Select to expand quotePeer78 said..Sandman1221 said..
have heard of guy damaging the nose when using a Surfbent.
At foilzone there is a review to read.
Asking, if you can damage your nose with surfbent is the wrong question. Proper one could be, how would your board nose have looked without it. That thing works pretty good on flat foil board. On a high pointy wave board nose the hit will simply happen 5cm earlier, giving the tool less range to dampen the impact.
I am using it since 3 years now on each of my boards. The Naish Hover is nice and flat but you can see some small impact marks on the nose. Sometimes when the ax came down I did not believe the board survived but it did. At 100kg full force whipeout I have broken booms but no board nose, yet.
Better stay safe than sorry.
with a well designed nose protector made of 1/2" thick dense EVA covered with 1/8" thick stiff white plastic, see my version below, the mast will not damage the nose at all. No damage is better than even small areas of damage! And with a nose protector I can flip the board over and drag it over whatever and not damage the nose. When there are 1-2'+ waves on the beach I will flip the board over and grab the boom in one hand and foil mast in other hand and drag the kit out of the surf onto the beach.
Select to expand quoteSandman1221 said..Peer78 said..Sandman1221 said..
have heard of guy damaging the nose when using a Surfbent.
At foilzone there is a review to read.
Asking, if you can damage your nose with surfbent is the wrong question. Proper one could be, how would your board nose have looked without it. That thing works pretty good on flat foil board. On a high pointy wave board nose the hit will simply happen 5cm earlier, giving the tool less range to dampen the impact.
I am using it since 3 years now on each of my boards. The Naish Hover is nice and flat but you can see some small impact marks on the nose. Sometimes when the ax came down I did not believe the board survived but it did. At 100kg full force whipeout I have broken booms but no board nose, yet.
Better stay safe than sorry.
with a well designed nose protector made of 1/2" thick dense EVA covered with 1/8" thick stiff white plastic, see my version below, the mast will not damage the nose at all. No damage is better than even small areas of damage! And with a nose protector I can flip the board over and drag it over whatever and not damage the nose. When there are 1-2'+ waves on the beach I will flip the board over and grab the boom in one hand and foil mast in other hand and drag the kit out of the surf onto the beach.
Ah, correction, the stiff white plastic top layer is 1/16" thick.
Well, I survived my first foiling session! No broken noses (mine nor the board's) or any other real physical trauma. (I did have water draining from my sinuses for a while afterward, LoL...) There was definitely the exhilaration-vs-terror thing going on, but after a few high-energy porpoising events, Dean was able to convince me to get more weight forward, so things went a little better. I got a few somewhat-controlled flights in, and am definitely juiced to get out and learn/practice more!
Dean was a patient and helpful instructor - I would not have wanted to attempt that solo and ignorant.
While my flights were pretty short, I was foiling in conditions that I would not have been able to plane on even my largest fin board with my largest sail, at least not for more than a few seconds at a time. I could definitely see this being a game changer and a whole lot of fun, once I get things better under control! (It was loads of fun today, but I'd like to skew that exhilaration/terror quotient a bit more consistently toward the exhilaration term. :-). I'm definitely going to need to make a few more trips to the coast for steady wind to learn in, though - I'd get nowhere in very puffy light winds right now. (Aw, shucks, I gotta go to the coast... ;-)
HUGE THANKS go out again to everyone who participated in this thread and provided so much helpful information. EXTRA HUGE THANKS go out to Dean for getting me on some very solid equipment, and equipment that seems about ideal for learning on, as well as spending time with me today to be sure I'm headed in the right direction with things!
Select to expand quotejims said..
Well, I survived my first foiling session! No broken noses (mine nor the board's) or any other real physical trauma. (I did have water draining from my sinuses for a while afterward, LoL...) There was definitely the exhilaration-vs-terror thing going on, but after a few high-energy porpoising events, Dean was able to convince me to get more weight forward, so things went a little better. I got a few somewhat-controlled flights in, and am definitely juiced to get out and learn/practice more!
Dean was a patient and helpful instructor - I would not have wanted to attempt that solo and ignorant.
While my flights were pretty short, I was foiling in conditions that I would not have been able to plane on even my largest fin board with my largest sail, at least not for more than a few seconds at a time. I could definitely see this being a game changer and a whole lot of fun, once I get things better under control! (It was loads of fun today, but I'd like to skew that exhilaration/terror quotient a bit more consistently toward the exhilaration term. :-). I'm definitely going to need to make a few more trips to the coast for steady wind to learn in, though - I'd get nowhere in very puffy light winds right now. (Aw, shucks, I gotta go to the coast... ;-)
HUGE THANKS go out again to everyone who participated in this thread and provided so much helpful information. EXTRA HUGE THANKS go out to Dean for getting me on some very solid equipment, and equipment that seems about ideal for learning on, as well as spending time with me today to be sure I'm headed in the right direction with things!
