Windfoil A1 Alu

Windfoil A1 Alu : The accessible excellence

For this new season, the fuselage of the Windfoil A1 Aluminum and the Windfoil A1 Carbon has been completely renewed to offer riders maximum performance.

Following the success of the tests carried out on the high-end wind foil A1 CARBON, we chose to offer two versions designed on a common basis in order to reduce the financial impact while offering the possibility of developing its foil.

To buy your AlpineFoil windfoil A1 ALU, go to the online shop.

The A1 was created as a 100% windfoil with all the constraints associated with this practice. This series is the result of 11 years of experience in the field of hydrofoil. Research, development, design and manufacturing: all products are fully designed within AlpineFoil by the foil and for the foil. Indeed, the company has always made it a point of honor to work in the service of the practice of foil based on the many tests carried out in the field by Team AlpineFoil. The result is products constantly perfected so that the pleasure is increased tenfold.

The same goes for this range of windfoils: Damien CHABOUD and his team of experts (2016 Engie Kite Tour French Champions and winners of the 2017 Coupe de France) have tested the products at length to correct the slightest small defect detected for a sliding pleasure without limit. After four years of testing, the wind foil project is finally mature and results in a product perfectly in line with our specifications. This includes:

an ultra powerful foil in Light Wind before anything,
an ultra accessible foil technically and financially,
an evolutionary foil with exceptional performances from the A1 Carbon version,
a foil that can adapt to the majority of the boards of the market, for the sake of economy,
a foil that offers the reliability and robustness that have made AlpineFoil famous,
a completely dismountable foil,
a very reasonable or even light weight,
a mast that measures 90cm, which we think is the minimum for sailing at sea.

The advantages of windfoil AlpineFoil A1 ALU detailed point by point:

The foil is completely removable so that it can be transported more easily. Nevertheless, it remains ultra thin and ultra rigid.
It has the most effective anti-corrosion system on the market, the SACS technology, developed and patented by AlpineFoil. The fuselage has a sacrificial anode that corrodes instead of aluminum due to its very low electric potential.
The interchangeable housing is compatible with the PowerBox and the DeepTuttle at no extra charge, so you can save a lot of money. The mast head is also compatible with a plate meeting current standards. Your windfoil will be able to adapt to the majority of the boards of the market.
The rigidity is maximum, but the foil remains thin and light: AlpineFoil has worked for a long time to remove all the superfluous. The rigidity / thinness ratio obtained is the best.
The default ULW900 wing is full carbon for unmatched stiffness and ride quality. It is also curved, to ensure the rider maximum stability, and its curvature is progressive, so that the placement in turns is flawless and stable.
The ULW900 has an excellent output in Light Wind, but is also very efficient at high speed.
The aluminum mast measures 90cm, which makes it a high-performance mast, this length being the minimum to be able to navigate at sea. Indeed, a mast of this size presents a better upwind, a great comfort of piloting thanks to its excellent range of maneuver and therefore a foolproof stability.
To perfect the stability of the foil, the fuselage is particularly long (92cm). It then acts as a lever with the stabilizer, whose effects are increased tenfold.
The fuselage is equipped with FRDS technology, developed and patented by AlpineFoil, to machine a fuselage with pronounced leading edge and trailing edge. The flow is thus perfectly guided, which allows an exceptional reduction of the drag.
The new mast / fuselage assembly is ultra stiff: the mast is attached to the fuselage by three screws at its base, and it is locked by two cross screws that remove the remaining clearance.
All the points mentioned above make the A1 ALU an extremely accessible wind foil. Ultra reliable and robust, its incredible stability will put the rider in total confidence, which will allow him to progress at a vertiginous speed.
The A1 ALU is in the logic of a high-end product at low cost, the foil is fully scalable: evolution of the housing, evolution to the full carbon RTeam mast, evolution to the full-carbon RTeam wings 800, 700, 600 , 500, 400 or 300 cm². Thus the foil adapts perfectly to the progression of the rider, but also to his means.

The mast

For the ALU version of its A1 Windfoil, AlpineFoil has designed a brand new mast in perfect harmony with the practice. The entire design was calculated based on the Strength of Materials so that each area of the mast is really useful. Thus, the weight is optimized to 100% and we obtain a final result with unbeatable stiffness / thinness ratio. This incredible thinness is perfected thanks to an internal structure that offers exceptional lightness and rigidity.

