DylanJamo said..

Sir V said..
This thread is hilarious.. I am continuously amazed at people's desire to bag others.

Other game changers?

Riders look ridiculous, but one day someone's going to get a light bulb moment and bam, we'll all be doing it!

Why do those vids above remind me of this South Park episode.

@ Eppo & @ Kamikuza

Getting closer to the peaks is a work in progress, but you have to look at how the Dolphins do it. In foiling we must look at harnessing the undercurrent to make you move, not the surface of the wave to dictate where you go. But I get your point, time will bring skill.


Foiling is 100% proactive, just like an airplane you must drive the board at a constant height /depth from the surface, micro-adjustments all the way. On a SB you have the luxury to use the surface to stand on, not on a foil my friend - you literally 'stand' on less and 1/8th of a SB complete surface. So it all depends on the rider's skill, the judgement of distance from surface to ride the incline but stop short of cavitating. Think of it of a Unicycle on a trampolin coming down a 8-10ft face LOL, one wrong move and you'll be wearing a set of razor blades on your head eheh. But that is the 'game', the rush, the goal.. to make it down that face at speed, constantly adjusting your foil to be at the right depth so you don't lose 'grip'.. then you feel the undercurrent pushing you faster and faster, plus 'where's my kite' stuff.. it's exhilarating when you think of big waves. I'm no Kai Leni but I'm sure I feel the same rush when I line up.. that's enough for me.

I will keep pushing cause that's what I want to do, waves. The pocket? I got a few and I tell you.. it's scary . Maybe the video will show some but I think I didn't have a camera on the big days, I was too worried putting my nappies on LOL.

How deep can you ride? well I can can ride it in 20 cms of water if I have to, and I have. But there is no security in it, you stack and you're totally screwed. I've hit rocks at full speed many times and scratched my foil but the Lift from MHL is bomb proof and I've never broken it, no bull. Sandy bottom, all the time. I live at Palm Beach and I ride low tide all the time as the waves are better. Invariably I hit the bottom and do a Superman out of the board, daily .. my foil can take it. Then come fill and polish later.

I'm not here to convince anyone, I do my thing and that's enough for me. Better today than yesterday, that's my goal . But sometimes I laugh at the people that have never foiled, or consistently at least, then come to a public forum and bag the hell out of other's stokes and proceed to make claims of 'mowing the lawn'.. it just makes me laugh, they really have NO IDEA.

Eyes peeled guys, there's many more foil avenues to explore and a few are coming in early 2017. I've seen it and it's happening, I'm just not allowed to speak about it for Marketing restrictions. You heard it here first.. the future is bright.

My advice? get yourself a board and a foil, anything you can get your hand on as for learning it doesn't matter so much. When it comes you'll be ready.
The time to bag Foiling is well and truly over, now is the time to join in .. and if you don't want to jump on the wagon, get your stoke from WHATEVER you like, ride till you can stand no more - good for you for being on the water.
Peace up and sweet Seabreezes to us all

Sir V....
The most informative post in a long time

Thanks AndyT, the only way to be is constructive

The Goal: to be where the SB rider is on this shot. My kite tech coach, Mr Bertrand Fleury himself God of the waves.. but he doesn't foil (yet), I'm working on it. He was up and riding in 5 runs .. bastard has so much skill it's disgusting lololol. Seriously you got to love the guy, he's an amazing rider and person in general. So when he says 'take it' you do without question, his confidence in you is inspiring. Hail the king..

This wave peaked a bit more and got so much better, unfortunately the photographer wasn't paying attention .. but I know

Now, all the normal SB riders will say this is what you should be doing on a wave.. True, on a Surfboard, like everyone else, been done 1000's of times... but I'll say: try something new for FFS, scare the bejesus out of yourself, really have something to talk about over beers that night, something no one else is doing

Again, the goal is a tube.. but what do I know? LOLOLOL

Just consider how much fun I'm having Peace up and sweet Seabreezes to us all

Hey James... dangerous? sure, but then again any sport with fins is. Look at Rob Douglas and his gang, the speed, the crashes are unbelievable. Look at Kai Leni at Jaws or Maverick, Laird shooting the pier, Lewis Crathern jumping the pier.. they all are dangerous.

Have I been hit? well, yes. But the first thing you do when you stack is be aware of the foil position, brace your head and hope for the best. As far as waves are concerned it's just as dangerous to be thrown on your lines and get all 'packaged up' while your kite is trying to pull you under etc etc. I could go on but you get the point.

I don't concentrate on what can go wrong or I wouldn't get out of bed. Experience, aka age, teaches you to be aware and I have plenty of that [age] the rest is choices you make. I'm sure it will catch up with me sooner or later but in the meantime I'm having the time of my life.. scared s***tless, a lot .

Have fun and conquer it, no one else is doing it for you LOL.Peace up and sweet Seabreezes to us all.

V

Very cool posts sir V, the way a foil rides a swell still kinda boggles my mind, your essentially harnessing the power inside the swell like a dolphin

Do you remain mostly under the power of the kite or are there times when you can back the kite right off and just ride the swell?

How does the foil go through whitewater and foamy soup does the foam cause it to cavitate, and can you get over/ through decent size whitewater with a foil?

Do you need a different/special type of foil to ride in waves?

I have so many questions ......

I am dreaming of zipping around at high speeds in big open swells in glassy 10 to 15 knot conditions

polykarb said..
What happend to your yellow hat?

I'd love to get back over to WA at some stage and foil coronations, sunset beach, etc.

Good times.

I took my foil over to TARANAKI for Christmas last year, was quite scary in the surf with unknown depth etc around very rocky coastline.

Didn't hit anything on the foil but did manage to rip a fin box out of a surfboard....

Do you use a leash? What happenes if you get spanked by big wave? I would think the foil could ghost ride for ages?

LIVE TO RIDE.

not riding in the surf but when you cross behind a boat on the swan river and go through the white water you do notice an noticeable decrease in lift and stability but nothing that should throw you off .

Phoney said..
This maybe off-topic, or maybe not. But there seems to have been an explosion of skiff moth foilers (Sydney harbour & elsewhere) over the last few years.

I can't seem to find much info about them online, other than sailing club websites. Seems like a pretty cool winter & light breeze day pursuit.

I'd be interested to know, a) how much a basic setup like this costs b) how steep the learning curve is c) do they require a small trailer or do they collapse up and fit onto a roof rack. d) do folks only ride these for racing/comp or for pleasure etc.

Hey Phoney, the above dingy is called a Moth. The model above is a Mach 2 which is the most popular type. Brand new landed in Aus with just the basics I believe they are AUD$30,000 - 40,000, to race competitively is +++. Second hand they are probs $15,000 - $25,000. If you are doing it just for fun you can get an old Bladerider or homemade one for less than $10,000.

If you haven't done any sailing I wouldn't bother. If you can sail the learning curve is a bit easier than learning to kite foil. The rig comes off and you can put them on the roof. People mostly race them as they are expensive to buy and to maintain (when things break either $$$ or lots of work). That being said they are alot of fun to ride.

IMO you are far better off with a second hand high performance carbon foil, 15m foil kite and 10m edge/boost/high aspect kite. A set up like that would have you beating the above moth around a course and cover the wind range with change from $4,000.

Sorry guys, didn't mean to hijack the thread. I'm just replying to valuable questions ...