First Time Foiling - Slingshot H2 121 Isonic

I thought I would share my experience of my first time foiling.

So this was the second time I have been out windsurfing in 5 years but fortunately it has been like riding a bike and getting back into it has been really easy. I've got a 2012 109l Fanatic skate and a 2009 121l Isonic which to me are still both great boards and various sails but my 5.7m and 6.5m NP Wizards are what I have in mind for foiling.

I wanted something for light winds so I decided on a slingshot H2 (35" mast) which was on sale (I think I paid around USD 840). This fit perfectly into the iconic fin box (which is standard - no reinforcing) although I had to buy some longer bolts and drill out the fin bolt holes to fit the larger diameter foil bolts.

Yesterday the wind was 8-13 knots which seemed perfect for learning. I rigged up my 6.5 NP wizard and hit the water. Super fun!! I was only out for about an hour. At first the board felt like it got planning much quicker with little low-rider foils without too much trouble. I set up with my front foot in the trap but kept my back foot out. I expected the board to just rise out of the water at a certain speed but this didn't happen like I thought it would. I found that I could almost keep the board in the water and then with a little back foot pressure and a slight lift up on the boom I would get the board to rise up and clear of the water. In a way it felt like with a little technique I could pop into foil mode when I wanted to, at least in this wind range.

Had plenty of stacks, either over the front or carving up to windward and had the foil come out of the water once. I moved my back foot from the rail to a more centered position on the board which helped and then worked on flight control by paying close attention to sheeting the sail and mast foot pressure. The NP wizard is really light so it was easy to move the sail around. After some not so controlled short foil runs, I got to a point where I could keep going in a straight line well clear of the water and enjoy the feeling of flying along with barely any sound at all...that was very cool. I didn't attempt any foiling gybes but I'm feeling a lot more confident now so next time I'll give that a go.