Interesting that he only shows the stabiliser of the foil. We don't get to see the front wing. I wonder if that is deliberate.

Also interesting is that the board looks quite short. It looks like a Javelin with the tail cut off. That would be nice to have a short SUP for flat water you could add a foil to for down winding. Perhaps even use a surfing sup for down winding. I wonder if I can get a tuttle adapter for my flat plate foil?

That's awesome Untill you hit a turtle! I want , stand up is all about the glide and that would be the ultimate glide.

Could be an arms race for the next Molokai or two...

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teatrea said...
That's awesome Untill you hit a turtle! I want , stand up is all about the glide and that would be the ultimate glide.

Agree once mastered the glide of that would feel endless and so smooth.

On the otherhand. The speed and roughness and wild ride a decent bump givds you is a one of a kind feeling.

I see a few nutters getting right into this idea

I think he is going to need a longer paddle

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[b]
I see a few nutters getting right into this idea

Awesome! I'll be one of those nutters!

So good that is the future

& another nutter. Great to see many is Aus sooon.

where do i sign up for the hydrofoil nut job brigade Never really been into downwinding always seemed a lot of hard work for minimal rewards , this could change that. Plus I don't need to buy a $3000 plus board or have several for different conditions.(hold on) The foil will probably be $3,000

It will still cost alot of money and if i know one thing about foilboarding is not everyone will get it!!

Looks super fun and i'm sure if you lived somewhere where it blows 30 knots every day then it could be worth playing around but good luck getting that thing up in under 20 knots.

Love to see him deal with the weed we get over here. As Paul said very limited market.

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teatrea said..
where do i sign up for the hydrofoil nut job brigade Never really been into downwinding always seemed a lot of hard work for minimal rewards , this could change that. Plus I don't need to buy a $3000 plus board or have several for different conditions.(hold on) The foil will probably be $3,000

Alex Aguera just messaged me

Get on the list soon as it is a two month back order at the moment. Carbon SUPFOIL from Go Foil $1500US. alex@alexaguera.com. New upgraded Gofoil website coming out this week to handle to response.

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jamieferg said..

teatrea said..
where do i sign up for the hydrofoil nut job brigade Never really been into downwinding always seemed a lot of hard work for minimal rewards , this could change that. Plus I don't need to buy a $3000 plus board or have several for different conditions.(hold on) The foil will probably be $3,000

Alex Aguera just messaged me

Get on the list soon as it is a two month back order at the moment. Carbon SUPFOIL from Go Foil $1500US. alex@alexaguera.com. New upgraded Gofoil website coming out this week to handle to response.

Id pay that for the days it is rideable , may even take a holiday where it is rideable The reality is you could attach it to any piece of crap that floats. As paul suggests as long as the swell is fast and the wind is blowing. Cant wait for the flat water version like the flyack.

Just wait a few months and there will be heaps forsale 2nd hand when people realize its not quite as easy as it looks. Bargins will be had i predict.

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paul.j said..
Just wait a few months and there will be heaps forsale 2nd hand when people realize its not quite as easy as it looks. Bargins will be had i predict.

Don't wreck the fantasy with logic mate.Naysayer

Could be like when they said these things won't take off because they're too expensive....



Fully kitted, they're only about $50k and the number built would be closer to 4 digits than 2

Kai has posted another vid of him getting the contraption going , looked pretty easy to me

It is the future you'd better believe it.


www.facebook.com/kai.lenny/videos/10154213478959312/

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tightlines said...
It is the future you'd better believe it.

I'm not so sure.. I love it.. but it won't be for everyone..

I like the surfing feeling you get doing downwinders.. I'd miss that..

Shallow water dangers will be a big problem.. It's bad enoug with a 9" fin..

Having to swim it out to deep enough water befor you can even start would mean a 100 meter swim in some places I launch from.. Same at the end in most places..

And getting the thing onto the foil would be like dragging a huge lump of seaweed behind you..

Can't wait to see more videos because it does look amazing..

Hard to judge from the footage; however given that the foil looks about 1.5' from the tail I would estimate that the board is about 10'-11' long.
If that is the case then I don't think you will be able to just strap a foil on your 12'6" race board and away you go, so not only will there be a cost for the foil but there may also be an outlay for a specialist foil SUP.

I prefer Robby Ns penertrator concept board. Way more stylish.......

Latest out airial footage of Kai catching bumps
www.facebook.com/oceanpaddlertv/videos/1118927221499835/

It does look pretty amazing. Looking forward to seeing some videos of amateur paddlers having a go. I guess you need a pretty decent swell not the chop we get on the bay.

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paul.j said..
Just wait a few months and there will be heaps forsale 2nd hand when people realize its not quite as easy as it looks. Bargins will be had i predict.

The first time foiling appeared for kiting it came and went with not much more than a ripple. It was extremely expensive and nobody could quite believe that it could be done.

A few years later kite foils are much more expensive ($2800 for a carbon foil) and much more refined and there are lots of people doing it. As a result Liquid Force and Naish and Zeeko and a bunch of other manufacturers are bringing out reasonably priced foils with aluminium masts and cheaper fittings ($1000-2000). They work just fine.

Among kite foilers, once you get it wired you just don't want to ride anything else.

I guess time will tell what sort of skills and conditions are required. I can pop up onto my low aspect foil and stay there while virtually stationary.

Connor
I wanna see maliko dw times now

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DavidJohn said..

....

I like the surfing feeling you get doing downwinders.. I'd miss that..

...

The thing about a hydrofoil is that you are riding your own personal 1 metre wave. You can carve back and forth and up and down. You can pump it to generate a little more speed and do little cutbacks and forehand carves.

I've only experienced the foil with a kite, but it doesn't take much kite power to get up and riding. The face plants coming off the top of the foil off the top of a wave hurt.

Get ya orders in now.
I see some nutter off the tip of Moreton Island Brisbane on a South Easter riding one of these across to bribie island. Some big swells out there to ride

Looks like fun. But extremely sketchy safety-wise for downwinding unless you have a support boat. It doesn't seem even remotely practical for 99.9% of paddlers, to me. You are going to crash a lot, even if you are Kai, and in a strong wind and sizeable swell all kinds of things could go wrong with a large blade attached to your board, flying around in the wind. I'd like to know how easy it would be to recover from a crash in high winds while keeping hold of your paddle.

Maybe for SUP surfing. But then getting away from shore, and then out through white water is surely going to be extremely difficult?

I suspect that the experience of SUP foiling for most people would be lots of time spent in the water, lots of heavy wipe-outs, and lots of frustration and expense. So, surely this is going to be very niche? The things that has made SUP such a success as a sport, such as adaptability, not needing highly specialised gear or circumstances, cheapness etc are all missing here.

So, like everyone else, I'd like to have a go. But spend a small fortune on something I'd use a handful of times a year, and might not have the skill or time to ever master? Not likely. It seems like something you'd do maybe at a specialised facility or location, perhaps a close potential cousin of eg. wakeboarding.

But what do I know? Probably nothing.

www.naishsurfing.com/

Kai has such great flow! I love the way he surfs on almost nothing. Innovative to say the least! I can't wait to see foils on the market