How would my wingboard work compared to a proper prone board? It is 5' x 25 inches and about 80 L.

AndyShwartz said..

emmafoils said..
How would my wingboard work compared to a proper prone board? It is 5' x 25 inches and about 80 L.

Not sure your size...but I used my 6x26 85l SUP to prone before I got my prone board.

AndyShwartz said..

emmafoils said..
How would my wingboard work compared to a proper prone board? It is 5' x 25 inches and about 80 L.

Not sure your size...but I used my 6x26 85l SUP to prone before I got my prone board.

I am 70 kg. Just want to try prone foiling to see how hard it is. Will be after the smallest waves

AndyShwartz said..

emmafoils said..
How would my wingboard work compared to a proper prone board? It is 5' x 25 inches and about 80 L.

Not sure your size...but I used my 6x26 85l SUP to prone before I got my prone board.

I have just been doing this with my wing setup ,Naish Ultra 85l Armstrong 1850 232 85cm mast 0* shim.

Works fine for learning ,cannot really duckdive at 72kg but i can sort of push the nose under and punch through most foamies .On bigger ones it tries to shoot up vertically on resurfacing and i have to white knuckle hold on to it .

Paddles very nicely with all that volume,and being so short it is not affected much by windchop unlike a 9footer.

Biggest hurdles for me are front foot placement (you really have to place it spot on on the pop up) and re-learning to control the foil without footstraps,after 5 sessions of complete befuddlement i got some long flights yesterday,stoked.
I really like winging but nothing beats the magic of riding a wave with nothing in your hands.
Amazed by how well behaved the Armstrong 1850 is, even when paddling into a just broken wave (punched forward to the flats by the foam) it can be held down and controlled.Incredible for such a big foil.

Is anybody using a standard surf shortboard fitted with foil rail inserts?.
How does it go?

I understand it will not be ideal but i have a 6ft 30l epoxy surfboard that i cannot sell for any decent amount of money and specific surf foil boards are very pricey.
My wingfoiling 85l board is great for small stuff or mellow spots with easy outs but not so good when there are lots of duckdives.
A foil box+divinicell costs 50? so it is tempting...
I guess i would have to reinforce the leash plug too, foils pull hard.

emmafoils said..

mcrt said..
Is anybody using a standard surf shortboard fitted with foil rail inserts?.
How does it go?

I understand it will not be ideal but i have a 6ft 30l epoxy surfboard that i cannot sell for any decent amount of money and specific surf foil boards are very pricey.
My wingfoiling 85l board is great for small stuff or mellow spots with easy outs but not so good when there are lots of duckdives.
A foil box+divinicell costs 50? so it is tempting...
I guess i would have to reinforce the leash plug too, foils pull hard.

Worth a try if you are done with the board but probably won't be very satisfying in the long run. If 30L is the volume you want, you can get a much shorter prone foil specific board

Yes,maybe i will just surf the wingboard until it feels very limiting and then decide.
Gong just discounted the Matata EPS surffoil boards to 350euros.
Pretty good deal.

The EPS Matata boards are really nice. The 4'5" is Super light (2.8Kg) and has held up well for me as a kitefoil rig (150 hours +/- of continuous surfing). It's not going to take a hit like a sandwich construction board though and I doubt I could paddle the tiny thing into a wave at 90Kg.

Pasquales said..
Question about Armstrong 1850 60 fuse 232 . I've mainly use this foil for winging, but recently started taking it out to prone surf, given the surf has gotten good lately. For 90 kg guy, is it too big for prone foiling? I've had some experience on Cloud 9 surf foils, and it didn't launch up as fast. I've tried slamming the foil all the way back in the tracks and using the +1 tail spacer. Still seems to go from 0 to 60 in the blink of an eye. Anyone try this set up repeatedly in prone foiling ? Did you have the feeling of being overpowered with it?

I have recently started prone foiling, and i found 1850(0* shim 232) very well mannered in how it handled the catch and pop up.I am 75kg so it is a very big wing for me to surf.

What board are you using it with?, I am thinking the rocker at the foil box area has a lot to do with how a board/foil will initiate the rise.

Pasquales said..
Question about Armstrong 1850 60 fuse 232 . I've mainly use this foil for winging, but recently started taking it out to prone surf, given the surf has gotten good lately. For 90 kg guy, is it too big for prone foiling? I've had some experience on Cloud 9 surf foils, and it didn't launch up as fast. I've tried slamming the foil all the way back in the tracks and using the +1 tail spacer. Still seems to go from 0 to 60 in the blink of an eye. Anyone try this set up repeatedly in prone foiling ? Did you have the feeling of being overpowered with it?

Pasquales said..
The prone board was custom made a couple years ago by a friend. It's 5'6" x 21" X 3", I'm guessing 40 liters. There is also slight bend in the tail . The 1850 is about 1/3 larger than my previous aluminum 1st gen foil. When I've set it up with the 0 degree shim, it felt like too much lift.

I think there are other issues (aside from my technique ) that need change . The easy one is location. The nearest beach has open exposure, and closes out when over head high. Even on a small day, it tends to break top to bottom into shallow water. I think finding a softer breaking wave would help in the long run, but this particular spot is so convenient.

