Wing foiling upwind – closing the slot.

Wing foiling upwind more efficiently is something all riders (once flying) aspire to. Closing the slot, with the wing more upright, not only looks cool it improves speed and close hauled sailing.

When learning wing foiling your power source will mostly be overhead. The free moving nature of a wing is a great thing. But all riders need to learn where their wing should be given whatever move or point of sail they’re on.

Wings being what they are – especially with larger 6m+ sizes – run the risk of tip strikes if the foiler isn’t paying attention or using their foil board in the correct way. Trying to bring the wing upright when standing flat, with a level board, will usually result in the your wing tips hitting the water. And that means the wing stays higher. This won’t be as efficient for true upwind pointing.

Increase those skills.

As your wing foiling skills grow so will your confidence. At this point you’l be able to cant the board over (lean) more onto its windward rail (the side closest to where the wind’s coming from). You then raise the downwind rail of your board which gives more clearance for the wing. Then bring your wing more vertical and close that slot!

Suddenly your upwind riding will become more dynamic. And you may also improve your wing foiling speed (depending on what set up you’re using).

Summing up.

One thing we will add, is don’t forget to keep an eye on how canted over you are when riding upwind. As a wing foiler you should never be in one static position, instead constantly having to amend your ride height and angle of attack. Your wing angle will need to be tweaked minutely accordingly.

Thanks to Mike & Tom Pringuer who helped with this article.

For more foiling tips and tricks head over to our Foiling Knowledge page here.