Well it's been a fishy last two weeks here (very very far from Australia) un Uruguay, south america. The R?o de la Plata where I sail, it's full of fish on the surface these days.

On saturday, after two hours of saling with 9.0 Severne HG, Starboard Foil 100 and SB race foil 1000 wing, it was around 30 hits to fish while blasting around.

One of them I hit it so hard, that the fish got stuck on the foil mast. After hitting it, the board was slow and draggy, so i jumped into the water and took the fish clamped on the mast. This was a new one.

What are your fish experiences?
Or other stuff you hit while foiling?

I also catapulted once with a fishermen's net, that wasnt underwater properly.

Take them home for dinner

I have seen what I thought was a crab trap bouey floating in the bay, got a little too close and caught the line, but could still move slowly so dragged it to shore, was an old rope attached to a small anchor like what jet-skiers use!

Seemed to run into a few fish today. Reminded me of a session I had this time last year, testing a new foil and each fish hit resulted in a catapult

The most common hazard where I'm at 90% of the time is rays. I've paddled around here and found a spot where they all congregate and there were so many I lost count, many dozens or over a hundred. Usually I see them too late. No time to react on the race foil. Would be a lot easier to avoid on the slingshot gear. I think some of my unexpected crashes were hitting them. I've almost crashed trying to get a better look at what I saw peeking out, too, but that's my own fault.

Also there are dolphins here very regularly, and I really don't want to hit one of those. Manatees too, but rarely do I see them. Even rarer was this huge sea turtle that I thought was a manatee because I saw his head first and it was human sized but then realized what he was before he went for a deep dive away from me.

I realized one of the last time I saw manatees here, two of them, was during my swim-of-shame trying to get the Wizard 114l going with the i76 on a light wind day after putting on about 10lbs of weight. Couldn't uphaul or waterstart, current was pushing me where I didn't want to go, so I started swimming everything in. Got close to shore and saw something BIG in the water and scrambled ontop. Sure enough, two manatees right there so I relaxed. Thought it would be something more vicious...

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aeroegnr said..
The most common hazard where I'm at 90% of the time is rays. I've paddled around here and found a spot where they all congregate and there were so many I lost count, many dozens or over a hundred. Usually I see them too late. No time to react on the race foil. Would be a lot easier to avoid on the slingshot gear. I think some of my unexpected crashes were hitting them. I've almost crashed trying to get a better look at what I saw peeking out, too, but that's my own fault.

Also there are dolphins here very regularly, and I really don't want to hit one of those. Manatees too, but rarely do I see them. Even rarer was this huge sea turtle that I thought was a manatee because I saw his head first and it was human sized but then realized what he was before he went for a deep dive away from me.

I realized one of the last time I saw manatees here, two of them, was during my swim-of-shame trying to get the Wizard 114l going with the i76 on a light wind day after putting on about 10lbs of weight. Couldn't uphaul or waterstart, current was pushing me where I didn't want to go, so I started swimming everything in. Got close to shore and saw something BIG in the water and scrambled ontop. Sure enough, two manatees right there so I relaxed. Thought it would be something more vicious...

Woow! There's definately lots of ocean life around !! It's awesome and scary both! Incredible pics, gonna share them with my foilfriends :) our fish is nothing compared!!

That huge turtle photo is amazing ...

About rays, a few years ago I was surfing in the pacific in Panama, and heard lots of splashes, then I saw the rays jumping off the water! Hope you dont hit one when flying!


Regards

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Manilo said..

aeroegnr said..
The most common hazard where I'm at 90% of the time is rays. I've paddled around here and found a spot where they all congregate and there were so many I lost count, many dozens or over a hundred. Usually I see them too late. No time to react on the race foil. Would be a lot easier to avoid on the slingshot gear. I think some of my unexpected crashes were hitting them. I've almost crashed trying to get a better look at what I saw peeking out, too, but that's my own fault.

Also there are dolphins here very regularly, and I really don't want to hit one of those. Manatees too, but rarely do I see them. Even rarer was this huge sea turtle that I thought was a manatee because I saw his head first and it was human sized but then realized what he was before he went for a deep dive away from me.

I realized one of the last time I saw manatees here, two of them, was during my swim-of-shame trying to get the Wizard 114l going with the i76 on a light wind day after putting on about 10lbs of weight. Couldn't uphaul or waterstart, current was pushing me where I didn't want to go, so I started swimming everything in. Got close to shore and saw something BIG in the water and scrambled ontop. Sure enough, two manatees right there so I relaxed. Thought it would be something more vicious...

Woow! There's definately lots of ocean life around !! It's awesome and scary both! Incredible pics, gonna share them with my foilfriends :) our fish is nothing compared!!

That huge turtle photo is amazing ...

About rays, a few years ago I was surfing in the pacific in Panama, and heard lots of splashes, then I saw the rays jumping off the water! Hope you dont hit one when flying!


Regards

I heard a story about a windsurfer that was planing and got hit in the face by a jumping one.

I see them do that every now and then. Got a short clip of one, thankfully I didn't get whacked.

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aeroegnr said..

Manilo said..

aeroegnr said..
The most common hazard where I'm at 90% of the time is rays. I've paddled around here and found a spot where they all congregate and there were so many I lost count, many dozens or over a hundred. Usually I see them too late. No time to react on the race foil. Would be a lot easier to avoid on the slingshot gear. I think some of my unexpected crashes were hitting them. I've almost crashed trying to get a better look at what I saw peeking out, too, but that's my own fault.

