I am not sure why am even writing this apart from to have a rant and hopefully take away some of the pain. Recently got into foiling and got the bug big time. I spent the best part of a year saving like mad and got a Slingshot Foil hover glide foil. I was to impatient to wait another year to afford a board so got a Foilmount system that I stuck on to the bottom of an old surfboard.
Yep after 5 sessions of no issues I was out at Cooge and the bloody foil fell straight off the bottom of the board. I should have known better and tied a leash between the foil and the board.
Like I said no reason to write this apart from to vent as all I got from my wife was "ohh well it could be worse". She will never get it and I've not had the guts to tell her I basically just threw a $1000 into the ocean.
Lesson learnt, don't trust a Foilmount and do the job properly the first time.

Bugger!!!!
That was an expensive lesson

Yep, foil mount is the ****tiest product ever. Its only appeal is that it gets you quickly on the water as it is just the matter of sticking that product onto any board.An important thing to bear in mind is that all the torque moments coming from the foil is applying straight onto the laminate. Hit a sand bar and chances are you'll rip the laminate off the board.For the same cost you get a shaper to drop a HD insert into an existing board and off you go safely.

Happy to assist you with modifying or building a board if that can help you get back on the water

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Livit said..
Yep, foil mount is the ****tiest product ever. Its only appeal is that it gets you quickly on the water as it is just the matter of sticking that product onto any board.An important thing to bear in mind is that all the torque moments coming from the foil is applying straight onto the laminate. Hit a sand bar and chances are you'll rip the laminate off the board.For the same cost you get a shaper to drop a HD insert into an existing board and off you go safely.

Happy to assist you with modifying or building a board if that can help you get back on the water

Genuine person right there. Offering to help ease someone's burden right now is awesome. This reply made my morning.

Thanks for sharing.
This is the sort of thing I would have considered doing in the future. Not anymore. Thanks.

The theory behind Foilmounts is ok.
but the practice is not so.
the 3M adhesive tape/sheet needs to have the proper preparation and primer for maximum adhesion strength and longevity. something rarely told to the customer.
but even at partial bond strength it can pass on the weak link in the chain to the board.
it would have to be a purpose built board to really cope.
Then if you need a special board, why bother with the foilmount.

Claim.

Either against foil mount supplier.

If you purchased a product in good faith and it failed, then the supplier needs to cover your costs.

If that fails claim insurance.

Then, never rely on a sticky pad for foil mounting again.

I took one look at that idea and knew it was stupid. Even if it sticks the glass and foam supporting it I'd not designed for foil use. The internal structure of the surfboard needs to be strengthened to take the additional loads of foiling.

Scuba diving??

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oldbones said..
Scuba diving??

Snorkel is cheaper

Here is my suggestion, and I am serious,..

Whats the point of having a community if we dont come together at a time like this to help out?

My proposal is that if some of us on here, roughly 40 chip in $25 each, old mate could get his foli back? Small price to pay knowing you have made someone a very happy camper.

Thank you for all the kind words. Nice to know some people appreciate what I am going through even if my family don't.
went looking for it the next day with dive gear but viz was so bad less than a meter. Will have to try again when conditions improve. My line up of where it happened are purely by sight so pretty rough. Fingers crossed I get lucky.

If you know were it fell off, get one of your mates to drive his boat around with his side image sounder, if your mate has a humminbird or Garmin you will find it for sure.

It'll turn up after you buy a new one and can't return it

I've had my stiick mount on my board for two years.

Fogot to mention, now held on with 4 stainless bolts drilled through the board.

Dude that sucks, sorry to hear that :(

You couldn't have gotten a shaper to add tracks to some clunker?

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high as a kite said..
Fogot to mention, now held on with 4 stainless bolts drilled through the board.

That's what I did but still used a leash

That's my local spot too and I have a zodiac you could use if that helps look for it, but I don't have a side image sounder. I've got a mate (who also lives at Coogee) who does underwater robotic recovery, I'll hit him up for some ideas. Send me a PM and we can possibly help try and find it. Hopefully your site references were taken using on near object and one far object on either axis.. I learnt that the hard way by doing a similar thing with an outboard once.

I just asked in a local kite racing chat and there are two other guys who have lost foils there, its the foil Bermuda triangle! One of them never found his foil looking with scuba gear and another contacted a local diving group who went looking for it and may have found it. Maybe hit up the local diving FB groups and the spearo's, they always keen to go and look for things. Maybe take a GPS next time you look so you can post a picture of the location you think it is in various groups and chats.

Turns out a few of the local foil racers work on underwater recovery and robotics, one has an underwater drone on order, but not arriving for a while. Hit me up and we'll see if we can help find it. It might be a while if we have to use the drone, but it will still be there waiting for you! But I guess will be harder to spot over time. Get out there where you think it is with a GPS on and mark the spot on a map as a start.

