Foiling is becoming such a massive part of our sport and I can't imagine a future without a foil in my quiver. It is such a boost to my time on the water. Low end is redefined, less than perfect winds are becoming brilliant and surfing absurdly small sails is such a bliss.
The downside (for me) is, again, the oversupply of kit by the manufacturers who make it super specific and expensive. A big thanks to them for developping this part of the sport, but they make it so difficult to get into it. Even more because a lot of focus goes into highly technical slalom and course boards that represent probably only 15% of the foiling population.
Anyway, I'm of the opinion to keep it simple and minimal. I realised that having a big quiver is both a blessing and curse. I surf a lot (1-3/week) on the foil, slalom and freestyle kit, yet everytime I switch I notice I have to re-addapt a bit which makes it clear to me that you can't do/have it all. Especially slalom sailing gets tricky to pick up again because it is so technical.
Therefore I'm looking for a board that I can use mainly on the foil (70%) and occasionaly on the fin (30%). It is obvious that one board can't do it all, but I'm willing to give up some top end performance to have better range.
In sking it's much the same: all mountain ski's make a trade-off between piste and off-piste, but it's wonderfull to have one pair to cover all conditions for the day.
I absolutely love the philosofy behind the tabou fifty (but even more if there were a 'seventy'!).
My JP freestyle 101 is reboxed with a foil-ready deeptuttle to massively increase its range. I'll share with you my impressions once we get some (half-)decent wind!
So what is your experience with boards like the tabou fifty, future fly flying camel 125 and JP hydrofoil?
Are you hoping to see some more hybrids aswell?
Just me, 72 years old, 75 kg.
I like my foil board really big, so I can float home when the breeze dies to 2 knots, but I have 200 meters to cover before shore arrives.
I foil in lighter winds, so big board is preferable.
I windsurf in mostly moderate winds, so 111 is my biggest windsurf board, around 95 liters is my most used size, and I go down to 75 liters.
My Naish 122 Hover, when slogging 300 yards to the windline, floats with water 1/2 running past the rear straps [2" depth], water running over the deck between my feet, front foot next to mast track dry.
I would like more floatation on my next windfoil board.
I don't think you will be happy with a crossover board. Good for a beginner, but too much sacrifice for better sailor. I agree with LeeD statement on extra volume. Light and more volume is the key.
I have many problems...
Most noticeable is the need for a flat deck for freeride foiling. And I need a crowned deck for fast windsurfing.
Another is the need to finetune windfoiling by moving the straps. Mastbase, height of boom, fuze length, and ws boards don't come with twin tracks mostly.
And twin track foil boards mostly have flat decks where the foostraps are located.
Hybrid boards aren't great and of all the designs to try and crossover I think freerace/slalom is the worst.
I think with some intelligent design a large FSW or even wave biased windSUP would be about right. The potential to use bolt on foot rests like the IQ board I think has been under exploited.
Hybrid boards are great.. Myself and a few other friends have had great success with them..
Select to expand quoteDavidJohn said..
Hybrid boards are great.. Myself and a few other friends have had great success with them..
Are you crossing over wingfoil and windfoil or foil and fin?
I think OP is looking for a board that will foil well but still be ridable on the fin.
From what I hear and read, the Tabou fifty is a great blend between freefoil and freerace. On the fin it sits between the rocket+ and manta, so it must be possible to find a nice balance between performance and versatility.
I see the benefit of having a big board to slog, but other than that, less is more. Nowadays I foil on my patrik (70 wide, 44 OFO) which is crazy narrow compared to dedicated industry foilboards. I lose some in the low end and top end control, but such a board is super playfull because you connect with the foil much better than on a 85 wide board.
Not saying this is perfect but I feel like if the tail were to be a little wider to improve top end control, it would be a perfect board for a freeride foiler and weekend racer for 7-30 knots.
Again, I don't think that for most of us having a dedicated super wide foilboard and a slalom quiver will lead to the best sessions. To become good, you need to master as few kit instead of trying to do it all. Also the more technical your gear, the harder to get back into it and improve your skills.
Since I got a foil last September, I spend about 65% on the foil, 20% on freestyle and 15% slalom. I can honestly say that I doubt that nowadays I'm faster (overall, not top speed) on the slalom kit than I would be on a decent hybrid freerace board.
NicoDC, I don't have any experiences with the particular boards you mentioned directly. From friends, the JP (at least 2019 or 20, not sure which) is an okay fin board, not great. Another couple of buddies have the RRD Firemove Y25 135 (iirc) and like it for both fin and foil although neither are very technical sailors - if the board works they are happy, they don't obsess over the numbers too much. Both good freeride and decent foilers.
I've sailed a custom foil/slalom hybrid for 3.5 years 219x88 130 l. and it's been fun in both fin and foil. Only when pushing hard upwind does its shape start to show compromises as the back straps are too far in. I have Gen. 2 of the board and it's a much better foiling board. I don't have any experience with it on a fin but I've seen some videos of its production brethren and it seems to be a good freeride board.
In higher winds, I foil a slalom (78cm wide 125 l)with a re-enforced box (again, same custom builder). I'm sure that there are better higher wind boards but I'm happy as a clam from about 12 to 25 kts on it.
It can be done, designing a decent hybrid board, but there are going to be compromises. A better builder can walk that fine line pretty well. You may want to see if there's a good custom builder you can talk to as well.
Select to expand quotePaducah said..
NicoDC, I don't have any experiences with the particular boards you mentioned directly. From friends, the JP (at least 2019 or 20, not sure which) is an okay fin board, not great. Another couple of buddies have the RRD Firemove Y25 135 (iirc) and like it for both fin and foil although neither are very technical sailors - if the board works they are happy, they don't obsess over the numbers too much. Both good freeride and decent foilers.
I've sailed a custom foil/slalom hybrid for 3.5 years 219x88 130 l. and it's been fun in both fin and foil. Only when pushing hard upwind does its shape start to show compromises as the back straps are too far in. I have Gen. 2 of the board and it's a much better foiling board. I don't have any experience with it on a fin but I've seen some videos of its production brethren and it seems to be a good freeride board.
In higher winds, I foil a slalom (78cm wide 125 l)with a re-enforced box (again, same custom builder). I'm sure that there are better higher wind boards but I'm happy as a clam from about 12 to 25 kts on it.
It can be done, designing a decent hybrid board, but there are going to be compromises. A better builder can walk that fine line pretty well. You may want to see if there's a good custom builder you can talk to as well.
Thanks! I'll contact mojo and flikka. Great to hear it can be done with only little compromises. In the end I'm not the worlds best foiler, nor slalomer and just want to have as much TOW.
