Hi - I like the idea of foiling - where I live at Arrawarra there are numerous spots with great swell that cannot be surfed with the usual surf craft.
I am 67 y old and feel that sup foiling is too hard and too dangerous for me at my fitness level - an it aint getting better! After seeing a vid of Dave Kalama where he explained about the " whole palette " so to speak, I would like to try WAVE SKI FOILING. I rode one for years and really enjoyed it! Could barrel roll under waves - get barrelled - strapped in - cannot fall off - foil is not a threat - WHO CAN HELP ME - Ican help with design but need feedback GETTING up onto the plane would be most important. The new Canard - different setup with "tail* foward? The mast would probably have to go under your bum ( back foot ) so to speak. Any local { AUSTRALIAN ) shapers/manufacteres interested?
Steve
Definetly doable , Dale Chapman at DC Paddle Boards has been producing custom waves skies for a former Aussie champ. Plus Dale is a very experienced foiler. You will need to be able to slide your bum to control the foil as it lifts. Don't think you will just jump on and be foiling , be prepared for some serious hidings , it will take awhile to learn to trim the foil once you are up with front foot pressure.
Give Dale a call and have a chat , good starting point .0416 160 335
Select to expand quotestehar said..
WHO CAN HELP ME - Ican help with design but need feedback GETTING up onto the plane would be most important.
I think it is doable, but you should look for solutions from people like Alex Aguera, Dave Kalama (and me :-) ) that are foiling with the feet always in the straps, even while paddling (see video at the end for example). This is because since we do not move our feet during takeoff, we are in the same situation as you will be: not being able to move the "feet", but able to move the upper body, we use the same position for paddling and once airborne.
I'd say:
- have the lightest ski possible, especially at the tips, but some length will help to have a steady paddling speed for liftoff, especially at your age with a limited max heart rate, and you will less be able to pump to help the takeoff, and I guess rely more on your hull speed.
- It is a guess, but I think you should avoid shapes that "climb on the front wake wave", i.e. raise the nose when paddling. Maybe use a nose design that will pierce the wave rather than go over it. The idea is to disturb the foil as little as possible on takeoff.
- set your position on the ski for the most efficient paddling speed
- then, position the foil relative to your body mass. the center of lift of the foil should be under your center of gravity, or a tad behind. if possible, look at pictures of the specific foil in SUP/surf foiling action to determine its center of lift.
- take care that the angle of attack of the foil wing be slightly positive (upwards) when paddling
- a plate + rails mount seems mandatory to be able to adjust the foil position relative to your weight, unless you have a lightweight solution to adjust your paddling position (but I don't think it exists?). A mere inch makes a lot of difference, there is no way to exactly predict the proper position, you will have to test different positions on the water.
- plan towed sessions. As you said, since you will be kept far from the foil in falls, there is no drawback in being towed.
Another epic session on the Naish HOVER 95 with Thrust Surf Large. I can;t believe how easily I am paddling this board, and when it's in the air - OMG.
This camera angle I have decided doesn't do the footage any justice, and think I'll go back to paddle or head/mouth mount, but this was such a fun session.
Enjoy.
Foilin around last week...and A LOT of home duties this week....!Thanks for the camera work Sue
Select to expand quoteGashed said..
Foilin around last week...and A LOT of home duties this week....!Thanks for the camera work Sue
Great Vid Gashed!!
Great foiling Gashed. I noticed you switched from the Naish medium to the large during your vid. How does the medium compare to the large in terms of lift, speed, control, turning etc ?
Cheers yt04 , NTAA. 
its a whole new world..!
I probably haven't had enough sessions on the large yet to give you a proper comparison, however I reckon other foiling crew would agree that:
For a rider my weight - 75kgs, the medium will cover most bases. (except maybe downwinders!) Compared to the medium, the large - lifts earlier, foils a tiny bit slower and seems to need a little extra input to initiate a turn ( again maybe only for lighter riders!!). The large is reeaally stable, pumps well and loves to stay up there!
Hope this helps
www.facebook.com/trevsup/videos/1334039083388249/
I just made a little foil vid from a couple of yesterday's waves
two weeks down and I'm obsessed! Yeww see you guys on the water.