Absolutely everything is calculated to the fair. This new mast is equipped with an ideally wide rope: not too much, to avoid the saffron effect (rudder effect that makes the piloting more laborious and increases the drag), nor too little so to obtain an exceptional upwind ascent. In addition, this ultra-precise rope, combined with a suitable profile, considerably increases the flexion and torsion rigidity of the mast.

Its length of 90cm has also been conscientiously thought out: it is the minimum to be able to navigate properly at sea because it offers a very good upwind ascent, an excellent range of maneuver and therefore a better progressiveness in takeoff and navigation. In addition, this size provides unparalleled stability, thanks to the lever it forms with the front wing, itself ultra stable. Here too, the calculation is very precise: a too long mast would have been too nervous, with too much response, while a too short mast would have been unstable because the lever exerted against the sail would have been insufficient.

Also, for an exceptional glide, AlpineFoil applied a well marked leading edge and trailing edge to the windfoil A1 mast so that the flow is perfectly laminar. The drag is thus greatly reduced.

The box

AlpineFoil brings a major innovation in the compatibility between board and foil. Although it may seem difficult to imagine before, AlpineFoil has succeeded in designing a housing that allows the use of boards with PowerBox boxes. Many of us actually own a board with this standard which is one of the most prevalent on the market. Unfortunately, this housing is initially rather inappropriate for the practice of the windsurf on foil because of its low height and its single central screw.

As we know, the majority of our old boards were not designed to use the PowerBox. It therefore took a long time working on the foil to minimize the constraints on the housing itself. The idea was then to use the PowerBox as a centering system, but to apply the efforts not on the box but on the deck and the hull of the board. Thus, we have designed a PowerBox with a lower force recovery plate and a carbon plate specially designed for the recovery of forces on the deck.

We have also pushed the concept a little further for the most demanding by offering the possibility of having a PowerBox with double screws. This option requires a small modification on your old board: it will pierce the box of your board from the inside via a drilling template realized in 3D printing available from AlpineFoil. The digital file is also available on demand. This unique PowerBox option gives you the ability to recycle your old board and start the windfoil activity at a lower cost.

Then, of course, when you feel the need to change to a board with Deep Tuttle, you can order the Deep Tuttle box adaptable to your mast, or order the A1 CARBON mast for your foil. This adaptable Deep Tuttle housing on the windfoil A1 ALU is quite special because it is fully CNC machined. It has several important advantages:

an integrated plate of recovery of efforts,
a system for limiting mast / housing constraints with a progressive profile,
an optimization of the weight in the inner area of the housing because this massive piece can easily become a significant overweight.
two interchangeable stainless steel inserts locked by a needle screw system.

Finally, this housing machined in the mass receives a heat treatment to optimize its rigidity, but it also receives an OAD 70 μ anodization for an excellent resistance to corrosion. Of course, we still recommend the use of TefGel, which is both insulating and self-sliding.

You can also opt for the purchase of an aluminum plate compatible with the majority of the boards on the market thanks to its center distances of 165 x 90, today universal standard of this system.

The wing of Windfoil

To obtain ultra-precise performance in Light Wind, it was first necessary to design an authentic windfoil wing. Thus was born the wing ULW900, which has an area of 943cm², ideal area for the practice of wind foil. This will be the wing delivered by default with the A1. During his development, the designer wanted to show a real desire for differentiation between the wings. The ULW900 is completely different from what we know and announces the identity of this range in its own right.

This wing is distinguished from others by several parameters:

- It is a wing with high lift / drag performance, which considerably increases the wind speed and keeps a permanent planning. Usually, large-area wings tend to become over-carrying when the speed or wind increases, and they saturate much more easily.

- The profile has been worked on at great length to remedy the lift problem: we have therefore completely taken over the modeling tools in order to design a wing totally different from the others. It was finally the Race wing that inspired us the profile of this revolutionary wing. This profile was then optimized with a very particular outline and a relatively high elongation.

- The wing starts very early with an extraordinary glide and limits the lift when the speed increases. This prevents the foil from coming out of the water.

