Foil setup tuning through Tailwing angle, Foil placement and angle

Tuning in your foil is complicated. Front wing, back wing, mast length, fuse length, tailwing, shim, track position; what should I change? It can get pretty confusing and I get a lot of questions about it so I’ll start it here! 

Tailwing/track placement-

These are the base of dialing in any setup. their importance is the same no matter what wings, fuse, or style of riding it’s applied to. 

Think about tailwing angle as being important in a straight line only. The biggest effect of tail angle is changing the balance of front and back foot pressure depending on speed. Remember this matters in a straight line. More angle increases the downforce made by your tail, giving an upwards pitching force. This will actually decrease the total lift your foil can make but increase perceived lift, felt as front foot pressure. 

diving at high speed = too little angle

breaching at high speed = too much angle. 

by angle I mean negative angle (front pointing down) 

The value of track positioning is extremely underrated and super important. Tuning in track positioning should mostly be done without straps and after the tailwing angle. Track angle is based on turns, as it changes the center of gravity of the whole setup, thus it’s based on what happens when turning. Because it changes the center of gravity, it will matter more on longer and heavier boards than short and light boards. Either way it still makes a big difference. It all comes down to something pretty simple.

digging rail/low in turns = nose heavy = mast too far back. 
breaching/high in turns = tail heavy = mast too far forwards. 

Baseplate angle-

baseplate angle is foil, board, discipline, and preference dependent but can make a huge impact on how a foil rides. Usually only 1-2° In any direction is needed but edge cases can benefit from more. 

To effectively tune your baseplate angle, you first need to figure out how your specific setup is already tuned. Here are some trends I’ve found with different plate angles:

Nose down = pivot turns, small taps pumping, “dropping out” or stalling while pumping, back footed carve, Not secure at high speed.

Nose up = carving turns, secure high speed, hard to bring back up in pumps. 

Nose up is usually preferred in high speed riding like winging, towing, or kiting.
Nose down is preferred in lower speed or more pump specific situations like downwind, small wave prone, flat water pump. 

Correct foil angle is also essential for downwind and flat water SUP. Play with the angle and see what works best for your foil. 

There is a range that just comes down to personal preference. There are also other ways to tune foils, for example with little tail lift and the mast far forwards. These can work very well for n certain situations but I find the method of tuning outlined here to be the very versatile, consistent, and works for a wide range or riders! 

Hope this helps!