Here is one of the runs I got yesterday on Pittwater, Palm Beach. Super light (way under 10kts) and having a blast on the Hover 122 and Chopper XL (roughly 5.3m).
Enjoy,
This is a much longer video showing footage from my boom and some notes for those who wish to watch. It's 5 minutes with some damn good Jazz, but also hopefully some tips to help you with your Wind Foiling.
Enjoy,
Nice one JB.light wind sailing ...it's another world ...with the foil ..maybe instead of buying a 9.5 sail ,I should buy a foil board !!..? And use my existing sails .
I've got same though, not bother with big kit and just go for a hover ! And nice vid too
Tardy, so much more fun using a 5.3 and actually getting going then a 9.5m and having to pump your way round the track. Everything is crazy light and easy.
I can't wait to get it even more dialed. Plus once our actual Windsurf Foil arrives, will be even easier as it's 20% bigger and far more stable, I imagine I'll be going down in size to my 4.7m in 10 knots.
Naish HOVER 122's are expected to arrive late August/September. We are 100% sold to dealers, and I know a lot of dealers have pre-sold theirs, so get in quick. If you want a light wind foil specific board, Naish have done a killer job on the Hover 122.
Totally hooked and stoked to be back windsurfing again.
Ride safe,
JB
it looks and sounds great.....seems bazar on such small gear in that wind .
i will look into it.
If you look at the yacht in the first part, he has full genoa out and it's barley setting because it is so light. You wouldn't be going on a 9.5m in this. It's amazing.
JB
Select to expand quoteJB said..
Naish HOVER 122's are expected to arrive late August/September. ......
JB
What is the retail price for board and foil?
Well Done MR JB
Take me to Church... sooo looking forward to mine.
ETA Australia for the first drop
August /September
Cheers Russ
Select to expand quoteTASSIEROCKS said..
Well Done MR JB
Take me to Church... sooo looking forward to mine.
ETA Australia for the first drop August /September
Cheers Russ
And the best part Russ is we don't have to loose any weight now for the light days....JB at 95 kilos in 8 knots... Keep up the beers.
Decieving vid...
Looking at the whitecaps and windswell sizing and spacing, he's foiling IN around 11 mph winds, maybe down to 9, up to 13 mph.
BUT, vid doesn't how him pumping up to a plane, then further pumping to a foil. That might be done out of the video where the breeze was higher, possibly as much as 13mph, where a smaller sailor on light wind kit would be fully powered planing on a lightwind slalom board and 7 meter sail.
Select to expand quoteLeeD said..
Decieving vid...
Looking at the whitecaps and windswell sizing and spacing, he's foiling IN around 11 mph winds, maybe down to 9, up to 13 mph.
BUT, vid doesn't how him pumping up to a plane, then further pumping to a foil. That might be done out of the video where the breeze was higher, possibly as much as 13mph, where a smaller sailor on light wind kit would be fully powered planing on a lightwind slalom board and 7 meter sail.
Interesting call, The wind was stronger in the morning, but by the time I got out around midday, it had seriously dropped. Here is the wind observations measuring average wind and max gust from the BOM at Terry Hills. Now usually I find that Terry Hills actually funnels the wind a little bit and I usually take off 10%, but for this example we'll use the printed numbers. I rode from about 1200 - 1400. And there were definitely some lulls I couldn't get foiling in, but they were like 4-5 kts or less. The residual wind swell was from the wind blowing all the night before and throughout the morning. BTW the wind reading are the last two columns, Avg. and Max/Gusts.
Having been a sailor all my live, I try not to BS about wind strength. It is extremely hard to call light winds because if you fart in 6 knots, it becomes 7. But in general, then conditions were amazingly light, You can always tell by the yachts sailing/drifting past, it was very light and I would challenge any lightweight rider to get planing in it.
Ride safe,
JB
Select to expand quoteLeeD said..
Decieving vid...
Looking at the whitecaps and windswell sizing and spacing, he's foiling IN around 11 mph winds, maybe down to 9, up to 13 mph.
BUT, vid doesn't how him pumping up to a plane, then further pumping to a foil. That might be done out of the video where the breeze was higher, possibly as much as 13mph, where a smaller sailor on light wind kit would be fully powered planing on a lightwind slalom board and 7 meter sail.
