I am foiling my first season and get annoyed by floating grass that ruined many foiling sessions. Never noticed it much over the last 5 years on a twintip.

Is this year really bad or was it always like this?

Does anyone recall what it is usually like? Is there a pattern, some months are typically worse than others?

Found Leighton beach better than other spots, but today even Leighton was sh!t

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Swavek said..
I am foiling my first season and get annoyed by floating grass that ruined many foiling sessions. Never noticed it much over the last 5 years on a twintip.

Is this year really bad or was it always like this?

Does anyone recall what it is usually like? Is there a pattern, some months are typically worse than others?

Found Leighton beach better than other spots, but today even Leighton was sh!t

Leighton was fine last week but from city beach there was quite a few. So annoying hey!

Melville doesn't have that problem although today a racer told me he was catching some of that fine hair like weed. I didn't feel it while free riding.

Time for you to migrate to the river!

Yes, weed is a session shortener for me. The ocean is a much nicer place to foil from a scenery perspective, but weed just ruins it for me when it's present. Particularly sea grass. Will have to try Leighton some time.

It's an issue. Tends to be worse after onshore winds or after a swell comes through.

River! It seems to be reasonably weed free between Cockburn and South Freo.

DM

On low wind days the river wind is close to zero most of the time - so much for my plans of foiling on low wind days

Hey Swavek,

The right kite will see you foiling almost any day on the river. As we go into Autumn, the river is constantly offering winds of 8-12 knots which is perfect foiling weather. To get the most time on the water, you will need a decent sized foil kite. I'd recommend wither a 15 or 18m Soul. Flysurfer suggest 5-16 knots on the 15m and 5-15 knots on the 18m. This is for a light rider of around 75 kilo's. I'd expect a realistic 7-16 knots on the 15m for you.

You just can't go in much less wind than 8 knots on an inflatable kite (relaunch?) with exception for maybe the BRM Clouds. I've foiled in as little as 6 knots on the river, and it's amazing!

DM

Leighton had some weed when a mate and I went foiling there about 5pm on Saturday. Initially it seemed within 200m of the shore close to the footbridge - after all, you would have expected it to build up close to the beach over the afternoon. It was a bit of pain - about 12 strands every 2-3 tacks. I went further out. Didn't seem so bad - and the clean water, pleasant scenery and non-river vibe made up for it. My session was more about making use of a relatively low swell day, an to experience Leighton's endless space to launching and landing the Hyperlink. It's worth it for that alone. Dutch Inn three days before was reported by another foiler not to be worth it, although I had a magic weedless session there, after body dragging over the reef on a very high tide, the previous week. If the weed persists I will try the lee of Woodman Point - i.e down from beach 3 but before the dredging jetty. However, it can be shallow and stingers sometimes collect there, so wear something protective . The other option is the Peel, or just getting off 'yer bum and heading to the river when others aren't there. It's been a long summer and the weed will have grown the most, and any westerly at any time of year brings it in.

Surprised no one has mentioned trying an engineered solution...
My first approach would be running some (thin) wire line from the front of the board to the front of the foil too either cut the weed or give it a pathway off before it traps on the mast.
I know you are more than likely to get a hum, well it is a choice, if the wire works - tune the hum or stay as you are
So any one tried anything?
Cheers
AP

Not sure a wire would achieve much. Weed sticks to the wings as well. Has put me off kite foiling in Perth totally. Makes it less than enjoyable.

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hilly said..
Not sure a wire would achieve much. Weed sticks to the wings as well. Has put me off kite foiling in Perth totally. Makes it less than enjoyable.

Ahh - my wing has a mild back sweep - bomerang shaped... I would not be surprised if a nose adapter or complete anti weed foil design becomes available. The idea being to use the water flow to move weed off the foil..
What a knock down - learning to foil well then bollocked by weed
Hope someone cracks this one.
cheers
AP

It's worth trying different days. On Saturday the weed at Leighton was a pain, having to stop most runs to clear it off the mast.

And then today - voila, none, amazing session at the same spot. Go figure.

