When the foils first began, back in the long long ago, Colas and someone else wrote up a good four pages on seabreeze, debating the placement of the foil shaft on a board. In the thread there was all types of entertaining things mankind is capable of. These details are all from memory and may actually not be accurate.

Moving on, now that all the data has been collected, and if anyone can remember, who ended up being correct?

edit: I have found the post I'm pretty sure this is the one:

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/Foiling/SUP-foiling--my-first-steps-?page=3

Not sure what the point of your post is?
Foil "mast" placement is determined by where you want to stand on the board and with respect to the lifting point of the foil.
I believe the argument you are referring to was more based on should you use foot straps to manhandle the foil regardless of exact balance points etc. or should you learn the fine points of balance to control the foil without the mechanical advantage of the straps.
The winner was the evolution of foil design and the relation of mast track placement to overall board balance, something that was particularly askew in the long sup boards and low speed spike lifting foils of yesteryear.

Colas was 100% right about mast placement, we just couldn't understand it at the time. Same thing with Beasho, who was yelling at anyone who would listen that going longer and skinnier was the way. We were all stuck trying to ride the shortest SUPfoil boards possible at the time. And Danish, who started the "early release" downwind style board shape experiments a few years ahead of Kalama. This message board has all the ingredients fueling the innovation we celebrate today, it may just be buried a bit below a mountain of chat.

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gibbo000001 said..debating the placement of the foil shaft on a board

I am intrigued, please elaborate

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jondrums said..
Colas was 100% right about mast placement

Yes! :-)I would be a bit more nuanced however with time...I & Beasho were "right" at the time for SUP-foiling where it was very useful to not have to move your feet when transitioning from
paddling to flying. Especially when using straps.
And nowadays, when using "skinny" boards that takeoff by gliding from the paddling rather than pump/cork/bounce into action.

This is not so relevant for surf-foiling and wing-foiling.

Yeah. The good old days of the beginning of serious foiling.
I couldn't wait to try it. But had to sacrifice one of my SUPs to put a foil box in. So picked my least go to SUP. It was a very slow paddler with excessive nose & tail rockers & short at 7 foot long. If that didn't work I would have to sacrifice my 8 foot long board that was faster with much less rockers.
I did all the recommended measurements for the mast / shaft position and also the wedge under the mast plate for the right Angle of Attack.
Also glued foam blocks on the deck for my exact foot placements.
I still remember a comment from someone saying my board looks too short.
Because in those days there was an emphasis in needing a good amount of glide to get up on foil without taking a steeper drop near the wave shoulder. So it was believed then to have a longer board of 8 foot or more.
I was very pleasantly surprised on my first learning sessions at how my board speed increased heaps & quickly took me away from the steep drop & far away from the wave shoulder because the foil took all the nose rocker out of the water to stop it pushing water. It was like hitting the power band.
Later when I thought about it I realised my board could have been even shorter by taking away more of its nose & tail because It wasn't really needed except for maybe a little more volume & balance. So I was really surfing with a board under 6 foot of flat length hull by taking out the rockers. But I liked the nose rocker for touchdown & recovery especially when things get wild.
Since then I saw board lengths getting much shorter & with the tails stepped or cut away. I'd rather a bit of tail rocker than a step for less tail end drag when pumping onto foil. But it is only quite minimal drag. Have you noticed how skinny & V shaped the tails of down wind boards are? And how the tail is cut away for the more surf orientated boards?
As for mast/shaft placement? In my view it all depends on foil size, type, board types and wave size that negates the need for foot adjustments.
I have used my board up till now in all wave sizes up to overhead. It has been bashed & crashed so many times too, Lol. But it's a heavy barge. But also very comfortable & stable to let me keep on foiling in wind chop for my 3 hour sessions when most of the paddleboarders leave the water.
And the foam deck blocks were great for my foot placement to be exact. Front foot always on it and the back foot goes to the back one as soon as I start paddling for a wave.
How far have we come after those years. Shorter and longer boards. Wide and skinny. It all depends what you need a board for.

Since we're reminiscing, here is my 9' starboard SUP conversion. This was for the very first GoFoil blue maliko foil. We had no idea where to put the foilbox, there was only rumors about what to do - measure XX" from the tail and whatever. My buddy and I just eyballed it and because it was tuttle, we'll never know if it could have been better. But I learned how to SupFoil in waves and passed it on to somebody

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jondrums said..
Since we're reminiscing, here is my 9' starboard SUP conversion. This was for the very first GoFoil blue maliko foil. We had no idea where to put the foilbox, there was only rumors about what to do - measure XX" from the tail and whatever. My buddy and I just eyballed it and because it was tuttle, we'll never know if it could have been better. But I learned how to SupFoil in waves and passed it on to somebody

Good that it worked.