1) What happens when this behavior shows up at:
- a) Your local Break?
- b) Pipeline, Mavericks, Jaws, Ocean beach, baby beach . . . ?
2) Should the tow boogie be used in or around any named surf break?
3) Either the Tow Boogie gets internally regulated or it gets externally regulated

"Bad Brad" is Los Angeles foiler Brad Dela Cruz with Carter Evans and Anthony Nguyen on video. Anthony Nguyen posted this link:

photos.app.goo.gl/WYvdFbFhE9rajFTu6

Wrong on every level
ZeroTow (Towboogie) can geolock their units to stop goons like Brad from using their equipment inappropriately

Already banned in NSW, I'm sure other states will follow.

Are they actually trying to piss the surfers off, unbelievable. That would feel so intimidating from prone position.

name and shame. I hate seeing this for all the people who are making a real effort not to behave this way.

Well he's named in the thread title. He also posted the video saying he spoke to the people out there and the lifeguard that day specifically. He claims they actually prefer the foilers on the tow boogie since they get on foil outside the take off zone and aren't competing to get to their feet in the main take off zone. I have no skin in the game though. The e toys are to expensive for my blood.

I really don't see anything untoward in this clip. Bad Brad is riding waves none of the surfers can dream of getting, and then goes out wide, impeding no one. He is not taking anyones waves, he is not endangering anyone, he is just riding the crap the surfers don't want/can't get and seemingly having a good time at it.

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PeterP said..
I really don't see anything untoward in this clip. Bad Brad is riding waves none of the surfers can dream of getting, and then goes out wide, impeding no one. He is not taking anyones waves, he is not endangering anyone, he is just riding the crap the surfers don't want/can't get and seemingly having a good time at it.

I agree with PeterP here but...

Only if the boogie is left well outside the line up and does not get recalled into the line-up as these guys appeared to be doing. It is an exceptionally fine line, and you only need one surfer to get the ****s and that wrecks it for everyone. Prone foilers tend to go round and round the line-up which is just as annoying for surfers.

Much better to be away from the crowd on the boogie, with the range it has there are lots of options.

Surfers are a funny bunch they hate anyone not on a 6ft board paddling but jetski towins are ok apparently if done on a 6ft thruster
See so many videos like this and no one bats an eyelid.

In my opinion, this is really not cool. Tow boogie or paddle-in, I personally think getting within two leash-lengths of anyone is likely to cause problems. If I'm sitting in the lineup on a surfboard, do I automatically assume the foiler is skilled enough not to make a mistake and hit me? Go ride somewhere else, you don't have to go far

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jondrums said..
In my opinion, this is really not cool. Tow boogie or paddle-in, I personally think getting within two leash-lengths of anyone is likely to cause problems. If I'm sitting in the lineup on a surfboard, do I automatically assume the foiler is skilled enough not to make a mistake and hit me? Go ride somewhere else, you don't have to go far

Agree. It is common for proners to do this.

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jondrums said..
If I'm sitting in the lineup on a surfboard, do I automatically assume the foiler is skilled enough not to make a mistake and hit me?

In practice, I think it is not so bad. The level gap between proficient foilers and average ones is becoming quite obvious to surfers, because they now have had the opportunity to have seen - at least once - good foilers in action, and the difference is huge.

The problem is more the Dunning-Kruger foilers that only themselves think they are good. And alas, they exist.

Another issue I see a lot is the group of foilers friends going out, with one of them being expert, but the others then by imitation tend to foil at the same place as him, but not having the technique to do it safely. The good foiler of the group should be aware of this problem and restrain him/herself to prevent this effect.

On the other hand, last session I was - on a SUP - alone with a prone foiler, and I told him that it was OK for him to drop in on my waves, I knew he was going to foil much farther from the curl from me, (and often just using the wave as a launchpad to go outside fetch the incoming lines) and I was not going to panic by seeing him drop on me (at a reasonable distance, not one foot in front of me of course).

It generated good vibes for both of us for the whole session, although he did not actually dropped me once, he and I were both more relaxed.

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colas said..
In practice, I think it is not so bad.

You may be right about that. Everything is situational, and sometimes people know each other really well or have even talked about it ahead of time. Probably best not to get caught on video doing it though...

That spot is literally the closest point break to Los Angeles and it has a surfline cam. Foils have been co-mingling there safely for at least 5 years. Home made tow boogies for at least 4 years. The more surf schools at a spot, the more likely it is to be a good foil wave.

Funny have done three moped runs from sanur to canggu bali, two of them with fully setup foilboards - in insane traffic with minimal road rules it seems,
and somehow. Same in the water.

these balinese just chill the F out, work together on the road, without a fuss. Have not seen one bit of road rage in the collective 6 hours on the ped over three days. Oh one but that was one of our many russian friends who are over here now in large numbers..

Something to be learnt there, especially coming from the WA nanny police state we roam about in.

I've seen a few guys using these, most of them are using them in the middle of nowhere by them self and are riding waves that you can only tow foil, which is 100% fine

the problem will be when some muppet brings one into a crowded lineup and people start complaining or it actually hits someone, where i live guys tow foiling are starting to become an issue when the lineup is packed, and the surf is decent, the locals want to ban jet skis, so it will only take one or two incidents with someone towing to fuel this fire,

in most places e foils are already classified as PWC's so things like this are a massive grey area as are things like gofoil

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Hdip said..
Well he's named in the thread title. He also posted the video saying he spoke to the people out there and the lifeguard that day specifically. He claims they actually prefer the foilers on the tow boogie since they get on foil outside the take off zone and aren't competing to get to their feet in the main take off zone. I have no skin in the game though. The e toys are to expensive for my blood.

HDip: Where does it say this anywhere? How did you get this information? He also posted the video saying he spoke to the people out there and the lifeguard that day specifically. He claims they actually prefer the foilers on the tow boogie since they get on foil outside the take off zone and aren't competing to get to their feet in the main take off zone.

I quoted HDIP the other day when there was some sketchy foiling behavior:

"Foiling is the new kid on the block. It will always be "in the wrong". So foilers have to be ambassadors whether they want to or not.Take cues from kite surfing. Kites can catch every wave in a set. So they defer to paddle surfers. Foils can catch multiple waves per takeoff. So defer to the slower craft in the water.Maybe that's it. Always defer to someone going slower than you. You have the speed to maneuver away." - HDIP

From here:
forum.progressionproject.com/t/foiling-etiquette/432/2

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camerongraham said..
Wrong on every level
ZeroTow (Towboogie) can geolock their units to stop goons like Brad from using their equipment inappropriately

The Tow Boogies in this video are home made, so won't have Geo Fence.