Select to expand quote

IanInca said..
For me, the best use for FD is making crap surf fun. I'm in the cold, wet winter in the UK. I've surf foiled 8 times 14 days at my local spot in crap weather and very average or crap surf and I've had a blast. I've taken around 50 to 60 waves in each session. Ive seen a total of 3 other surfers (non foil) and 1 seal during this time. I wouldn't have even thought about going in without a foil or foil drive. Im always considerate and I've used it 18 months without any issues.

I do think whether it's right or wrong, good or bad for surfing and/or foiling I think it's the future. As kit gets lighter, smaller, safer and more affordable more non foilers will see the light and particularly people that don't have access to reliable consistent ground swell.

Also many older surfers stop surfing - not because they can't surf or loose the stoke but because their bodies can't perform the paddle, pop up etc.. Foiling is low impact on joints and Foil drive does the paddle for you. People who've played golf all their life who then have a problems with hips, legs etc... They can't walk 18 holes so they use an electric Buggy to do the walk so they can still enjoy hitting the ball.!!!!

Let's not kid ourselves of the so called "Vibe" of surfing, this was lost along time ago. I stopped non foil surfing a few years ago after a **** show of a session, the surf was unreal but there was more agro than smiles . Lineups on good days displays some of the worst traits of human nature and probably some of the worst acts of sportsmanship of any sport.

So I say embrace Foil Drive because like it or not in some form or other it is the future!!

Well said, hard to have aggro when you are on your todd or should that be pat malone

I'm just going to chime in here

Seeing posts and talking to people over the years who have changed their tune and the mental gymnastics involved in debating what is an efoil or not - i.e. anything with a motor that you only use sometimes versus all the time is pretty funny

The 'rules' of what is deemed powered craft or whatever as these 'assist' foils from various brands become more common due to the lower cost than a full on eFoil will be interesting to watch

I've seen this brewing for a while here in the Nanny State of WA and nationally

Take all other eThings - bikes / skateboards / scooters which are much cheaper and way more prevalent

I have both an illegal skateboard and a bike based on power output and just always gone with the play nice around others really

Sometimes you hear stuff about Police confiscating personal eRideables, but I haven't had any issues over the years

Then look at the amount of outright kooks who jump on those rental scooters and the amount of accidents that happen with them - it's a whole other thing and how are they not canned based off that?

I've literally only eFoiled on my Flite Ultra for the last 3 years since I lost interest with kiting - wind sports was my background as I have rarely surfed, but the different wind versus waves vibe has always been around

Nowadays I would say 80% of the time I'm out there solo doing my thing in the wilderness - winter westerly's, downwinding on sea breezes, getting thru shore dump, offshore reefs etc etc.

Initially as an early adopter I was more proactive, City of Stirling - the council I live in and pay rates to defines my 4'2" board as a boat and you can't launch a boat from the beach!

I'm not overly interested in 'launching' from Scabs or Brighton due to it being a high traffic swimming beach and halfway down the North 12km section of the metro DW run anyways so I long ago filed that in the too hard basket / not worth bothering

Another example is Byron where Flite HQ is based - they have a permit for a designated area of the bay - which excludes surf spots like The Pass and Wategoes - due to it being marine reserve and banning all forms of PWC's, so I'm sure using an 'assist' at or near those spots will open up some debate yet again

This 'stay out of the line up' rhetoric is comical too - as why the F would I want to go anywhere near the line up in the first place?! - a breaking wave with surfers catching it for 10 seconds is of zero appeal when I can glide on unsurfable rollers for hundreds of meters and not go through a rinse cycle with a heavy carbon fibre axe

I think a lot of the hate stems from the price tag of these things and people with less disposable income / or crusty surfers seeing the owners as entitled or it's 'cheating' or not 'pure' waterman

Who gives a cr@p, I have fun every session, I have a motor - carving turns under power is just as fun as gliding without and I largely don't care about other people's opinions of eFoils these days - I get my fix, do my own thing, am stoked - the end

Ruining it for other people is such an abstract concept, accidents could happen with any other type of water sports, but somehow because there is a motor involved it's such a massive threat - yeah righto

Getting some sort of uniformity on regulation is probably not going to happen any time soon

How many eFoils do you reckon there are in the wild globally? I'd say it's probably around ~30000

How many foilers would there be? Why is this treated like some existential crisis by some people?

