Young talent & FreeWing team rider, Victor Loof, takes the win at the 2024 Norway Wingfoi Series Event #1. The Norwegian wingfoiler showcased his technical skills in challenging weather conditions, which saw the wind oscillate between 6-20 knots and the sun give way to rain storms. Loof recounts the event;
„The event took place in stormy weather, going from full sun to full rain storm. The wind went from 6-20 knots, but when we got to racing it started to stabilize. Wind range while racing was from 9-13 knots.
The races each took about 5-8 min depending on how much wind we had. The course started with a reach start, then into a downwind section, then rounded and went upwind and finished with a reach.
The field consisted of 20 wingfoilers with high-level to new riders just getting into wing racing. It was fun racing for everyone and pretty close racing. I always went faster than the rest of the fleet, which gave me a big advantage. The reasoning of that is that I was on a significantly smaller foil than the rest of the fleet. With a bigger board than my weight — therefore I managed to lift even earlier than the fleet, with a smaller foil.
More gear information ~
- Wing: FreeWing AIR Team 5.5m
- Board: Starboard X-15 Foilboard 85 L
- Foil: Starboard Foils 560 MF front wing, 200 MF tail wing, 69cm fuselage and 95cm Carbon Mast DT.
For the fine-tuning of my setup was; I tried to set the mast (compared to the board) at 1-2 degrees. I feel like that is what works for me. The second fine-tuning I had was to have a +0,5 shim between the backwing and the fuselage. I choose to have + 0,5 because I feel like I get more “bow up” with the board. Just an overall better feeling.
Another thing I liked is to have a short harness line, with the possibility to make it longer. This helps me get a better VMG upwind because I can get the wing closer to me and get a more upright posture.
All the small details in set up and overall gear helped me take the win!
So, as mentioned earlier, I was on a smaller foil and bigger board compared to the fleet. I like that ratio of setup. On the wing side, I was on a 5.5 AIR Team which worked well.
All in all, it was fun to racing in Norway — if you are close, come join us at the next one“
~ Victor Loof