Looking back at the first Armstrong test event in the Netherlands of the 2022 season. Although it was a late call to organize, the conditions did not disappoint. As you could see in the pictures it was super sunny and temperatures were nice. It looks like we have finally left the dreadful winter behind us. The wind started out light, with about 15 knots, but got much stronger during the day. At the end of the day is was 25-30 knots.

I have been using the Rewinch for foiling for about 2 years now. Getting into foiling I wanted to have a tool that allowed me to practice as much as I can, even if conditions did not allow for it. In my case that meant, in case there is no wind and/or no waves. You read everywhere that building muscle memory is the key to learn and progress foiling quickly, so that is what I tried to focus on. Building muscle memory and foil as much as I could. Since I did not have access to a boat or jet ski, the winch was my solution. Getting pulled out of the water on foil looked like the solution. Looking back, I even think it is a better solution than a boat as you do not need to deal with turbulent water and you can use it in much more different places.

Nothing will boost your performance, especially in low wind conditions, then when you are able to pump effectively and efficiently. By no means I consider myself an expert, but I am normally able to get going in quite light conditions, with quite small gear. In the video below I am using a 60 liter board, an HA925 foil with 50cm fuselage and v200 +1 tail and a 4.5 A-wing. Wind was light. I am 81kg's.

Today we wake up with a new release of Armstrong, the new High Aspect 925 front wing. I was fortunate enough to get to ride it already for a few days. Unfortunately we did not have any waves, so I used it in flat water wing foiling (do take not of the lovely Dutch summer weather. It was 16 degrees...)

With the introduction of an updated A-Wing, I'm sure many of you are eager to understand what the difference between the new and older A-Wing are. I was in the fortunate position to have had some water time with the new A-Wing ahead of the release. I have been out with the new 4.5, one session with 12-14 knots on the 5'5 80 liter board and one session with the 4'5 33 liter board in 15-20 knots. 

Are foiling transitions no longer special enough for you? This might be the time to try some jumping transitions. The switch air gybe is the easiest one to learn. 

Personally I think this is the hardest of transitions to master. You lean into the turn backside and can't really see where you are going. Normally it is the last one to practice. If you are able to pull this one off as well, you have all transitions in your bag of tricks.

After you are nailing the gibes, you can start thinking of doing tacks. The switch tack is the easiest of the two. With a gybe you bear away from the wind, with a tack you turn into the wind. As you go into the wind it is much harder to stay on the foil as the drag increases significantly. The wind is now pushing against you instead of pushing you along from the back. 

When sailing switch stance (or toe side, how some call it), there will also be a moment at which you want to turn and go the other way. Although a switch gybe is very similar to a normal gybe, there are differences, the most obvious one is that you lean into the turn back side and can't really see where you are going. 

This post is intended to give some insights into how difficult it is to upgrade your existing Armstrong foil and mast to A+. This post shows pictures of how we have done it with some explanation to go with them. 

As soon as you can fly on the foil your next mission is to keep flying. Since you can't go one way indefinitely, some sort of transition to go the other way is inevitable. The most easy will be the gybe. I get asked quite some questions on how to do them consistently, so I decided to write a little how to with a breakdown on what to focus on.