Nice work 
Upload some vid, superfun to watch someone scoring their first froths 
Select to expand quoteazymuth said..jims said..
Well, I survived my first foiling session! No broken noses (mine nor the board's) or any other real physical trauma. (I did have water draining from my sinuses for a while afterward, LoL...) There was definitely the exhilaration-vs-terror thing going on, but after a few high-energy porpoising events, Dean was able to convince me to get more weight forward, so things went a little better. I got a few somewhat-controlled flights in, and am definitely juiced to get out and learn/practice more!
Dean was a patient and helpful instructor - I would not have wanted to attempt that solo and ignorant.
While my flights were pretty short, I was foiling in conditions that I would not have been able to plane on even my largest fin board with my largest sail, at least not for more than a few seconds at a time. I could definitely see this being a game changer and a whole lot of fun, once I get things better under control! (It was loads of fun today, but I'd like to skew that exhilaration/terror quotient a bit more consistently toward the exhilaration term. :-). I'm definitely going to need to make a few more trips to the coast for steady wind to learn in, though - I'd get nowhere in very puffy light winds right now. (Aw, shucks, I gotta go to the coast... ;-)
HUGE THANKS go out again to everyone who participated in this thread and provided so much helpful information. EXTRA HUGE THANKS go out to Dean for getting me on some very solid equipment, and equipment that seems about ideal for learning on, as well as spending time with me today to be sure I'm headed in the right direction with things!
Nice work
Upload some vid, superfun to watch someone scoring their first froths
I'm working on the video today!
JimS done phenomenal for his very first time. I never foiled as good as he done so fast, it took multiple sessions to get flight time that Jim mastered in a few hours.
stay tuned for the vid 
Select to expand quoteCoreAS said..
I'm working on the video today!
Oh. God. No. LoL
The terror part can be reduced by using the smallest sail and wing for the conditions. I used to be thankful I survived flights in 15-20+ knots winds on my F1080 cm2 wing and 7.2 to 5.8 sails, now for those same conditions I am on the F770 wing and either 5.8 or 4.5 sail, still a blast but now my heart is not racing at the end of the 3/4-1+ mile runs.
Select to expand quotejims said..CoreAS said..
I'm working on the video today!
Oh. God. No. LoL
Hehee. You looked great first time out. I endo'ed repeatedly.
Select to expand quoteWsurfAustin said..
Hehee. You looked great first time out. I endo'ed repeatedly.
Well, I think there was a wee bit of flattering editing on CoreAS's part there, LoL. :-)
I went over the handlebars several times, only one or two minor occurrences of which are represented in the video. I assume the rest are on the virtual cutting room floor! There were one or two cases where I way overdid it on the back foot, and the whole contraption launched shockingly high up out of the water. If I'd been on a regular board, I'd've considered it a very respectable chop hop, but alas, the landings weren't so good...
But, no stitches, casts, or slings were required, so it was a successful outing!!
I'm already jonesin' for the next session.
Select to expand quotejims said..WsurfAustin said..
Hehee. You looked great first time out. I endo'ed repeatedly.
Well, I think there was a wee bit of flattering editing on CoreAS's part there, LoL. :-)
I went over the handlebars several times, only one or two minor occurrences of which are represented in the video. I assume the rest are on the virtual cutting room floor! There were one or two cases where I way overdid it on the back foot, and the whole contraption launched shockingly high up out of the water. If I'd been on a regular board, I'd've considered it a very respectable chop hop, but alas, the landings weren't so good...
But, no stitches, casts, or slings were required, so it was a successful outing!!
I'm already jonesin' for the next session.
Its good you did not miss out on the foil catapult experience.
Nothing quite so frustrating
Select to expand quotethedoor said..
Were you hooking in?
OMG NO.
I wore my harness, thinking that if I had to slog around a good while, that I could give my arms a break, but with the small sail in light winds, I never used it. During the brief periods that I was up and going on the foil, one of my great mental stresses was the prospect that I might inadvertently hook into the harness, as I knew a catapult was the likely end result, and as I'm sure you well know, it's a whole 'nuther level of intensity to get catapulted while hooked in! :-)
It'll be quite a while before I contemplate hooking in while on the foil, I suspect...
(I was sailing my little bump-n-jump board in 25-30mph winds and big chop down in Hatteras late last week, and in the middle of one of my jibes, I managed to accidentally get hooked back in - THAT was a memorable body slam into the sail, LoL. :-)