- This wing, thanks to its profile from that of the Race wing, has an exceptional ability to degas in gusts. In other words, it releases the excess lift that comes out of the water in strong winds or gusts. This feature allows the use of a large surface wing both in Light Wind and in moderate to strong winds.

- The wing is curved because unlike a flat wing, a curved wing provides stability and an absolutely perfect placement in curves. Indeed, we know that the vectors of lift are always perpendicular to the profile of the wing: a curved wing thus allows a crossing of these vectors which join at a single point and lock the movement of the foil.

The yaw or skid effect is removed. This choice is an essential element for a homogeneous behavior and an irreproachable stability of the foil.

- The curvature is progressive: it is calculated according to the forces, so as to obtain a very good placement in the turns: the wing remains stable in all circumstances, even at low speed, which makes it an ideal product for the jibes.

- The particular twisting of the wing gives it an excellent performance at low speed, but also at great speed. It is the VAS technology (Variable Angle System) developed and patented by AlpineFoil. The principle is to have a wing that adapts perfectly to the pace of the driver through an angled construction. In this way, one can make work the whole surface of the wing or only a part according to the speed (and therefore the incidence) desired. Indeed, it is known that the higher the load on the bearing surface, the higher the speed, and vice versa. That's why this wing is 943cm². Being very large, the load on the airfoil is low, which allows, at high incidence, to advance at a low speed. But if we decide to reduce the incidence (in order to accelerate), we fictitiously vanish part of the surface of the wing, which becomes ineffective, so fictitiously non-existent. Thus the load on the bearing surface increases and we can gain speed.

This concept makes the wing ULW900 an evolutionary wing, which adapts perfectly to the level of the rider. A beginner rider can progress and opt for a carbon mast without necessarily having to change wings.

- Thanks to the work done on the profile, the ULW is totally in line with our expectations: it is extremely accessible, making it the ideal wing for learning windfoil, but it will also delight experienced windfoilers looking for sensation and ultimate glide.

- AlpineFoil, being focused on top-of-the-range products and making no compromise on the manufacture of foils, naturally chose a high-performance material: carbon fiber. The carbon is cut with digital control, so that the reproducibility is impeccable and the profiles are always perfectly respected. It is then molded under pressure, which generates extremely rigid wings and incredibly fine and precise profile that meet our expectations. It should be noted that our wings are made of 100% carbon, and that the fiber is continuous from one end to the other: these are the parameters that make the wing ULW900 a wing of a superior quality.

- Now standard at AlpineFoil, the wing attachment system, which has been widely tested by AlpineFoil since its creation, is made by four screws in staggered rows. This system significantly increases the rigidity of the connection, but also the stability of the assembly, the offset screws completely eliminating the pivoting game of the wing on the fuselage.

The fuselage

The news:

For this new AlpineFoil A1 Windfoil, we designed a brand new fuselage to give riders maximum performance.

Lengthened by 7 cm, it now reaches a length of 1 meter, which gives it exceptional longitudinal stability and an incredible lift to the wind.
To obtain a foolproof solidity, the fuselage has been strongly stiffened, but that does not affect its excellent flow.
Finally, the wedging has been modified to obtain more progressivity, but also a glide of much better quality.

The choice of material

Eleven years' experience in foil design has shown that a carbon fuselage on a dismountable foil is totally inappropriate. Indeed, carbon is a material that offers little resilience. However, the torsion stresses on a fuselage, which is more wind foil, are extremely high because of the significant leverage that endure the mast and the wings. The only way to avoid breakage would be to multiply the carbon layers, in which case the fuselage section would be overly broad. For this reason, AlpineFoil will never propose a carbon fuselage on its windfoils. Cast machined aluminum has also been banned because it is extremely porous on the inside, which greatly reduces its mechanical performance. To overcome this lack of efficiency, the fuselage section should therefore be much larger.

On the contrary, AlpineFoil, having a taste for excellence, demanded a fuselage on the one hand ultra high performance, but on the other hand the thinnest possible, so as to obtain a glide without equivalent. We therefore opted for an aluminum fuselage machined in mass CNC 5-axis, this process offering three major advantages:

perfect homogeneity,
intact quality and mechanical performance,
the ability to sculpt a prodigiously thin fuselage.

