I'm about to start learning to foil and would like some advice from WA foilers on whether there are particular spots that are especially good for learners - either river or ocean. For example, I'm thinking Penguin Island might be good but I don't know if maybe there's too much weed there to make it viable. Or is it a case of if it's deep enough it's good enough. Any advice would be appreciated.

Been foiling both Warnbro Sound (outside pond) side and Shoalwater Bay regularly as I live here. Heaps of sea grass and weed around unfortunately especially as the wind has been quite strong this season. Early in the season it was ok, now it is quite annoying. Was alright the other day after a few windless days. So it is possible, I still do it, but you have the occasional or frequent crashes caused by that stuff (in addition to all the other crashes haha). I know Coogee is supposed to be better from a weed perspective. Not sure about the river so hopefully others are able to comment.

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RussKraut said..
Been foiling both Warnbro Sound (outside pond) side and Shoalwater Bay regularly as I live here. Heaps of sea grass and weed around unfortunately especially as the wind has been quite strong this season. Early in the season it was ok, now it is quite annoying. Was alright the other day after a few windless days. So it is possible, I still do it, but you have the occasional or frequent crashes caused by that stuff (in addition to all the other crashes haha). I know Coogee is supposed to be better from a weed perspective. Not sure about the river so hopefully others are able to comment.

Hey thanks for the advice. I'll be learning on the Hover Glide 15" mast to start with so maybe the Penguin Is. sand bar at high tide will have a little less weed. How's your foiling progression going?

Not sure but perhaps try. Gets really shallow there and the weed is floating around so you won't avoid it that way anyway. But it is sometimes a bit random. Strong wind days and just after is pretty bad. Foiling going well cheers, J Shapes is more sensitive and faster than the LF Fish I was on before. But I enjoy it and trying foil tacks currently. This may take a while to master though

Coogee is generally quite nice with very little weed and relatively smooth water. It gets a bit gusty upwind towards Woodies below the pumping wharf, but if you don't go up that far, I think it is fairly good. There are usually a couple of other foilers out as well.

I used to go to the river a lot but got sick of the gustiness and inconsistency there, not to mention the very small launch / land area. However, there is very seldom any weed so it is good from that perspective.

I think weed is the main enemy of foils so if you can avoid it I think you will have a lot more success and fun.

I hope to see you out there some time

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alty said..
Coogee is generally quite nice with very little weed and relatively smooth water. It gets a bit gusty upwind towards Woodies below the pumping wharf, but if you don't go up that far, I think it is fairly good. There are usually a couple of other foilers out as well.

I used to go to the river a lot but got sick of the gustiness and inconsistency there, not to mention the very small launch / land area. However, there is very seldom any weed so it is good from that perspective.

I think weed is the main enemy of foils so if you can avoid it I think you will have a lot more success and fun.

I hope to see you out there some time

Cheers for the info Alty. Is Applecross the preferred launch spot for foilers on the river? If I go to the river, it's generally at Peli as it's my closest spot, but it is not ideal for foiling without a long walk out.

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DukeSilver said..

alty said..
Coogee is generally quite nice with very little weed and relatively smooth water. It gets a bit gusty upwind towards Woodies below the pumping wharf, but if you don't go up that far, I think it is fairly good. There are usually a couple of other foilers out as well.

I used to go to the river a lot but got sick of the gustiness and inconsistency there, not to mention the very small launch / land area. However, there is very seldom any weed so it is good from that perspective.

I think weed is the main enemy of foils so if you can avoid it I think you will have a lot more success and fun.

I hope to see you out there some time

Cheers for the info Alty. Is Applecross the preferred launch spot for foilers on the river? If I go to the river, it's generally at Peli as it's my closest spot, but it is not ideal for foiling without a long walk out.

A few of us launching next to Soul Kite. I found it to be a good spot for learning on the hydrofoil. Maybe start a couple hundred meter upwind of the school so you stay out of the way of the students.

When I started, I ended up a few times at the north end of the beach. Heading out port side was my bad side and since I had a 1 m mast it was a lot harder. Should be a lot easier on your 15" mast.