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olyowl said..
I am not sure why am even writing this apart from to have a rant and hopefully take away some of the pain. Recently got into foiling and got the bug big time. I spent the best part of a year saving like mad and got a Slingshot Foil hover glide foil. I was to impatient to wait another year to afford a board so got a Foilmount system that I stuck on to the bottom of an old surfboard.
Yep after 5 sessions of no issues I was out at Cooge and the bloody foil fell straight off the bottom of the board. I should have known better and tied a leash between the foil and the board.
Like I said no reason to write this apart from to vent as all I got from my wife was "ohh well it could be worse". She will never get it and I've not had the guts to tell her I basically just threw a $1000 into the ocean.
Lesson learnt, don't trust a Foilmount and do the job properly the first time.

Feel for you mate. I have a carbon Zeeko foil with board you can borrow for a month to get you on the water while you search for yours.
Call me on 0416 669797 to arrange pick up etc (I in Applecross)

Hell, yer,

I don't need much of a reason to strap on the fins and go for a dive looking for a foil. So long as you know roughly where it was when it fell off, It won't have gone anywhere and should be easy to spot.

I'm in!

DM

Eerrggh! What is this - a good-willed, thoughtful, constructive community or something? I got sick in my mouth just reading all of the above. Can someone please post something sarcastic, dismissive, patronising or just balls-deep offensive before any visiting windsurfers get the impression that we're losing our touch.

(Seriously - amazing helpfulness - carry on.)

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djdojo said..
Eerrggh! What is this - a good-willed, thoughtful, constructive community or something? I got sick in my mouth just reading all of the above. Can someone please post something sarcastic, dismissive, patronising or just balls-deep offensive before any visiting windsurfers get the impression that we're losing our touch.

(Seriously - amazing helpfulness - carry on.)

Foil riding and being helpful is gay

Looks like someone at the clubhouse tried an adhesive mount on a Naish Venturi race board. Stuck well enough to split and peel the skin right off

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djdojo said..
Eerrggh! What is this - a good-willed, thoughtful, constructive community or something? I got sick in my mouth just reading all of the above. Can someone please post something sarcastic, dismissive, patronising or just balls-deep offensive before any visiting windsurfers get the impression that we're losing our touch.

(Seriously - amazing helpfulness - carry on.)

I can take that challenge on.

Haha that's more like it, a healthy mix of helpfulness and 4chan. RE the rescue mission we've secured a side-scanner that apparently can pick up foils, especially nice heavy alloy slingy's from quite a long range, and someone else who lost a foil there confirmed the bottom is mostly sand at 8m with the odd bit of garbage. The location is pretty approximate so it will be hard to find but with the zodiac and the borrowed scanner and some dive gear we've got half a chance (DM, will take you up on the offer to come and dive). And someone in the club has an underwater drone arriving next month so we can go and have a play with that, it has lights and HD camera so we should be able to cover some serious search area if we get decent vis next month. Someone else in the club is working on robotic sub-sea container recoveries off Newcastle and is back in Coogee soon so will be keen to hear his advice too. This is sounding like it might be fun or at least interesting.

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olyowl said..

Hey Olyowl,

Can you use Google Maps to drop a pin and take a screen shot in the approximate position where the mount let go? Approximate distance from beach and distance from any landmarks will help massively. Thanks

DM

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olyowl said..
I am not sure why am even writing this apart from to have a rant and hopefully take away some of the pain. Recently got into foiling and got the bug big time. I spent the best part of a year saving like mad and got a Slingshot Foil hover glide foil. I was to impatient to wait another year to afford a board so got a Foilmount system that I stuck on to the bottom of an old surfboard.
Yep after 5 sessions of no issues I was out at Cooge and the bloody foil fell straight off the bottom of the board. I should have known better and tied a leash between the foil and the board.
Like I said no reason to write this apart from to vent as all I got from my wife was "ohh well it could be worse". She will never get it and I've not had the guts to tell her I basically just threw a $1000 into the ocean.
Lesson learnt, don't trust a Foilmount and do the job properly the first time.

Good to hear everyone offering support and help. I hit a reef and popped a fin on my surfboard a while back, pulled it clean out of the plug. I jumped straight back in the water with a snorkel and found it within about 15 mins. I sort of had a head start though, I just looked behind all of the rocks that were close to the surface. Saved me buying a full new set of fins! Good luck! You will get it back for sure.

I left my foil and board in about 200mm of water the other day. While I packed up kite. had to dig it out of sand. It has buried till fuselage was about 50mm under sand.
hope you don't have that problem.

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RAL INN said..
I left my foil and board in about 200mm of water the other day. While I packed up kite. had to dig it out of sand. It has buried till fuselage was about 50mm under sand.
hope you don't have that problem.

Why would you do that? The abrasion and bouncing around isn't the best thing for something as sensitive as a wing and mast. They are expensive too! This doesn't really make sense to me, though you probably have a good reason. I just can't fathom it right now.