Have any of you foilers been trying out your foils on flat water? No waves?

I heard a story about a guy on a SUP foil who cleaned up a field of surf skis. No wind. No waves. He beat the skis in a sprint start. Recovered, then beat them in an endurance event.

I am thinking that the small amount of lift you get from paddling a foil could be quite fun on flat water, no wind days. I also think that the gymnastic looking pumping we see is more a function of technique and technology. Once it's worked out we'll find it is much easier than it looks. This has been our experience with kite foiling where the more we do it, the easier it gets. It is possible to do almost stationary pivot turns and hand drags at quite low speeds.

When I fall of my kite foilboard I can see that the slightest forward motion from a breeze or a bit of swell lifts the board a tiny bit onto the foil and it glides off by itself, faster than I can swim. There has to be some efficiency gained through getting that little bit of lift from the foil.

i imagine you would have to be extremely fit to sup foil in flat water over any sort of distance, have seen a video of a young guy doing it over a short distance but nothing prolonged, as for beating skis yeah maybe once you got up, but they would be alot quicker off the start

Jarryd

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Gorgo said..
Have any of you foilers been trying out your foils on flat water? No waves?

I often tried to keep on flying at the end of the ride in waves. It is both very hard and exhausting. It is quite technical as it is quite a subtle and precise movement, totally different from traditional pumping on a surfboard. You need to feel what the wing is doing, and pump to raise its speed relative to the water, not just push on it.

I suppose that for my weight (100kg), I would need a much bigger wing to ease the exercise than the one I use currently, but I shows me I am not near ready to attempt it on the flat.

I tried it on the weekend on my 7-5 x 28 Sup with the GoFoil 200 Maliko which James Casey does it easy from a standing start on his 7-2 . I was no chance sad effort but if I pull off a small wave I can keep it going but without a push not a chance . It's not just power strokes and leg pumps if you are not perfectly vertical it pushes to the side , hard to catch so there is tons of skill involved. 10 times harder than it looks.
I've now got a bungy rope and will practice in my canal in dead calm water to build up some pump fitness.

I was thinking more of just paddling along on the board for fun and fitness with the foil attached. As long as the foil is moving it will be generating lift. You should be able to feel it whenever you get a little surge from a wave or some extra speed.

Is there any noticeable efficiency to be gained from just having the foil there? Are SUP foils fun to paddle to a distant break, or even just for the hell of it?

Yes you can feel the foil start to work when you put in a couple of hard ones. Overall it takes more effort to paddle back out , especially after super long runs your legs are pretty fried plus we are on very small boards.

just buy one of these

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Gorgo said..
Is there any noticeable efficiency to be gained from just having the foil there? Are SUP foils fun to paddle to a distant break, or even just for the hell of it?

No, the foil just adds drag. And if you raise the angle of attack (rock the board), it provides lift... but with increased drag.

If you plan to foil later, paddling around with the foil is a good idea, as it changes the balance on the board, it is useful to take the time to get used to it. After some time you learn to use the foil as a big stabilizer to be able to use narrower boards than normal.
Plus learning to carry the thing, getting in/out the water, etc... needs practice.

If not, it is not fun by itself.