 but it didn't really suit this and have the Ultra 750 too but that wasn't quite right either.

The Silk 750 as part of my setup offers everything I want out of a parawing bump surfing foil. Control, speed, glide, turning (so much turning!), breach recovery, low end and good pump with good projection.

Turning was sensational, just so reactive and intuitive underfoot in roll, and once in the turn so smooth and controlled. Just gave so much confidence and freedom to place myself wherever I wanted and let rip.

Control - pitch control was almost automatic, and just followed the contours of the messy bumps going upwind in particular meaning less input needed from me. Downwind, riding bumps it was playful and gave good feedback on how high I was. Through turns, just so smooth and predictable.

Speed, glide and pump were all great which gave options, and could move forward up and over into the bigger drops, or sideways if there was nothing in front (or backwards to ride the same bump again)

Low end was also stand out. I got caught out a couple of times and got slow but it just hung on in there giving me a chance to pump out.

Recovery - it just looked after me. There were a couple of accidental breaches which I had no business foiling away from but I did. Combination of great breach recovery and quick turning which kept the board underneath me.

So stoked on this foil. There is an overlap with the E900 for sure and that will stay my smaller conditions option, but the Silk 750 is epic.

This was the summary of testing I did a few weeks ago trying to find a stab I liked for the Pure 700, which is my main winging foil. I don't wing very often, as I parawing and downwind way more (which I use the UG41), and have been using the HA38 with the P700 but it wasn't a good fit for me.

"Pure 700 + HA38 in forward position - good glide, but turning a bit sticky. Quite loose in pitch in the pump, which is not good or bad.

UG41 in rear position - excellent glide and speed, which the 700 liked, pump was much more solid and projection was very good. Turning about the same as the HA38 but carried more speed through turns which was great in the bumps. Kept up very well with the bumps.

Pure 150 - more bottom end and great control, especially through the turns and in upwind through the bumps. Really fun in the flat as I could really push hard through turns, with confidence, and wasn't worried about slow exits as I could rely on the stab for support. Glide was its downfall. While turning in bumps was great, it didn't really keep up.

Silk 142 - my favourite of the test. Per the 150 but better all round, except low end and the control going upwind through bumps where the bigger 150 edged it. Super fun in the flat, allowed such tight turns with great control and confidence. Glide wasn't great, but only noticeable trying to ride bumps.

UC130 - it was good, but wasn't different enough from the UG41 to really stand apart. I tried it in the forward position first but was a bit too pitchy and was better in the rear. Confirmed my thoughts that I'm looking for a lower AR stab for winging which is primarily a flat water thing for me. If I want bump riding, I'm on the parawing/DW.

Where does this leave me? I think a USurf is going to be the ticket, lower AR than HA38 but lower drag vs the old Silk stab. I can't remember why I had discounted the UG41/preferred the HA38, but I think it's the size of chop I get locally which is big enough to cause instability on the foil, but too small and short to actually pick my way through. Using the slower HA38 stab probably helped as well. The bumps today were much bigger / ridable so kinder to the UG41."

For more low end you from your stab you can do a couple of things:

1) a bigger but low drag stab. The way a stab works on take off is opposite to how it works in flight, because the angle of attack of the foil plane is pointing up as it rises up meaning the stab is helping generate lift, while in flight and flying level, it is producing downwards force in its role as a stabiliser (that is why the curved surface of a stab is on the bottom, the opposite to the main foil). A bigger stab just gives more surface area to generate lift (through angle of attack) but you don't want a chunky profile as that causes more drag, and you don't want more downwards/stabilising force. I would go for a big UCarve.

2) Shim the stab to make it flatter, so putting trailing edge down/leading edge up (so a wedge/washer on the rear screw of the stab for AFS) This is less drag, but more importantly generates more angle of attack as described in 1 and so generates more lift. The trade off is that it might give less stabilising support in flight, but should be ok if you swap to a bigger stab anyway. (Greg at Omen did a YT video on this a couple years ago, I think?)

If the foiling 'triangle of hardware' is power, board, and foil, can you get a bigger parawing if you don't want to change the foil or board? There seem to be plenty of second hand ones available at the moment which should help, but I reckon technique is a big part of the issue as well.

@Patronus - it is a bit confusing but BWalnut has it right I think. It's a fuse with a standard length fuse front, a short fuse out back plus some angle taken out of the stab, to better match the Ultra's intended purpose, hence the talk about shimming.

Personally I only own the short fuse and use it for the E900 and up, mainly as my smaller foils have been monoblock (Ultra and P700). I got my hands on the Silk v2 750 and didn't give me what I was after on the standard fuse (it felt too similar in turning to my E900 on the short fuse) but once on the short fuse it all came alive and got the instant roll reaction I was looking for. This was doing PW laps, in short steep wind against tide bumps, using skinny 80 ans UG41 stab. I fully accept that a USurf stab might have made the standard fuse feel better for me, but there aren't any around in the UK for me to try yet.
I have been very impressed with the agility of the UG41, and back to back test with the UC130 wasn't light and day different.