Sweeeet vid TrevT, nailing it so quickly! those FF points are gunna soar...
Thanks for sharing
Two really impressive videos from Gashed & Trev . Great examples of the soft front foot pump you don't need to do the aggressive sea saw pump . Just keep some motion in the foil as you sail along , it keeps up momentum and helps you keep down an over foil and let's you carve up on the foil.
Keep the foil moving by soft front foot pump and carving and you will glide forever on the smallest bumps. Well done boys solid foiling . 
Bit more advanced advice on pumping you want to push the foil down on your front foot to sink it not tilt it fore and aft. It creates way more drive than pushing down on your back foot slapping the tail. Pumping off your back foot stalls the foil.
Cheers Gashed and Piros! Glad you liked the vid. Yea some good advice would be nice to experiment with pumping! I haven't really thought about it kinda just go out and pump haha would love to get better at it so I can try the downwinders Yewwww!
Select to expand quoteJB said..
Ok, just checked my measurements from this mornings session on my X32 7'10" GT. Tail to rear of mast was 20" and honestly felt pretty good. I'll be putting the video up soon (just uploading), but you'll see I'm catching pretty much nothing and getting great glides. The X32 really surprised me, it foiled amazingly well.
I need to redo the taping as it lifted a little (this is to get the mount flat after compensating for the "V" in the board).
Please also note I always tether my foil when using a board modification. I always primarily recommend using a production purpose built foilboard.
Ride safe,
Video coming soon,
JB
Hi JB
How are you.
Great advice all round.
I have a 2015 Naish X32 9'1"Sup.Quad & Or Tri set up.
Can I rout out and epoxy in a Radiator foil mast tracks .
The foil tracks come in a high density block with two 12" foil boxes with 90mm centres apart.Fits most foils.
Have a new Large Naish Thrust Foil and three masts.coming soon for kiting, Sup and maybe paddle in.
Just in the process of same on an epoxy Airush sector 54 for kiting.
What distance would you put the Rear of Box track from tail for my 2015 9'1" Naish X32" Sup?
Thanks in advance:)
Kind regards
Leigh
Ultra flat, but enjoying the glide while the rest of the coast is onshore and messy.
My first Down Wind foiling experience. Unfortunately the wind totally clapped out, but I managed to get a couple of glides before retiring, ready for next time though.
Select to expand quoteLeighMajor said..JB said..
Ok, just checked my measurements from this mornings session on my X32 7'10" GT. Tail to rear of mast was 20" and honestly felt pretty good. I'll be putting the video up soon (just uploading), but you'll see I'm catching pretty much nothing and getting great glides. The X32 really surprised me, it foiled amazingly well.
I need to redo the taping as it lifted a little (this is to get the mount flat after compensating for the "V" in the board).
Please also note I always tether my foil when using a board modification. I always primarily recommend using a production purpose built foilboard.
Ride safe,
Video coming soon,
JB
Hi JB
How are you.
Great advice all round.
I have a 2015 Naish X32 9'1"Sup.Quad & Or Tri set up.
Can I rout out and epoxy in a Radiator foil mast tracks .
The foil tracks come in a high density block with two 12" foil boxes with 90mm centres apart.Fits most foils.
Have a new Large Naish Thrust Foil and three masts.coming soon for kiting, Sup and maybe paddle in.
Just in the process of same on an epoxy Airush sector 54 for kiting.
What distance would you put the Rear of Box track from tail for my 2015 9'1" Naish X32" Sup?
Thanks in advance:)
Kind regards
Leigh
Hey Leigh,
Sorry no reply, must of missed your post while I was on the road over November.
On a 9'1" I would aim to have the most furthest rear setting approx. 21" from the tail to the rear of the mast. You will likely enjoy the mast being approx. 23" from the tail, this gives you some sway and keeps more re-reinforcements forward.
Hope it's not too late,
Enjoy.
Ride safe,
JB
A very interesting video of Austin Kalama:
- you can see how the front foot is key in foiling. He plays around with the rear foot position while keeping the front foot in place in the strap. When the rear foot is close to the front foot in a very narrow stance, we get a feeling for where the balance point on the foil is.