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Livit said..

DukeSilver said..

alty said..
Coogee is generally quite nice with very little weed and relatively smooth water. It gets a bit gusty upwind towards Woodies below the pumping wharf, but if you don't go up that far, I think it is fairly good. There are usually a couple of other foilers out as well.

I used to go to the river a lot but got sick of the gustiness and inconsistency there, not to mention the very small launch / land area. However, there is very seldom any weed so it is good from that perspective.

I think weed is the main enemy of foils so if you can avoid it I think you will have a lot more success and fun.

I hope to see you out there some time

Cheers for the info Alty. Is Applecross the preferred launch spot for foilers on the river? If I go to the river, it's generally at Peli as it's my closest spot, but it is not ideal for foiling without a long walk out.

A few of us launching next to Soul Kite. I found it to be a good spot for learning on the hydrofoil. Maybe start a couple hundred meter upwind of the school so you stay out of the way of the students.

When I started, I ended up a few times at the north end of the beach. Heading out port side was my bad side and since I had a 1 m mast it was a lot harder. Should be a lot easier on your 15" mast.

Thanks for the info. I assume "Soul Kite' is at Applecross? The last time I sailed over there was about 25 years ago when I was a (cough, cough) windsurfer:).

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DukeSilver said..

alty said..
Coogee is generally quite nice with very little weed and relatively smooth water. It gets a bit gusty upwind towards Woodies below the pumping wharf, but if you don't go up that far, I think it is fairly good. There are usually a couple of other foilers out as well.

I used to go to the river a lot but got sick of the gustiness and inconsistency there, not to mention the very small launch / land area. However, there is very seldom any weed so it is good from that perspective.

I think weed is the main enemy of foils so if you can avoid it I think you will have a lot more success and fun.

I hope to see you out there some time

Cheers for the info Alty. Is Applecross the preferred launch spot for foilers on the river? If I go to the river, it's generally at Peli as it's my closest spot, but it is not ideal for foiling without a long walk out.

I imagine Peli point is indeed a long walk and it is an upwind walk also. It would be hard to get enough depth to get started with a 1m+ mast but you'll probably be fine with a short one.

I think generally Melville beach (Applecross) is an ok place as any to launch in a SW breeze besides being a narrow beach. It's an easy body drag out to deeper water.

In an easterly wind, Attadale dog beach (down towards point walter) is a good launch and it gets deep enough relatively quickly. Just be aware of the sand bank downwind a bit. Once you get going on the foil, it's a good upwind run to the freeway and back again.

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alty said..

DukeSilver said..

alty said..
Coogee is generally quite nice with very little weed and relatively smooth water. It gets a bit gusty upwind towards Woodies below the pumping wharf, but if you don't go up that far, I think it is fairly good. There are usually a couple of other foilers out as well.

I used to go to the river a lot but got sick of the gustiness and inconsistency there, not to mention the very small launch / land area. However, there is very seldom any weed so it is good from that perspective.

I think weed is the main enemy of foils so if you can avoid it I think you will have a lot more success and fun.

I hope to see you out there some time

Cheers for the info Alty. Is Applecross the preferred launch spot for foilers on the river? If I go to the river, it's generally at Peli as it's my closest spot, but it is not ideal for foiling without a long walk out.

I imagine Peli point is indeed a long walk and it is an upwind walk also. It would be hard to get enough depth to get started with a 1m+ mast but you'll probably be fine with a short one.

I think generally Melville beach (Applecross) is an ok place as any to launch in a SW breeze besides being a narrow beach. It's an easy body drag out to deeper water.

In an easterly wind, Attadale dog beach (down towards point walter) is a good launch and it gets deep enough relatively quickly. Just be aware of the sand bank downwind a bit. Once you get going on the foil, it's a good upwind run to the freeway and back again.

Thanks Alty. Looks like I might be paying a visit to Attadale on Saturday given the forecast. I heard that Vaughan and Manny Bisshops have been launching up around JoJo's in Nedlands due to the proximity to deeper water so might scope out the viability of that as well.