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Imoutthere said..
Q11. Is it relatively doable to ride a bike to the beach with a surf foil board and foil somehow?

Rig the bike like this. I have been using a surf-bike for 10+ years. Almost exclusively until I figured out that driving for good foil waves is even better than my local breaks. I wasn't going to get the foil unless it worked with my bike.

Jeff Clark and Chris Bertish also like the rig.

*Note in the 2nd and 3rd photos I am carrying 2 boards, 1 Foil Board fully rigged and 1 stand up paddle board on the side mounted board rack. The design requires support struts as shown in last photo. The rack is strong enough to carry people.

nice setup Beasho.

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Beasho said..

Imoutthere said..
Q11. Is it relatively doable to ride a bike to the beach with a surf foil board and foil somehow?

Rig the bike like this. I have been using a surf-bike for 10+ years. Almost exclusively until I figured out that driving for good foil waves is even better than my local breaks. I wasn't going to get the foil unless it worked with my bike.

Jeff Clark and Chris Bertish also like the rig.

*Note in the 2nd and 3rd photos I am carrying 2 boards, 1 Foil Board fully rigged and 1 stand up paddle board on the side mounted board rack. The design requires support struts as shown in last photo. The rack is strong enough to carry people.

Awesome man. Taking notes here for sure.

Love the proud and stoked grin in snap #2.

Much appreciated.

Gents,

Once again, much appreciated with the info and feedback. Just some few last minute Qs if you don't mind:



Q17. Here is a 2 minute video of 3 different spots of a 6 second wind swell that came through the other day. Is this foilable for me (see my stats below) on a say L (80 cm / 2000cm2 developed, volume 3.12L) or would I need a XL (90cm foil 2137cm2 developed, volume 3.62L)? Or would it be a no foil day here?

Take those digits above as rough estimates.

Q18. Goals: I want to be foiling reasonably well in very small surf within 2 months and foiling 4 - 8 foot fat swells within 9 - 12 months. Is that achievable? If yes, my thinking is that I learn to foil with a 45cm mast and a L or XL foil, than progress to a 65cm-ish mast and M size foil/front wing? Any thoughts here?

Really appreciate your time with this thread everyone. I am hoping these questions will help other newcomers after me.


FYI, My Stats:

Height: 180cm
Weight: 73kg
Age: 43
Prone Surfing Ability: Intermediate to Advance Amature since 18.
Athletic Ability: Slightly above average I guess. I'm no Carl Lewis but nor am I a Mr Bean.
Budget: $1,500 but would love to buy second hand and would be committed to sticking with a learners board for 12 - 18 months.
Surfing Locations: Asian wind swell waves in Japan with swell periods of 5 - 12 seconds.

Whoa! For that beach with breaking waves I'm out there on my SUP with Neil Pryde medium wing at my weight of 80kgs.
So for you on a prone or SUP. Medium foil as well. Still doable with a large wing also. But a bit more difficult for your weight with large wing on prone board.
As for just the swell without the break. You will need no smaller than an XL wing.

Spot A: too big to learn in, too dangerous. Try to find a more sheltered spot

Spot B: you should wait for some onshore wind to have some windcaps appear and push you for takeoff, otherwise you will not have the technique to take off

Spot C: perfect, place yourself far on the shoulder, not at the peak.

I would recommend only the L for learning, the XL and XXL are more tricky because you can quickly be overwhelmed by the strength of the lift. Then these big wings will be very useful for spot B.

Hey man.

Let the records show we are the same age. I'm 175cm and 80kg.
Probably in the same boat with surfing ability.

My motto with foiling has been "if in doubt, paddle out", and I'm happy if I get one or two pump runs for my effort. I look at most of your clip and think....yeah, why not?.

The conditions in your vid have been my bread and butter this summer (with some much better groundswell days too). Most times though, I'm dealing with 15-25 knots of onshore and 4-6 second windswell, interspersed with a bit of random ground. I tend to foil very shallow patches of reef, bottom feeding the surges that wash off the back. Some setups wall very nicely, and others just push you into a pump run.

I assume you are looking at Gong? I ride Gofoil and switch between the M200 and Iwa depending on the conditions. Quite often I paddle in and swap wings just for fun. I've ridden the L an XL Gong wings too and they are very similar in size and capability o mine.