The second issue is the need for better paddling. The previous foil was slower, so I would move it further up in the boxes. It actually felt easier to paddle than my recent experiences with the 1850. It's not like 1850 limits paddle, but is more neutral. I compensated today and made a point to paddle earlier like when riding a really small shortboard that is almost a sinker. Haven't had this hard of a prone paddle session in a while ! This helped for getting in a little earlier. Maybe moving the foil up in the boxes would bring this feeling back ? Or maybe the foil is just shaped differently from the original surf foils, where the feeling is just different ?

This foil is definitely faster by a long shot compared to the gen one foil I had. Thus popping up properly is more of a challenge. On my last wave today, I actually popped up properly and kept the foil buried. Was amazed by the speed. The board got to the open shoulder in the blink of an eye.

So there was incremental improvement today . My preference is to move the foil forward, but will keep the current config for now to get a better handle on control. #Pronefoilingrocks #Lookout2021

I got my Armstrong setup last week (1850+1250), upgraded from Naish L (2018 model). I had about 5 wakesurf sessions and 25-30 ocean sessions with the Naish before I got the Armstrong. Able to catch waves and ride them all the way while staying on foil, but never learned how to pump on the Naish. So right now progressing in riding the waves, and learning to pump and connect. 15+ yrs of "normal" surfing experience.

Had 3 sessions so far on the 1850 60 fuse 232. WOW. What a difference it makes compared to an old generation foil (Naish Thrust L). I'm 74kg+wetsuit riding 4'6" 35L Amundson board, so I thought I would be overpowered too in the surf. I also got the 1250, for surfing waves, but I wanted the 1850 to get into winging and downwinding as well. Since I haven't mastered pumping yet I figured the first few sessions in the surf I'd go out on the 1850 as I thought it would be easier to pump back out. Today on my 3rd session with the 1850 I pumped for about 50m (longest ever). Previously I hadn't managed to pump at all with the old Naish.

Regarding being bucked off on the takeoff: on the first and second session I had with the 1850 (yesterday and day before) the waves were 1-2ft and mushy, so no problem at all. Soft gentle takeoffs and then SO MUCH GLIDE AND SPEED. I had the mast more or less in the middle of the tracks, using the 0deg shim on the tail. Today the waves were a little bigger (3-4ft) and I got bucked off a few times. I should have moved the mast backwards, or used the +1 shim, or tried the 1250 (haven't tried it yet!). But a couple of times where I was more on the shoulder and managed to control the take-off, I didn't feel like I was overpowered. I found the 1850 super fast, but then again my only point of comparison is the old Naish I had.

Given your size, I don't think it's too big at all for prone foiling. I'm super stoked I got the 1850 (already after 3 sessions) with my 74kg weight. But yeah, on bigger waves, it does go from 0-60 in a blink of an eye. The bigger the wave the faster the wave moves, so the faster you go from your paddling speed to the speed of the wave, and with the bigger surface area of the wing there's no way to make the 0-60 more controlled.

I'm also looking at your board and wondering if that might also be contributing to you struggling to paddle. It looks more like a traditional surfboard? Could be the volume is in the wrong places. Latest generation prone boards seem to converge to a pretty similar design: optimizing paddle speed and minimizing swing weight once on foil. Dunno if you've tried one of those and if you noticed a difference there..

Pasquales said..
Gregg and mcrt - Thanks for sharing your experiences with the 1850 prone foiling. It's good having this info to gauge where I currently am in this endeavor. I got the 1850 in August, and have only had it out prone foiling less than a handful of times. Have used it mainly for winging, and the past four months have been really fun.

I don't think the lack of paddle power is due to the prone board. I've used a different foil in the past, and it felt distinctly different, like paddling was augmented. It seemed odd the enhancement wasn't there today. But it could have been due to other factors. Anyway, I''l try a paddling test after setting the foil more forward. I was just wonder if others observed differences in paddleability when switching brands, or when going from low to mid aspect foils.

The 1850 felt much better today in chest high surf, as I didn't experience as many launches . The +1 shim really helped and it's going to help to get going.

Would definitely like to try another prone foil board. I had the above made well before most prone foil boards were widely available. Unfortunately, I don't think the wife would be too happy . This year alone, purchased two wing boards, a 6m2 slingwing, and the armstrong. So have to continue riding oldie until I get significantly better. I guess the challenge is up to me and how fast I can get there.

Thanks !

Interesting, I've found I can paddle MUCH better with the Armstrong 1850 than with the old Naish I had. I think this is mostly due to the weight of the old foil (heavy aluminum 70cm mast, heavy wing), sinking the tail of the board and making it drag in the water. The 1850 being much lighter, I feel like I'm more "on top" of the water.

Just got a quick session in this afternoon. Decided to move the 1850 foil to midway position. When paddling out, the board felt much easier to move around, and felt like what I remember- the foil should make it easier to prone paddle a board. So gonna stick with this setting. I think I'm now pointed in the right direction.
The past few days have been averaging shoulder to head high surf, so not the best conditions for prone testing the 1850. I was fortunate to get a good shoulder today, and popped up ok. I was up for about 5 seconds but then made the mistake of unweighting my front foot. For this foil, unweighting can cause the ride to go off the rails really fast. Gotta remember always keep the pressure downward.

I've been having an absolute BLAST riding this 9ft custom foil longboard. I had it made for smaller crowded days, but I've had some epic sessions when it is head high+. It's all epoxy with carbon. The rides here are up to 1/2 mile long, so having something easy to paddle back out is key. My short foil board is 5'2", I base what board I'm going to ride on the crowd and distance of the paddle back out.