Had a line to tie my fuselage to board as the mast to fuselage connection seemed dodgy. You would not believe how terrible the foil went with just one piece of string!!! Weed is a total session spoiler for me - half hr is enough to call it quits. Wire in front of mast will collect weed just like the mast would.

No weed at Leighton today. Possible solution is a curved mast and no right angles on your rig. A foil that looks like a spaceship from the original Buck Rogers - all leading edges are curves.

I have been foiling over at woodies mostly beach 1 and 2 all summer and weed hasn't been too bad at all

Was bad in Safety Bay on Sunday. How's metro beaches?

Funny thing is after i posted saying it wasn't bad at woodies the next session after it was really bad and I had to quit early, that was a couple weeks ago though. I went down there last week and it was fine.

So I guess it comes and goes

Yeah fair bit of floating seagrass in the South Beach/Coogee area yesterday and today, definitely a lot worse than in recent weeks.

It would be nice if we had 'floating grass report' listing beaches around Perth and people being able to give it rating out of 10 with a date they have been there. Similar to wind forecast but more like a floating weed history/status.

Went to Pengos Sunday, packed and gone on the river after half hour - every tack had to remove weed ftom the mast/wings.

Hey Swavek,

The weed situation can change inside of a day. Unless the report is live, it's a crap shoot. There was a little weed at Jervois Bay (Coogee/Woodies) during SUndays Racing, but it was really nothing to worry about. I even picked up a single strand in the river yesterday. I suspect weed may have something to do with water temperature. The water at this time of year is at it's warmest. Storms (bigger swell) also breaks a lot of weed free from the reefs.

I think there is a market for a weedless foil!

DM

Worst weed I've ever experienced off South Beach / CY O'Connor Beach this morning...
There was floating seagrass absolutely everywhere, had weed on the foil the whole time. Some of the patches were so thick I could barely body drag my board out. Gave up after 30 min.

Water temps are currently way warmer than usual for this time of year, which has possibly caused a fair bit of seagrass to die and now its floating in the water column. Not great for foiling (or for the ocean...).

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daniel_y said..
Worst weed I've ever experienced off South Beach / CY O'Connor Beach this morning...
There was floating seagrass absolutely everywhere, had weed on the foil the whole time. Some of the patches were so thick I could barely body drag my board out. Gave up after 30 min.

Water temps are currently way warmer than usual for this time of year, which has possibly caused a fair bit of seagrass to die and now its floating in the water column. Not great for foiling (or for the ocean...).

Has been really bad this year. Basically have given up in Perth, Margs is weed free or big clumps you can see and avoid.

Ah, the sewer, no weed, but...
ww2.health.wa.gov.au/Media-releases/2019/Shellfish-crabbing-and-fishing-warning-for-the-Swan-River

Weed is certainly a pain but a boost or backroll is the quick fix, which mostly isn't an option for strapless carvers.

Sea grass .......luxury, we been dealing with this for the last 3 months

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Rattlehead said..
Sea grass .......luxury, we been dealing with this for the last 3 months

Honestly the seagrass is worse. The blue blubbers just knock you off on the odd occasion you hit one dead on, but the grass is just unavoidable and you have to pick it off your foil each time.

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Rattlehead said..
Sea grass .......luxury, we been dealing with this for the last 3 months

**** me that's full on. Full noise with a race foil and maybe its possible

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snalberski said..
Weed is certainly a pain but a boost or backroll is the quick fix, which mostly isn't an option for strapless carvers.

I have been meaning to ask the forum if anyone has any weed clearing moves? It sounds like your already pulling them off. How do you boost or back roll if you already have weed on your foil though?

Does anyone have any other weed clearing moves?

I am riding strapless on a 1200cm2 wing so I am not jumping. I have been experimenting with rounding up into the wind riding high until I almost breach and then stall the wing and let it sink back in tail first, I then jibe/change direction.I have pulled this off successfully a couple times and it cleared the weed off but most times I lose it,

My other idea was to try to slide/yaw the foil into a 180 ride backwards for a little bit with the board on the surface and then swing it back round, this move is still just theory, I haven't really tried it yet

Surely there is some foilers out there who have a weed clearing move in their standard repertoire??