The Iwa is absolutely my go to and is pretty much as pumpable as the bigger wing with the bonus of manoeuvrability and speed, but I found it easier to learn pumping on the big wing. You are a few kilos lighter, so the L might feel bigger to you....maybe go with that for starters.

As for masts, I think the 45cm is a waste of time. It covers you for a relatively short part of your progression and ends up sidelined as soon as you move to the bigger mast.

A 60-65 will work just fine but get a spare 70-75+ For when you get better and the good surf days when you want to stretch your legs a bit.

I hope this is helpful!

When learning you will need a bit of extra wave power to get going...has to at least break a little.
(But not too powerful or you'll not be able to control lift and get tumbled)

Spots a and c look perfect. ...I'd be out there too!

I ride slingshot h2 and infinity 84 combo....big wing for up to waist high and small wing for bigger waves. I figured that is equivalent to m and XL with gong but actually may be L and XXL. The XXL would eventually be too big for all but the tiny swells...
but on those days it would open up fun possibilities that might otherwise be frustrating. something to consider.

Time line. ..
I reckon 5 sessions to get the basic mechanics. Ideal if you can get behind a boat or jetski for a start. 20 sessions to feel comfortable and confident.

Q17: Now that we can see some breaking waves, we have a better understanding of your waves. Spot A has potential. It will hamper your learning curve though. Plus there are a lot of people out. Try to stay away from people when learning especially. Spot B may be good, but probably much to advanced if there is no easy defined take off spot with an easy white water roll in. Spot C is the go though. Looks super fun and perfect for a foil. I would sit inside the break on the far shoulder of the right. Wait for the wave to break and then just paddle in and let the white water give me a boost as the wave is backing off. You'll get long rides on a flat faced wave. Perfect to learn and you'll get more flying time faster.

Q18: These goals are achievable. I started in May of last year. Here's a video 5 months in.

That video was on a 4'8" 55 cm mast, Naish Large. I almost breech at the 19 second mark. Wingtip came out of the water and I almost went down. To put that in gong terms since it looks like you're leaning that way (and I've steered you that way :) 60cm mast. Medium wing. I'd say that size wing isn't the best for small weak waves. It's a tiny bit small. I think the gong L size wing would suit you better. (If I was to buy a gong setup right now I'd buy the size L) You don't need a mast shorter than the 60cm in my opinion. I switched to the 70cm mast shortly after that video and haven't ridden the 55cm mast since.

Sorry. I forgot you were on a limited budget & may only want one wing. So first I would get a large. But only learn on small swell. Small white wash into deeper water is great for learning.
But my only concern is the sky rocketing of a large foil when trying to stand from prone. It will happen very quickly at your weight. But I am sure you will you will sort that out. It's just a little easier on a medium wing which has more give at staying down & makes you try a little more to get it up on the fly plus will breach less if the wave is weaker.
Just have to remember to keep some weight down on front when catching & riding before you lift.
Oh & I never bothered getting a short mast either. Just keep the board low. Doesn't matter if you hit the water. You can still push the foil up again.

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Seajuice said..

But my only concern is the sky rocketing of a large foil when trying to stand from prone. It will happen very quickly at your weight. But I am sure you will you will sort that out. It's just a little easier on a medium wing which has more give at staying down & makes you try a little more to get it up on the fly plus will breach less if the wave is weaker.

This is where a track system helps out a lot. You can learn with the mast further back towards the tail in the tracks so your body weight will help keep it down. Then move forward in the tracks in tiny increments until you find the sweet spot.

Spot C looks like a fine place to learn. Your time frame is possible, I've seen people pick it up faster. Personally, I've been taking longer, but I started out on a foil that was probably too small for me and had to take a month off due to (unrelated) injuries.

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Clamsmasha said..
As for masts, I think the 45cm is a waste of time. It covers you for a relatively short part of your progression and ends up sidelined as soon as you move to the bigger mast.

A 45cm mast will only be useful for about the first 3 sessions max. But it is cheap and can be reselled easily once done with it (it will work on most alu foils, and it is easy to ship as a standard post office parcel), or you can keep it to use it to make friends/family try foiling with lowered risks. The Gong shaper did not use it himself, but he made his son learn foiling with it.

You do not "need" it, but it reduces the risks during your first jacknifing falls. A friend just got last week nasty stitches on his face on his first session with the standard mast. If you can spare 50 euros, it is worth it in my opinion. There is less leverage to induce jackknifing, and the foil would more likely hit a wetsuit-protected part (or impact vest)