Wind Foiling - 2018 Naish Hover 112

whats is the range of sail sizes for foiling ?

I think on the naish site it has 5.7 and 4.7 sail for foiling.

obviously it depends on weight - how does the foiling go in strong winds say 20- 25 ? or more ?

or do they get put away for wave boards then ?

The Naish WS foil sounds great. It seems to focus on the things that are most important to me for foiling which are going in as light as wind as possible, good upwind ability, and stable flight.

Hopefully it also can make nice carving turns on swells. I also read it goes about 20 knots which is as much speed as I need. I look forward to trying it and I will most likely buy it.

The Naish Hover 122 WS board though confuses me. With the goals I stated above, it is my understanding from what I read online that wider boards are more stable, and boards with more volume from increased width can rise up sooner.

JP has two foil boards, the 135 and 155. I purchased the 155 because they say it targets light wind and upwind foiling, two of my goals.

I have heard many say that in air jibing is also easier on a wider board, so I assume carving turns on swells might also be easier on a wider board. My JP 155 foil board is 90 cm wide. The JP 135, their smaller board, is 86 cm wide. The Naish board is only 73 cm wide.

Is there something that I do not understand that allows the Naish board to get onto the foil faster in light winds vs. a wider foil board?

Thanks Vic, interesting points.

The JP 135 Foil Board is 7.6kg, the 155 is 8.6kg. If you get the less expensive 135 it weighs the same as the 155. I could not find what the Naish board weights in at. I agree board weight would impact early foiling.

From what I heard the Slingshot boards run a bit heavy, although I could not find their weight. I believe they are not carbon, which would explain why they feel heavy.


I read the 155 is also good in high winds because of the stability the extra width brings.The Naish board is a bit longer, 229 cm vs. 220 cm for the JP 155 and 215 cm for the JP 135.


Exocet is coming out with foil boards, at 81 and 91 cm wide. Their 135 L will be 7.2 kg in carbon or 9.5 kg in ASA. They will have 160 L at 230 cm and 7.9 kg Carbon. Just like JP, they only make a larger board in Carbon, perhaps because it becomes too heavy in other materials.

It is a hard question because I want to be able to foil in the lightest winds and I want to be able to comfortably carve on swells, and I am not sure which board is better at it. They really are very different boards yet promoting the same goal.

I am late to this party - but looks real interesting especially the light air stuff.

Sounds like foils differ some are good for early lift off - light air moderate speed -16- 20 ? . others are more high wind/high speed

Considering that a foil does in water what sail does in air - no surprise that size and shape will vary for conditions. The whole package would be my preference.

however i wonder if it would be hard to build simple board in foam and epoxy with re enforcing in right places for foil attachment.

similarity rig requirements are slightly different given a 6 metres sail is going to be used in lighter breezes - perhaps lighter weight materials and less re enforcement?



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First go yesterday with my Naish WS1 foil plugged into an Isonic 107 (68.5 wide) with 5m wave sail. I'm 84kgs.

Easier than I thought and heaps of fun. 3 mates also had quick first tries and all popped up foiling pretty easily

Wind was about 15 to 20 knots - had a quite a few 200m glides (albeit erratic) after about 20 minutes popping up and down.
34cm harness lines way too long - probably need 26'ers.
The back straps on the Isonic felt too far out on the rail - fine in the stronger gusts but could do with a strap 5cm inward.
I think that the board might be a little narrow for sub 12 knot winds - it felt quite sticky when the wind dropped.

A couple of questions;
Has anyone tethered their foil - if so are you drilling a small hole through the top of the mast?
Worried about my standard tuttle box cracking or the bolts pulling through and losing the lot!
Also I noticed a little water in the mast - anyone thought about filling the mast with closed cell expanding foam?

Light wind ocean down-winders are going to be awesome Cheers JJ

Went out yesterday 10-15 knots. 5.5m (wave sail) wasn't enough for me to be up on foil whole time. I need a bit bigger would thing a 6.5 would have had it dialled in.

I had time to play with lots of the small adjustments of both foil tilt and also foil track position. Very interesting.

The foil tilt did get me lifting quicker. The interesting thing was that moving the foil toward to nose by 1cm (arrow in line with front of the foil fin box) made a massive difference. The foil when up did sit a little lower in the water but also felt more balance very much like normal sailing position. IU thing this was because I could use my back foot more.

One of the other big things I noticed was that I ditched the wetsuit boots (careful on not cutting foot on foil if water starting). This allowed for the smallest of toes and foot angle adjustments and more feel. Even the smallest of toe pressure can make a massive change.