The fuselage of the windfoil A1 therefore has a section carefully calculated according to the constraints, to shape a piece of supreme balance between thinness and performance.

Also, the accuracy of this product is enhanced by the FRDS technology (Fuselage with Reduced Drag System): this advanced technology from competition kitefoil is used to reduce drag exceptionally.

What is FRDS technology?

We know that a fuselage does not move horizontally in the water, it always has a certain angle: this is the incidence. At low speed, the angle of attack is high to increase the lift of the main wing.

That's why AlpineFoil has developed a system that revolutionizes the windfoil practice: a fuselage whose lower, relatively thick, is similar to a leading edge, and whose upper, much thinner, is similar to a trailing edge. The flow is thus properly guided and flows in a laminar way. The drag is then greatly reduced compared to a fuselage whose section is rectangular or cylindrical: these forms cause many turbulences due to the depression that is created in the upper part of the fuselage. Thanks to this excellent flow correlated with a very low drag, we obtain an incredibly fluid glide which is the hallmark of AlpineFoil.

And it's not over! This absolutely sensational glide is crowned by an unequaled longevity in the foil world. Indeed, we know that, unfortunately, aluminum is susceptible to corrosion in the marine environment. After intense research, AlpineFoil has found a cure that completely revolutionizes aluminium wind foil: SACS technology (Sacrificial Anode anti-Corrosion System), developed and patented by AlpineFoil, all new ultra-efficient anti-corrosion system.

The concept is to implant a sacrificial anode on the aluminum fuselage. This anode, whose electric potential is very low, is "sacrificed", in other words, it gives its ions to salt water and corrodes instead of aluminum because it has a higher electrical potential. Without a sacrificial anode, aluminum would become the foil material whose electric potential would be the weakest, and it would be it which would give its ions and corrode instead of carbon.

This exclusive technology now allows AlpineFoil to offer a quadruple protection of the fuselage unique in the world:

Protection thanks to the SACS technology,
Protection by hard anodizing OAD 70 μ,
Protection between the fuselage and the wings thanks to GIS wedges (Galvanic Isolator System),
Insulation between fuselage and stainless steel screws using TefGel

Attention: the TefGel (Teflon grease) being an insulator, it must be applied on the stainless steel screw connecting the sacrificial anode to the fuselage, but not on the sacrificial anode itself, as this would prevent the necessary ion transfer for the proper functioning of the anti-corrosion system.

The others pluses of the A1 fuselage:

The fastening system: the torsion forces on the fuselage of a windfoil being particularly important, AlpineFoil uses a mast / fuselage fixing system with three stainless steel Torx screws at the bottom, as well as two transverse screws that completely lock the side clearances. This same technique is applied to the removable housing of the masthead.

The length of the fuselage: the fuselage measures 100 cm long, dimension perfectly calculated to obtain the ideal compromise between stability, performance and precision. Thus we get a leverage arm long enough to use a moderate surface stabilizer, the movements being amplified. The longer the lever arm, the more effective the stabilizer and the easy to control foil. Also, the choice of a long fuselage serves to keep the stabilizer away from the turbulence generated by the foil, which further enhances stability.

The vertical fin: the rear part of the fuselage has a small fin directly machined in the upper part of the fuselage, so as not to damage it in case of impact with the ground. Ideally calculated for an excellent curve placement, the fin allows a very good handling of the foil and an exceptional stability in laces.

The GIS wedges: In 2015, AlpineFoil introduced for the very first time the GIS system on an aluminum foil. This technology, developed and patented by AlpineFoil, has proved its worth since: the wedges serve both to precisely adjust the lift of the foil according to the practice, the board, the rigging and the gauge of the pilot, and to isolate the wings of the fuselage to fight against corrosion.

The rostrum is rounded for maximum safety, but remains advanced relative to the wing to maintain the undeniable hydrodynamic performance that this configuration presents.

The karmans: The fuselage is equipped with karmans, elements that create a progressive connection between the wings and the fuselage. They serve to significantly reduce the drag that forms at these junctions.

To buy your AlpineFoil windfoil A1 ALU, go to the online shop

Which AlpineFoil foil to buy ? How to choose your foil according to your level : beginner, confirmed, expert ? How much is it ? New or secondhand ? Contact us here.

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