Bottom Hand Hold is the Best

Roberts put a Hand Hold in the bottom of my board. And it makes carrying the board and rig as easy as carrying a small windsurfer. I have not foiled on it yet but wondering if anyone has the same experience.

All F-One wingboards have them, gonna put one in my next custom windfoilboard too!

Oh, yesterday side onshore wind and lots of softball sized rocks, I picked up my Naish 122 with alu foil, board upwind, 4.8 sail attached, by front strap, and shuffled past waist deep water, about 100 feet distance. Sail side held by boom, just like surfsailing.
Notable because that rig must be close to 50 lbs., and I'm 72.

What do you do with it when you're in the water?

One of my windfoil boards is a very different board (Slingshot Shred Sled) than that Roberts but with a similar handle in the bottom. I absolutely love that feature! Especially since I ride it strapless, there would be little to hang on to otherwise. As much as I love that handle it may be possible to improve things further.

I saw a picture of a large foiling SUP with two handles in the bottom. There was one handle each side of centerline in the same length location along the board but one each half ways from centerline to the rail, port and starboard. The rider held the bottom handle on the opposite side of the board from his body as he carried his kit out of the surf. The board rode upside down on the rider's hip well clear of the thigh deep water he walked through.

When carry your windfoil kit by the boom and a handle on the centerline of the bottom what happens is the width of the board wants to hang in a vertical plane along your leg. This is because the foil is heavy and its CG is well outboard of your pick point. When the kit hangs this way you are LOW Riding and while it may feel good walking ashore once in the water the board and foil will tend to snag in the surf before you get deep enough.

Good wave sailors will tell you that any fraction of a millimeter you can get your kit above the waves when launching really helps. When you are launching in the surf or even a big chop you want to have Monster Truck clearance between any part of your kit and the water. I think two bottom handles offset transversely would help most recreational windfoilers, particularly those launching in the surf and those ridding strapless. When you have two bottom handles and you grab the windward one the board and foil will naturally roll upside down. The end result is that board rests on top of your harness, upside down on your windward hip. This rests the most of the kit weight on your HARNESS and lifts a wide tail board and foil quite a bit higher than you could otherwise.

The other way to get your kit higher is to support the weight your head. The most efficient way I have learned to traverse a long shallow shore break is to carry the whole kit upside down on my head (like my profile pic). I still do this move when it's challenging to punch through the shore break BUT my body keeps warning me NOT to do it. The overall kit weight is too much for my cervical discs.

Grabbing the foil mast instead of a bottom handle can work too. One challenge here is the leading edge is so thin it point loads the hand. The other is that the balance is better and the loads are lighter with a pick point further forward and again further off centerline to windward. That said Simon makes carying the Wizard V3 this way look easy. The "transom" of the board ends up in the gut with the whole kit cantilevered out in front of the body. I think really compact kits with small sails work well for this technique. Thanks to the West Oz crew for sharing your sailing and launching in such great vids! And for tolerating those of us from other continents on your forum.

It just a hunch that I have not proved yet but I bet with two transversely offset bottom handles you may be able to get the sailing benefits of a wide tail foil board but the ease of handling that comes with a narrower board.

The other big improvement to ease of launching and surfing shallow waves that most windfoilers rarely consider is using a shorter mast. I have a 90cm mast and I will still be walking my upside down gear through the surf while my kitefoiling mates on 75cm masts are cracking the lip right next to me. They spend most of their session ridding waves in water too shallow for me. Smaller masts are also lighter and stiffer for a given thickness. They also present less drag when trying to reach that the ever elusive 'take off speed". I am ready to make the jump down in mast length and start the process of improving my ride height control further so that I can enjoy my shallow beach brake more.

Please keep in mind I am just an opionated intermediate level middle aged duffer, everything I say should be taken with a grain of salt. Also please remeber that every approach and technique I recommend is based on wearing a helmet. Carrying the kit upside down on your hip can put the wings in range of the coconut. I tend to put my brain bucket on before I attach my foil to the board because I have hit my head ashore. If for no other reason consider wearing a helmet because coupled with crookies your sunnies stay on when you stuff.

Long story short, I think bottom handles rock and perhaps we want more of them. Thanks for listening.

Great handle on the new foilX






Where the handle goes to balance the foil, is a bit tricky as you can fit most of the Starboard foils to this board, and the weight is a bit different for each.
its much easier than lifting with the foil mast

My RRD Pocket Rocket has grab handle on bottom and top, very easy to handle in any situation.