Anyway I got a few gybes in but it continues to prove that this is a whole new thing even after sailing for >30 years. It brings out some of your inherit weaknesses and any differences between port or starboard sailing. I realised a few things in the lighter winds on the foil:
1. I really am not good with pumping (I gave that up years ago)- so need some practice as I have become a lazy sailor waiting for the gusts to get me onto the plane
2. starboard hand fwd foiling for me was a little slower to get up on the foil than port
3. harness lines need to be a little shorter and a little further back

AUS814 I think up to a 6.5 will be fine on the Naish setup. I am definitely going to add a sail that size into my quiver as I only go to 5.5 at the moment and my old 6.6 race sail I think is too heavy. I too am just not sure which sail to go that will be light and have the quick acceleration at low winds, and provide some wind holding to pump- any suggestions welcome.

My first session on my Naish WS Foil I used a 7.5 Ezzy Zephyr, which is a big sail, same boom measurement as an 8.0.


The wind was really light and I did not want to take any chances on having too small a sail. I was the only one out as the wind was so low. I did not need to pump, and the control and stability worked fine with the large sail. I probably could have been on a 6.5 and pumped to get up.


AUS 814 I think a 6.5 is fine. It might depend on your board. I am on a JP 155 foil board so it can handle large sails.


Today covered 27 km in light wind with a 5.5 and some serious pumping at times to get going. My top speed was 15 knots. I probably would have preferred a 6.5 at times today so I could do less pumping.


Not sure if I am doing it right but I used a little up and down motion along with the sail pumping to get going. Sometimes the board would pop out of the water which gave me a chance to get a little speed, then it would come down, then one more pump and I was up for good. I really study the water for the ripples of a gust, and I also found if I can combine that with a small swell at the same time it really helps.


The Naish is my 3rd foil and I really like it the most. For me the early take off and stability are most important and Naish WS foil offers both. If I can do 17 knots or so comfortably on the top end I don't feel the need to go faster.


I have sailed a shorter mast in chop and I did not have a problem with it. I think the 70 cm is high enough. Today the wind was gusty and as I got tired I had a few times where my foil came out of the water. I am glad I am not on the 90 cm when coming back down. The touch downs were pleasant and I was able to pop right back up and continue on.

yep, the Naish does make it easy. I got out on mine for the first time on the weekend on my Mistral Devil in good conditions for learning.
Take-off is easy and touch-downs gentle and predicable. The foil is docile and you get lost of warning before things go pear-shaped.
I really like the design. the foil does not rely on thick bolts for strength, the components fit together in slots and are fastened with M6 screws.
I used Nulon anti-seize on the threads and found that I had to re-tighten the mast/fuselage connection after a couple of hours. I have removed the excess lubricant and it now stays tight.

Can?t find anything about the weight of the Thrust WS1 foil, any who knows?

Normster, foiling in strong gusty winds on the Naish is not easy. I prefer gust of 19 knots or under on my 4.7 Superfreak.I think gusty is the issue. Strong constant winds, like they get in Maui, you can foil with a small sail. I am hearing they use size 2 something there.


Where I sail when the wind goes above 20 knots, it is not steady. I tried a 3.5 Superfreak sail and it was very hard because the wind would be on, then it would disappear for that sail size, then come back on.


Also as mentioned above, the Naish likes to run about 16 knots. Maybe heavier riders can get more speed out of it but I find it gets harder to control and feels like it is not in it's comfort zone when you go faster.My top speed today was 18.24 knots, and that was because I was coming down a large swell and picked up too much speed. I had a pretty good crash too because of it. I have to learn how to come down the ramp of a large swell and maintain 16 knots if possible.


I had my first day on the Lift 5.7 and it really is better for foiling. In wind gusts 11 to 13 knots it start easily with very little pumping, and the upwind angles and turning ability were great. The softness in the sail makes controlling it easy, and I did a lot of one arm foiling with while in the harness line. I am hoping it will handle over 13 knots of wind, as I did not feel it was getting too much power at 13 knots.



If it is gusting 16 knots or more I am sure a 4.7 sail would feel better, but I am hoping the Lift can handle it so I do not have to change sails if I am already rigged.I found with extreme sheeting out and very long harness lines I could handle up to 17.3 knots on my 6.5 Ezzy sail. The sail was sheeted out almost all the way at times, but it worked. It was not the optimum size, but it was more fun to keep going than to exit the water and rig a new sail.