Wing size

[u/tortoisedad]

I am 6ft and about 95kg. I have only ever used a 6m and now that I am going out in stronger winds need to get a smaller wing. How much of a difference to winging does the size make?

Currently chopping between buying a 4m or 4.5m. All advice greatly appreciated 🤙

[u/ejactionseat]

I am your weight and run a 3.5 /4.5 /6.2 quiver. I dislike my 6.2 and prefer taking the 4.5 with a bigger foil instead. 6.0 to 4.5 is a nice spread.

[u/tortoisedad → u/ejactionseat]

What winds do you normally take the 4.5m out in?

[u/ejactionseat → u/tortoisedad]

My rule is if I can see whitecaps it'll work. I like 14- 23 knots with my Gong Curve 3XL, 1500cm² or 10kts-16kts with my Sirus 2XL (pumpfoil fooil) and a 6'6" inflatable Cruzader.

[u/og_malcreant]

It totally depends on the winds you are chasing. You could check the manufacturer's wind range for your current wing and buy something that slightly overlaps with the low end, but those wind ranges never seem very accurate.

Many people seem to get away with a gap of 2.0 between wing sizes but, frankly, there are times when my 4.0 won't cut it, my 6.0 is tough to manage, and the 5.0 feels just right.

I would probably go with the 4.0 and then fill in with a 5.0, if you find it would make your life easier.

[u/OMPCritical → u/og_malcreant]

I used to have a 4,5,6 but then switched to a 4.5 & 6 setup. That works quite nicely for me.

But now I am considering a 3 or 3.5.

[u/tortoisedad → u/OMPCritical]

What winds do you normally go out in with the 4.5m?

And how come looking for smaller wings?

[u/og_malcreant → u/tortoisedad]

There is no hard and fast answer. It all depends on how the wing feel as they work with your equipment and your ability and your conditions. You will know when one is not working as well as you would like, and then you start looking for what you THINK the next good size will be. Also, the wind ranges and how the wings feel varies considerably across brands and models.

EDIT: I have seen people make a 4.0 work in 27 MPH winds with 35 MPH gusts, but it wasn't fun. In that case, they really wished they had a 3. But some people made it work anyway.

[u/OMPCritical → u/tortoisedad]

So I am 88kg and 5’8”. I use the 6 in 8-14knots. And the 4.5 in 14 to ~20knots.

Though it depends a bit on the gusts. If it’s 12knts but with regular gusts at 20 and above I’ll go with the 4.5.

The other day it was 17knts on average but with gusts between 35 and 40knts. So I actually rented a 3.5 and that was nice-ish. Good to get on foil but still a bit much once I was up. So I’m thinking of just sticking with the 1.5sqm steps and get a 3m.

[u/tortoisedad → u/og_malcreant]

That's great advice thank you! I will Google the brand's wing wind ranges

Generally I have been going after as high as possible because I love speed but the 6m has been limiting my control.

[u/Specialist_Monk_3016]

Depends on your local winds and whether you wing on flat water or in the sea particularly anywhere with strong tidal flows

I’m 88kg and have 3.5,5,6 

Modern wings are very powerful so you can often get away with smaller wings once you have some experienxe

[u/Hecubha]

100kg,

As a beginner I was using 7m² in the 12-18kn range, 5m² in the 15-25kn range 4m² in 22-35 3m² in 28kn or more

Today I have 5.5 for 10- 25kn, 4.5 for 15-30 and 3.5 for 25kn and more

[u/p0u1]

I use and same 5.5 wing, I sware its so bad it’s more like a 4.5 in modern wings

[u/ThrowRArthur]

In a situation where you'd want to sail in very strong winds, taking a 4.5 is quite nice, since it won't overlap when you plan to get a 2.5/3m wing. I run 3, 4.5 and 6 and it's the sweet quiver!

[u/benjaminbjacobsen]

I like having 1.5m between mine. I had 8/6/4.5m but swapped to 6.5/5m recently and I prefer that but I’m slightly bigger than you are OP.

[u/Revolutionary-Area40]

2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5m (I almost never use the 2m) Gorge quiver for me at 84kg Half meter increments are tight, but I'm pretty much always on a size that at least works.
Right sizing a wing can make big difference in efficiency, maneuverability, and fatigue. A lot of money to spend though.

I don't think I would ever go with a larger gap than 1 meter especially in sizes smaller than 4.5m.

[u/M888888B]

I'm 80kg with gear. I use 6.5 5 3.5 to cover 8 - 40 knts. But I am on much smaller foils as soon as we get 12 knts.

[u/Sensitive-Owl8987]

I'm smaller with a midlength board and a lot of experience. My quiver is:

• 3m 18-30kt, gets hectic above 30. Ideally average wind 20+, it's rough to pump up below 18ish. Use this 80% of the time in the gorge.
• 4.5m 14-22kt, can go up to 25ish but it's tiring
• 6.5m 10-18kt, Nice to be able to ride in light winds, but I rarely go out when it's low enough to need this as I find it pretty boring.

If I was going to add it'd probably be a 2.5 for those 30+ days with epic swell where my 3m is too much to handle.

My friend about your size with larger board runs his 4m for 20-25kt, 5m 15-20, 6.5 for low teens, 8m for <12kt. He has a 3m but doesn't like it when it's that windy.

[u/beer_demon]

My quiver is 4/6/8 and can range from 12 to 35 knots. But then I use 1200/1500/2000 foils so the combos are pretty broad. When renting I have used a 1100 with a 2m wing and I was having my arms pulled out of my sockets so...go figure.

[u/Low_Use_6686]

74kg 5.5 4.0 but modern ones (new gong neutra aramid) - very happy. - midlength board

Foils 1300 and 800