starting to feel more comfortable in the air. Landing still a work in progress. I feel now I can chop hop pretty comfortably and it feels close to being on fin as far as launching and getting up. Landing feels much different though as there is so much more board and volume at the back of these boards. You need to land much more upright and the board doesn't sink down when you hit back in the water like a short board would. And after touching down, staying more upright to give a pump or two to pop back up on foil has been hit or miss so far. Getting better though! I feel like catching air was one thing I was missing being on fin, not any more!
pic was in 20-25 on a 3.7. Wizard 114 with Axis 830

Sweet bro you got bigger cajones than me

Back a few years, it seemed that some foils failed on the landing. Was it just Balz doing extreme stuff or is this a thing I should worry about. I'd like to give it a go but not enough to wreck my favorite freeride kit.

Yep I think quite a lot of kit was destruction tested. Likely why the use of M8 hardware more prevalent now?

I agree with MilSurf that the landings take some getting used to, not quite managed the smooth sail away but the pop and leap out the water is addictive!

(Pic previously posted but was trying for height and more forward movement to land with on this one!)

I begin to jump two years ago(2021). With Goya Airbold pro 105, Sabfoil 799, and 4.0 sail on the photo. I crack the older fuselage Sabfoil and the mast, but with the new Kraken I don't have problems with the fuselage and mast, but I have problems with the plate base amb Kraken system. Finally I glue the plate base to the mast, and now is rock solid. For me jumping with freefoil is very fun, because is easier to fly than with fin, and the landing if you land with the titled back is very soft. In this moment I feel with more control jumping on freefoil than jumping on fin.

So far no issues. 830 is not a huge wing so maybe that helps. Overall impressed with Axis setup. Jumping, hitting stuff, only take it apart every few months and apart from a couple scratches I have no issues or concerns

XavierFerrer when you glued your mast to the base plate did you leave the screws and big bolt in place? Thanks in advance.

Help me jump! I'm scared with my little leaps with the foil clearing the water by an inch.

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boardhead said..
XavierFerrer when you glued your mast to the base plate did you leave the screws and big bolt in place? Thanks in advance.

No, I took out all of the hardware to prevent corrosion problems of mixing carbon fiber and inox. And i laminated carbon fiber with epoxi in the place where the kraken system was. And in the place with difficult access I glued with epoxi and microbaloons. I took out 200 gr of metal, and added 100 gr of epoxi carbon. Now is 100 gr lighter. The problem I had with kraken system isn't stiff enough, and the mast finally always move in the plate, even adding the two screws in the plate. Now the base and mast is one piece. I must say I jump a lot with the freefoil, and maybe I'm forcing to much the material. I'm not scared to jump as high as I can. I broke a Moses fuselage and mast(first generation), but the new mast and fuselage are much reinforced, and I don't have problems. I can jumps 20-30 times every session.

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aeroegnr said..
Help me jump! I'm scared with my little leaps with the foil clearing the water by an inch.

For me, the most important trick to jump safety is always jump with small wave, because if you jumps with scare and without wave, when you land always land first with the nose of the board, and after always the cattapult happens. The most important is land inclined back. I have a video of an small jump in slow motion, I hope it will help you:
www.instagram.com/p/CaKzL22DAda/?hl=es

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XavierFerrer said..

aeroegnr said..
Help me jump! I'm scared with my little leaps with the foil clearing the water by an inch.

For me, the most important trick to jump safety is always jump with small wave, because if you jumps with scare and without wave, when you land always land first with the nose of the board, and after always the cattapult happens. The most important is land inclined back. I have a video of an small jump in slow motion, I hope it will help you:
www.instagram.com/p/CaKzL22DAda/?hl=es

Thank you!

@ xavier awesome tip bro and photos

@Jstone thats an awesome photo

Do those of you who jump do the Balz thing where you only use the back strap for jumping? Or in other words your board is set up to ride level with back foot forward of the strap and then when you go into back strap you get that extra leverage for leaving the water?

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thedoor said..
Do those of you who jump do the Balz thing where you only use the back strap for jumping? Or in other words your board is set up to ride level with back foot forward of the strap and then when you go into back strap you get that extra leverage for leaving the water?

I have my straps like that but waiting for right conditions to use it.... comfortable to ride steady with rear foot touching the front of the rear strap. It felt very powered on the rear foot when I'm in the strap.

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thedoor said..
Do those of you who jump do the Balz thing where you only use the back strap for jumping? Or in other words your board is set up to ride level with back foot forward of the strap and then when you go into back strap you get that extra leverage for leaving the water?

Yes, that's definitely my preferred style. It means that you can run more front foot pressure, but compensate for it most of the time by having the rear foot in front of the rear strap. That gives better pop when you're in the rear strap, ready to jump.

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Nikita said..

thedoor said..
Do those of you who jump do the Balz thing where you only use the back strap for jumping? Or in other words your board is set up to ride level with back foot forward of the strap and then when you go into back strap you get that extra leverage for leaving the water?

Yes, that's definitely my preferred style. It means that you can run more front foot pressure, but compensate for it most of the time by having the rear foot in front of the rear strap. That gives better pop when you're in the rear strap, ready to jump.

Sweet, setting up a new board with longer tracks so I think I can make that work.

I've been having a go since the new year. I'm just clearing my stab and successfully landing and sailing away on most attempts. I had on big one last weekend where I launched off a swell, this was much higher, can only guess, but clearing the stab by 1 meter. I landed too much on the tail and did not sail away. How do you control flight to manage a controlled landing?

@thedoor, both feet deep in the straps most of the time for me unless swell riding and looking to do a transition. Been working on riding switch in the straps and lots of body twist, shorter boom sails help!

Also agree with earlier posts about using a wave (even just a small one) to initiate the jump. In fact it's more just a target to aim for as you can jump high off completely flat water but must be a hangover from fin sailing to line up a little ramp and pop off it...

Landing still a work in progress, fairly big impacts sometimes but nothing like flat landing fin jump lol.