- we can see his impressive technique in his economy of movements. The mini "soul arch" during the drop is pure class, as his casual seabird-like swooping on the wave.
- note how he is centered on the board, just above the center of lift of the foil.
www.facebook.com/Gofoils/videos/703066186562331/
A Little vid on my diy wings it was a mega small day but glassy and some nice long rides.
Select to expand quotecharlieuk said..
A Little vid on my diy wings it was a mega small day but glassy and some nice long rides.
Gee that looks like a nice warm
spot there Charlie??? Awesome with the glassy swell though, bet it sounds amazingly silent that glassy when up
on the foil. Great stuff!!
Select to expand quoteyt04 said..charlieuk said..
A Little vid on my diy wings it was a mega small day but glassy and some nice long rides.
Gee that looks like a nice warm
spot there Charlie??? Awesome with the glassy swell though, bet it sounds amazingly silent that glassy when up
on the foil. Great stuff!!
Yea water is down to maybe 7-8deg air has been all over the place. The wings are almost silent sometime you get a tiny hum but only normally in a turn. The swell is so much easier to ride than the windy stuf I normally deal with
Not Surfing or SUP, but some Windfoiling. This was one of the many long glides I got last weekend on the Naish Hover 122, Thrust WS1 and LIFT 5.7m. So much fun in nearly no wind.
Enjoy,
nice one JB.
no white caps at all........do you up haul or water start ...I'M GUESSING up haul..in light stuff.
Select to expand quoteTardy said..
nice one JB.
no white caps at all........do you up haul or water start ...I'M GUESSING up haul..in light stuff.
Can't water start in these conditions (I try, definitely not windy enough even for super light wind WS). Plus you want to ensure you are deep enough, it's hard to water start even if it's windy enough at waist deep.
So much fun =
ride safe,
JB
This video is pretty long but has some great information for anyone learning to SUP Foil:
Very interesting video, Robert! The various viewpoints give a lot of insight.
Thanks also for the sound which is clear, without too much background noise, often a problem in outdoors videos.
I like your stressing of keeping the foil speed by angling on the waves. Every foiler is eager to learn to pump, and it seems in some recent videos, we see people trying to pump rather than seeking speed via turning and looking for the trim line.
On the straps, I would just say that Sam setting seem a bit dangerous: with wide open straps, the only way the strap is holding the foot is by pushing down on it, as the straps do not make contact with the sides of the foot. This means that the strap tend to lock the foot on place into soft thick grips with longitudinal ridges like he has, and you can thus get stuck in the straps. My windsurfing years has taught me the opposite: by reducing the distance between screws on the straps, they hold also the foot by the side, lifting some pressure from the pad. Plus the footstrap opening is rounder, so your foot can rotate more easily in it, helping it release in a fall and putting less stress to the ankle and knee.
Also a thinner and harder pad helps releasing the foot, such as the FCS dimple, or hexatraction / Van der Waal. Sanding off the ridges under the strap may help, but It didnt try it.
But narrower straps need to have a more precise screw position. Just putting screws on the stringer won't work then.
Edit: this is an answer to a rabidly aggressive post Piros made, accusing me of preaching the Gong gospel and daring criticizing demi-gods such as Sam Pa'e, but Piros deleted his post while I was writing this one. And he was right to do it, his post was borderline insane.
Piros, I said the same on the Gong forum(*), that I found the standard Gong strap width too wide. So I am far from "preaching the Gong gospel" on this, quite the opposite. This is my opinion, based on my experience, and also the various input of expert windsurfers. I don't understand why you are so both aggressive and misrepresenting what I say. This analysis of the forces in action with the straps is just basic physics, by the way, confirmed by experience.
On a more general note, I have no sympathy for people that just issue definitive statements on things they never tried. It is quite common in the surfing sports, and is quite detrimental to progress.
(*) In French, in August: www.gong-galaxy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=54&t=9283&p=123731
PS: Actually, I didn't foil anymore since September, so I am still at 42 sessions. I have now plenty of powerful waves without crowds, so I have no need to foil anymore, plus the challenge of learning to foil is over for me. I guess I will foil again when the summer crowds will be back, and the waves less powerful.