I think Foil Drive had about 500 units for their Gen 2 launch and now there is a 3 month lead time

Next year there will probably be 4-5 other assist devices available, those numbers will still be low for a while yet

Here's some puzzling stuff that currently exists in Aus

QLD there are literally no rules for eFoils, no rego, you don't have to obey marine speed limits or anything they are not a PWC
NSW cross the border you have to have a RST and wear a a PFD at all times, but no registration required
WA, register as a boat, so technically obey 8kn speed limits, but no RST and not a PWC either - hmmm
Vic - banned

go figure!

Back to original question. I know it is sup but pretty well any board/foil combo can work. Code 980 here. ?si=onCz7gdJKlVK9F-c

Looking good there Hilly
Keeping it on thread there are some good vids being produced on the Foil Drive You Tube channel which may help
www.youtube.com/@foildrive
It helps kill the time waiting for mine to turn up

Select to expand quote

hilly said..
Back to original question. I know it is sup but pretty well any board/foil combo can work. Code 980 here.

?si=onCz7gdJKlVK9F-c

Very nice foiling there Hilly.

Hopefully they get a travel battery going for my next trip, was so good having it in Bali !!

.be

Select to expand quote

paularity said..
I'm just going to chime in here

Seeing posts and talking to people over the years who have changed their tune and the mental gymnastics involved in debating what is an efoil or not - i.e. anything with a motor that you only use sometimes versus all the time is pretty funny

The 'rules' of what is deemed powered craft or whatever as these 'assist' foils from various brands become more common due to the lower cost than a full on eFoil will be interesting to watch

I've seen this brewing for a while here in the Nanny State of WA and nationally

Take all other eThings - bikes / skateboards / scooters which are much cheaper and way more prevalent

I have both an illegal skateboard and a bike based on power output and just always gone with the play nice around others really

Sometimes you hear stuff about Police confiscating personal eRideables, but I haven't had any issues over the years

Then look at the amount of outright kooks who jump on those rental scooters and the amount of accidents that happen with them - it's a whole other thing and how are they not canned based off that?

I've literally only eFoiled on my Flite Ultra for the last 3 years since I lost interest with kiting - wind sports was my background as I have rarely surfed, but the different wind versus waves vibe has always been around

Nowadays I would say 80% of the time I'm out there solo doing my thing in the wilderness - winter westerly's, downwinding on sea breezes, getting thru shore dump, offshore reefs etc etc.

Initially as an early adopter I was more proactive, City of Stirling - the council I live in and pay rates to defines my 4'2" board as a boat and you can't launch a boat from the beach!

I'm not overly interested in 'launching' from Scabs or Brighton due to it being a high traffic swimming beach and halfway down the North 12km section of the metro DW run anyways so I long ago filed that in the too hard basket / not worth bothering

Another example is Byron where Flite HQ is based - they have a permit for a designated area of the bay - which excludes surf spots like The Pass and Wategoes - due to it being marine reserve and banning all forms of PWC's, so I'm sure using an 'assist' at or near those spots will open up some debate yet again

This 'stay out of the line up' rhetoric is comical too - as why the F would I want to go anywhere near the line up in the first place?! - a breaking wave with surfers catching it for 10 seconds is of zero appeal when I can glide on unsurfable rollers for hundreds of meters and not go through a rinse cycle with a heavy carbon fibre axe

I think a lot of the hate stems from the price tag of these things and people with less disposable income / or crusty surfers seeing the owners as entitled or it's 'cheating' or not 'pure' waterman

Who gives a cr@p, I have fun every session, I have a motor - carving turns under power is just as fun as gliding without and I largely don't care about other people's opinions of eFoils these days - I get my fix, do my own thing, am stoked - the end

Ruining it for other people is such an abstract concept, accidents could happen with any other type of water sports, but somehow because there is a motor involved it's such a massive threat - yeah righto

Getting some sort of uniformity on regulation is probably not going to happen any time soon

How many eFoils do you reckon there are in the wild globally? I'd say it's probably around ~30000

How many foilers would there be? Why is this treated like some existential crisis by some people?

I think Foil Drive had about 500 units for their Gen 2 launch and now there is a 3 month lead time

Next year there will probably be 4-5 other assist devices available, those numbers will still be low for a while yet

Here's some puzzling stuff that currently exists in Aus

QLD there are literally no rules for eFoils, no rego, you don't have to obey marine speed limits or anything they are not a PWC
NSW cross the border you have to have a RST and wear a a PFD at all times, but no registration required
WA, register as a boat, so technically obey 8kn speed limits, but no RST and not a PWC either - hmmm
Vic - banned

go figure!

Well said Paul, People get far to caught up on too many things. Ride what floats your boat. Be respectful and use some logic. End of story.

A couple more videos from today . One is live sound power on and off , the other is frotholla
?feature=shared
?feature=shared

this has turned into a strapped vs strapless discussion again......