All footage was taken at the same time/session. The first vid was actually the last std run on the longer vid.
JB
Select to expand quotejimbob SA said..TASSIEROCKS said..
Well Done MR JB
Take me to Church... sooo looking forward to mine.
ETA Australia for the first drop August /September
Cheers Russ
And the best part Russ is we don't have to loose any weight now for the light days....JB at 95 kilos in 8 knots... Keep up the beers.
Yes boys, we can stay on the super food diets of Beer and Bacon
This is going to take a lot for people to get their heads around, and it's not natural, but is definitely amazing.
Bring on the Wind Foiling.
Ride safe,
JB
Select to expand quoteTASSIEROCKS said..
Well Done MR JB
Take me to Church... sooo looking forward to mine.
ETA Australia for the first drop August /September
Cheers Russ
Oh yes Russ, This is a lot of fun.
Can't wait to get back out there.
Foil on,
JB
Select to expand quoteneilpete said..JB said..
Naish HOVER 122's are expected to arrive late August/September. ......
JB
What is the retail price for board and foil?
Hey neilpete,
The Hover 122 is $2,699.00 (including footstraps x4), and the Thrust Windsurf Foil complete is $1,799.00.
One of the best things with Naish's Thrust Foils are they all fully interchangeable, so you can add wings and/or masts to adapt your existing gear for Surfing, SUP or Kite Foiling.
For instance to add the longest mast to your quiver, it's just $279.00. Or add the Smallest mast and set of Surf Wings for $159 + $988 = $1,147 and you have a whole second setup to use for surfing or SUP. That's essentially two foils for under $3k. And of coarse because you're going to get hooked on foiling and want to foil everything, further add the long mast and kite wings to the pack for a full Wind, Surf & Kite setup for $4,342.00. That's a full 3+ sport foiling setup (again less than $1,500 a set up).
I strongly suggest getting yours reserved soon, as they are going to sell out. First shipment ETA end of Aug/Sept. Next shipment is November.
Enjoy the glide,
Ride safe,
JB
Massive interest in Foiling around the country.
Little old Southern Tasmania with its population of about 30 windsurfers- 10 already booked in for foiling.
Its going to be a fun summer
If a 7'2" sup has a mast track, but is too wide and has too much tail lift to plane, will I be able to pump the foil up onto the plane? Here's hoping. I just finished putting in hose sleeves through the deck to mount a mates kitefoil.
testing this week. I'll be trying to supfoil and windfoil on it.
Select to expand quotegeared4knots said..
Massive interest in Foiling around the country.
Little old Southern Tasmania with its population of about 30 windsurfers- 10 already booked in for foiling.
Its going to be a fun summer
sounds like theres to much money in TASSIE
great all of you can learn together ..i had a go ones but kept going over the front .I Accidentally hit a rock
and messed it up .then i gave up ..mine was way out of tune .get some deep water .
great to finally have one that is tuned tested and ready to go .
you can over sheet ...and thats what causes it ,so tell ..I didn't know what i was doing .
JB Will give the lessons .
looks like a great little unit .and its Naish . looks like windsurfing is about to hit another faze .
sorry for the guys that sail in weed .
Oh no does this mean down the track were going to have to have dedicated masts and sails for foiling?
Back to topic on hover 122 ??
JB would be great if we could have a Facebook group just for hover 122 owners to talk setups and $hit.
I will be all alone down the bottom of South Aus sailing mine .
bit excited for September.
JB...
I question because I windsurf with guys on the leading edge of the foil revolution, foil maker's like Mike Zaicheck, his former team rider's Steve Sylvester and Mike Percy, and a handful of other foil rider's for the past two year's. Most are using Formula boards and F-4, or MikeZ foils, but including NP's and Starboard foils also.
We seldom get light winds (that's relative of course) here in Berkeley Ca., usually plenty for me at 160 lbs to plane solidly with a 6 meter sail and a 100 liter board. Those days, the foilers my size are using slightly bigger sails with their Formula boards and foils.
Some lighter wind days do come around in the summer, so on a "7-13 mph" day, they are still out foiling, while I"m playing tennis or watching. Seems they only pump onto a foil in the higher end of that range, not the lower ends. And, they're using 7 meter sail sizing.