Also there are dolphins here very regularly, and I really don't want to hit one of those. Manatees too, but rarely do I see them. Even rarer was this huge sea turtle that I thought was a manatee because I saw his head first and it was human sized but then realized what he was before he went for a deep dive away from me.

I realized one of the last time I saw manatees here, two of them, was during my swim-of-shame trying to get the Wizard 114l going with the i76 on a light wind day after putting on about 10lbs of weight. Couldn't uphaul or waterstart, current was pushing me where I didn't want to go, so I started swimming everything in. Got close to shore and saw something BIG in the water and scrambled ontop. Sure enough, two manatees right there so I relaxed. Thought it would be something more vicious...

Woow! There's definately lots of ocean life around !! It's awesome and scary both! Incredible pics, gonna share them with my foilfriends :) our fish is nothing compared!!

That huge turtle photo is amazing ...

About rays, a few years ago I was surfing in the pacific in Panama, and heard lots of splashes, then I saw the rays jumping off the water! Hope you dont hit one when flying!


Regards

I heard a story about a windsurfer that was planing and got hit in the face by a jumping one.

I see them do that every now and then. Got a short clip of one, thankfully I didn't get whacked.

Our rays are kind enough to stick to the muddy bottom.

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Manilo said..

aeroegnr said..
The most common hazard where I'm at 90% of the time is rays. I've paddled around here and found a spot where they all congregate and there were so many I lost count, many dozens or over a hundred. Usually I see them too late. No time to react on the race foil. Would be a lot easier to avoid on the slingshot gear. I think some of my unexpected crashes were hitting them. I've almost crashed trying to get a better look at what I saw peeking out, too, but that's my own fault.

Also there are dolphins here very regularly, and I really don't want to hit one of those. Manatees too, but rarely do I see them. Even rarer was this huge sea turtle that I thought was a manatee because I saw his head first and it was human sized but then realized what he was before he went for a deep dive away from me.

I realized one of the last time I saw manatees here, two of them, was during my swim-of-shame trying to get the Wizard 114l going with the i76 on a light wind day after putting on about 10lbs of weight. Couldn't uphaul or waterstart, current was pushing me where I didn't want to go, so I started swimming everything in. Got close to shore and saw something BIG in the water and scrambled ontop. Sure enough, two manatees right there so I relaxed. Thought it would be something more vicious...

Woow! There's definately lots of ocean life around !! It's awesome and scary both! Incredible pics, gonna share them with my foilfriends :) our fish is nothing compared!!

That huge turtle photo is amazing ...

About rays, a few years ago I was surfing in the pacific in Panama, and heard lots of splashes, then I saw the rays jumping off the water! Hope you dont hit one when flying!


Regards

Couple years ago a woman was on a power boat in the Florida Keys cruising and standing in the front, a ray jumped in the air and hit her throwing her back against a rail, she died.

Harbor porpoise they just pop up fast.

Blunt Point San Francisco Bay

A guy I know brought home a salmon dinner at Rio Vista a couple years ago.

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Filmed about 2 KMs from our launch point at Wellington Point on Moreton Bay

fb.watch/cCOz3YacFQ/

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segler said..
A guy I know brought home a salmon dinner at Rio Vista a couple years ago.

This is epic!!!!!

Foils certainly get you a lot closer to the wildlife.

In Costa Brava, Spain (where they hold the PWA slalom events) in the autumn the sea is like jellyfish soup and you hit them every 50m or so. Most of the time you can survive but sooner or later you hit one with your weight forward and over the front you go. It is a good reason for using thin high aspect wings. It must be a lot harder on a thick wing. Luckily they are nothing like some of the nasty jellyfish you have down there.

I too have clipped a porpoise.

Birds can be a problem too. I have had a duck fly under my board, how it survived being hit by the foil mast I'll never know.

I reckon I could catch a few puffer fish on the nose of my new foil....

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Sailrepair said..
...I have had a duck fly under my board, how it survived being hit by the foil mast I'll never know.

Were you jibing at the time because then it would have been a ...

I'll see myself out.

Apparently it's stingray season here

Almost ran over some guys but managed to not

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aeroegnr said..
Apparently it's stingray season here

Almost ran over some guys but managed to not

It's southern ray mating season, clipped a few, some dropped me off the foil but managed to recover with just a light touch down!

A couple more fish stories.

In Baja in 1997, a woman was out windsurfing when a one meter long needlefish jumped and went through her thigh. Stuck there.

She managed to limp in. She and her husband had flown down to Los Barriles in their private plane and were staying at the big hotel right there with the airstrip in back (airstrip is gone now). He flew her to La Paz and took her to the hospital, where they extracted the fish.

Next day she was back on the beach with a bandaged leg and crutches. She did not windsurf again for several months.

I saw no needlefish on that trip, but I did sail over herds of monster manta rays. They were 3 or 4 meters deep in crystal clear water.

I was racing a Florida Midwinters on the Banana River. On a long upwind starboard tack with formula gear, I was fully hiked out going along at a good clip. Something caught my attention and I looked down. Right under my butt was a big dolphin swimming along at the same speed. Two seconds later I re-swallowed my heart and continued on. He veered off. I finished that race on the remaining adrenalin.