To shim or not to shim

What you try to achieve?

I can recommend listening to the interview with Adrian Roper on the Blue Planet show - he gives a very simple explanation about why and how to shim. Cleared up a lot of confusion to me!
There's also a transcript here;

blueplanet.podbean.com/e/wing-foil-interview-adrian-roper-with-axis-foils-on-the-blue-planet-show/

If you're not shimming you're not getting the most out of your setup. Little changes can make a big difference with foiling and we all ride differently so definitely worth experimenting. Not so important at the beginner stage, learner foils are generally very forgiving but at 70kg I still benefited by shimming to reduce lift even in the early days.

Yes always shim everything - stab, mast etc till you are perfectly balanced & comfortable in the conditions with your foiling:-)

I shim so that the foil pitch remains the same across all speeds without need to adjust fore/aft foot pressures (weight distribution).
This explanation in vid worked for me.

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.which says the same as this one-

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richw said..
Hi guys I have an Axis foil set up and just after the pro,s and Con,s of Shimming thanks for your advice

Have a look in the Axis product catalog. Adrian has written and added a page devoted to the hows and whys of shimming the stab.

Thanks for all the info much appreciated Cheers Rich

No need to be ripped off paying for shims, you can 3D print them for a few cents each. I don't have a printer, but my neighbour does and printed a few of the shims from the design file I found on Thingiverse. Very happy with the result, using -0.5shim with ART799

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richw said..
Hi guys thanks for all the info I bought some shims and experimented with them today I settled on a minus 1 degree and it made a huge difference faster and more stable at high speeds I am 71 kgs and on the Axis website it says there equipment is designed around for an 85kg rider well worth the effort for $50 for some shims Cheers Rich

Good to hear. It's hard to appreciate how much effect body weight has on gear tuning. A local lightweight winger (probably around 50 kg) had a really hard time getting any control until finally someone with a lot of knowledge and a winging wife of similar weight made her add two shims to reduce lift - then, she finally got some control. It did not help that for her initial gear, stores sold her 2400 cm2 front wings. Those might be great for 90+ kg beginners at light wind locations, but were definitely the wrong choice for her 50 kg frame in our typical 15+ knot winds. She had gone down a couple of wing sizes already, but the shims made the real difference. Now, she's using a 1250 as her light wind front wing.