I have been pushing towards the peak at Mavericks for the past 5 years on foil. The challenge with big waves is that they move fast. Fast is 18 mph to 25 mph. This is why people use 10 foot prone guns on waves over 20 feet. My SUP Foil gun is a 7' 4" x 31" L41 retro fitted SUP. BUT I need to graduate to the next generation of gear.

On big waves with the foil you either take off deeper, and risk a cartwheel which will break all your gear, or you take off slightly wider. I have been taking advantage of the seam exactly where the white water meets the green water. I am often able to paddle up but then the wave gets away from me.

This video shows a hybrid approach more like downwinding but without the wind. I chipped in but missed the wave just inside the bowl at Mavericks. When I dropped off the back I had enough speed to get to slingshot to the next wave that was a solid 15 to 18 foot non-breaking face. It was off to the races 500 yards to mushroom rock. No wing, no tow, no wind.

A 6 foot board is too short. They paddle too slow and takeoffs are perilous. IF there is a steep drop the technique is to surf nose down until you outrun the power section of the wave, either into the flats or down the shoulder, then you fly the foil.

1 year ago Jeff Clark and I were joking "SUP Foiling has been cancelled." There was a small crew of us dedicated to SUP foiling in Northern California while prone foiling was exploding. With the new focus on downwinding people are once again talking about SUP foiling motivated by Jeremy Riggs, Dave Kalama and the flat water takeoff. The Barracuda boards are measuring 7' 8" x 18" wide. I am looking for something a bit more stable. Here is a prototype view 7' 4" X 24" for big wave 'Down-Waving.'

Prone guys might look at the video above and think 'that's just a normal pump out.' But prone guys aren't taking off in flat water they also aren't catching 15 foot waves under their own power. You need the speed of a gun and then the advantage of a higher aspect foil. The high aspect foils keep pace with the bigger waves. The other advantage of the longer board is stability. I have heard some people talk about the adverse front foot pressure of the Axis 999. But I have no problem on huge waves with my 7' 4". The bigger challenge is having a long enough mast not to breach on the 6 foot moguls that pop up on all but the glassiest days. I have been riding a 90 cm mast that limits breaching but adds weight to an already unwieldy 7' 4" board making pumping much less efficient.

Objective - Big Wave SUP Foil "Down-Waving" Any thoughts or experience?

Here is what the L41 Looks like with the Axis 999 and 90 cm mast. This was my 2nd foil board that was retrofitted with a Tuttle box after I broke my first generation 8 foot foil board. I did go smaller but kept this 7' 4" as a backup. Now if the wave faces are going to be consistently 7 feet or bigger I will grab this as my SUP Foil gun. I live just minutes by bicycle from Mavericks and will SUP foil on this board until the waves are legitimately >25 feet.

Because people only like to prone surf Mavericks with the right swell and at low tide I am 100% alone 90% of the time when things are what most people would consider 'big.' BUT I am lucky if I pick off 1 or 2 waves in a session. New gear and technique could change everything.

That makes sense, longer/skinny boards even in the prone will be more popular.

On long board, it is not so easy to find the sweetspot for tracks box.

I would go with less bevel rail to have more stability.

If the goal is only catching wave vs dw, then you don't need to go as narrow as dw board.

So I have been testing the new board for 6 weeks now in small, medium, big Surf and clean to choppy conditons.

My conclusion is that it still needs to be FASTER than it is for catching bigger, long period swell that 7 feet+ and is 15 seconds or more.

In clean conditions the board takes off fast and efficient.

As soon as there is some surface chop, or reverb there can be an additional roll, or last second wobble. The board also can't handle getting hit by whitewater like the flatter "Barn Door" shape above. So I would say it is 20% easier to catch waves that aren't broken and are clean. But it is 15% - 30% harder to stand and drop in nasty conditions. If the nose touches down it can track like a canoe. My lower back has been stressed as I am testing this board because I can't stand as upright in rougher conditions.

Here is an example of a CLEAN takeoff on a bigger wave.

Your rails are too unforgiving for mortals, primary stability will suck and make it too much work, it's a shame, as it's a great looking board. Use it on clean small days to take off behind the long-boarders

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PeterP said..
Your rails are too unforgiving for mortals, primary stability will suck and make it too much work, it's a shame, as it's a great looking board. Use it on clean small days to take off behind the long-boarders

So you are saying rails sharp too far forward Peter?

Yeah long and skinny the go , when I prone paddle my Harpoon board I'm double the speed of the guys Stand up paddle , the board absolutely flys , just need the combo of surfable narrow version.

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JonathanC said..

PeterP said..
Your rails are too unforgiving for mortals, primary stability will suck and make it too much work, it's a shame, as it's a great looking board. Use it on clean small days to take off behind the long-boarders

So you are saying rails sharp too far forward Peter?

I think sharp is good for stability, as it locks rail in. The problem is the chimes are too deep to keep stability decent, upside of those chimes are very forgiving touchdowns which is very useful on the bigger boards. More of a vertical section of rail is whats needed to improve stability (at the expense of fluid touchdowns). In the end it's about getting the right compromise for the skill of the rider and the application.

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frenchfoiler said..
That makes sense, longer/skinny boards even in the prone will be more popular.

On long board, it is not so easy to find the sweetspot for tracks box.

I would go with less bevel rail to have more stability.

If the goal is only catching wave vs dw, then you don't need to go as narrow as dw board.

I have a 6,9 by 20", I have no problem in downwinds, but for waves reaching 2 meters ( and long period) it is too slow. In my experience you need a longer board for decent size waves and as narrow as you can handle, because it is much harder.

Do the Kalama boards have vertical rails?

This day convinced me to switch BACK to the 'Destroyer' a 7' 4" x 31" x 125 Liter converted L41 SUP. The reason is that there is a huge amount of confidence from being able to take a whitewater smash and/or fly nose down on waves that are greater than 10 feet on the face.

Here is an example. Haley and I were out. I was flying the Wahoo and he was on his 7' 2" x 32" x 167 liter Kalama E3 BARN DOOR.

I filmed this wave thinking he would drop on the first wave, he took the second one that was bigger. I then wasn't recording when he caught a wave 20 minutes later that was 5 feet BIGGER still than the one on this video.