Length Guide
The NoLimitz foil mast has five different length options: 72, 78, 85, 93, and 102. The length of the NoLimitz mast does not account for the length of the fuselage adapter. The length of the foil mast is the length from the top of the board adapter down to the top of the fuselage adapter. Therefore, the fuselage adapter adds ~3-4 cm of length to the total length of the mast. If you want your total length of your foil mast to be 76cm, you should buy a NL 72cm mast. If you want an 82cm mast, you should buy a 78cm mast and etc.
72cm
The 72cm’s short length is perfect for foil surfers taking off on shallow reef or beach breaks. It’s also great for SUP downwinding as it allows great control over the foil when you’re “riding high” on the foil (picture most of the mast sticking out of the water), and when you’re riding low on the mast, it offers the least drag (because it has the least amount of mast in the water.)
78cm
The 78cm offers a bit more length than the 72cm. You’ll get more glide out of the pump and you’ll still have great control the foil, but not as much as the shorter mast. The 78 is our most popular size for prone surfing. The longer length of the mast, the easier it is to avoid breaching in swell or chop.
85cm
Our 85cm length is most popular with wingers, looking for a length that will allow them to glide over most chop, while allowing them great control over the foil. The 85cm is great for jumps and for freestyle wing maneuvers. The 85cm is also popular with tow foilers because it allows you to lose some foil height and not breach.
93cm
93cm is for wing and kite where you need to heel the board over a lot and not hit your rails driving upwind. It’s also a good size for wingers as you have the water depth which gives you a lot of margin for error to not foil out. 93cm is also a prime windsurf length for more rail clearance when turning and also provides margin from foiling out.
Mast Shims
Mast shims are angled wedges you can put between the board plate and the board to get different performance out of your foil. The shims in the files below are .5 deg shims for front and rear. Anyone with a 3D printer can download and print these shims out to tune their foil. These shims are designed to stack and have indexing pins if you want a full 1 deg shim.
How do base plate mast shims work? - From Kane De Wilde
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.
For a very informative video on how mast shimming works, please watch the video below that was produced by our partners at Omen Foils. The Omen foil mast, The Stiffy, was a NoLimitz-Omen design collaboration and we manufacture the Stiffy at our White Salmon, WA location.