I just don't see foiling really working in sub kitesurfing winds, which is around "7-11" as bare minimum...for actual planing, then foiling. Sure, you can slog to the windline, or wait for a puff, but my thought is, "if I don't plane at least 90% with 6 meter and 100 liters, I"m sitting on shore anyways. I do need 13-19 mph windspeeds, cannot pump onto a plane in 13, but can glide thru easily once planing in the straps.
Select to expand quoteAA said..
I wanna see a Jibe JB!
So do I .
I've made 2 gybes so far, but I touched down in the middle of them. Which I think is better than lifting off. awaiting some more consistant conditions to really get into the gybing. But when i do, it'll be posted up for sure 
JB
Select to expand quotejimbob SA said..
Back to topic on hover 122 ??
JB would be great if we could have a Facebook group just for hover 122 owners to talk setups and $hit.
I will be all alone down the bottom of South Aus sailing mine .
bit excited for September.
Hmmm, we could use - www.facebook.com/Naish-Foiling-Australia-109516446317738/ ,as oposed to a whole page just on one board, as a lot of the tips will cross over. But I was going to delete this page to keep it simple with just the international page - www.facebook.com/naishfoiling/?fref=mentions .
Maybe we just have a running section on here. I have asked Loz for a Foiling section, hopefully it happens.
Over my few session on the Hover 122, I have learn quite a bit. But I waiting for my actual Thrust WS Foil to arrive Friday before going into too much details (I am currently just using the Malolo Surf Foil).
Stay tuned for more,
Ride safe,
JB
The advantage of windfoiling over kitefoiling is that on a kite we need x amount of wind to drag our ass up out of the water, that takes some power. Once your up on the foil you don't need that initial power so your now possibly over powered as speed increases rapidly.
On a wind foil, not that I have tried it yet, your already standing, you just need to pump onto the foil, once on the foil speed increases and your comfortable.
Plus, I know I have foiled in conditions when if I drop the kite I know I won't be getting it back up again, just not enough wind to relaunch so you don't go too far out, just in case. On a wind foil you can always just putt back in on the surface.
I can see our local becoming very user friendly to the windfoil, already in the last couple of years we have seen a revival of the sailboarder, probably up to 50/50 now with kiters in the stronger stuff, this will close the gap in the light stuff. Hell, I even dusted off my sailboard gear last year, maybe it is time to fit a foil to it.
iIt will be great for the shops/ importers too, the easy overseas shipping of kite equipment into oz has killed many shops, Sailboard gear is just too bulky and will require importers and shops for distribution.
Select to expand quoteLeeD said..
JB...
I question because I windsurf with guys on the leading edge of the foil revolution, foil maker's like Mike Zaicheck, his former team rider's Steve Sylvester and Mike Percy, and a handful of other foil rider's for the past two year's. Most are using Formula boards and F-4, or MikeZ foils, but including NP's and Starboard foils also.
We seldom get light winds (that's relative of course) here in Berkeley Ca., usually plenty for me at 160 lbs to plane solidly with a 6 meter sail and a 100 liter board. Those days, the foilers my size are using slightly bigger sails with their Formula boards and foils.
Some lighter wind days do come around in the summer, so on a "7-13 mph" day, they are still out foiling, while I"m playing tennis or watching. Seems they only pump onto a foil in the higher end of that range, not the lower ends. And, they're using 7 meter sail sizing.
I just don't see foiling really working in sub kitesurfing winds, which is around "7-11" as bare minimum...for actual planing, then foiling. Sure, you can slog to the windline, or wait for a puff, but my thought is, "if I don't plane at least 90% with 6 meter and 100 liters, I"m sitting on shore anyways. I do need 13-19 mph windspeeds, cannot pump onto a plane in 13, but can glide thru easily once planing in the straps.
The Naish Foil is pretty different to the F4 (not familiar with MikeZ Foils). Anyway this said, I was likely not up and foiling 90% of the time, maybe more like 75%, the wind was very light, as you can see the average was in the 5knot area, definitely could not get going in that. The max gusts during my time out there were 10kn or less (measured at Terry Hills, I think less were I was). Yes I needed the gusts to get going and yes I could foil through the lulls most of the time after this. The Naish set up is so different to what everyone else is doing. It's about getting going early, using smaller sails and enjoying the glide, who wants to pump a 7 or 8m sail to death to get going when you can use a 5.3m. Sure once up the formula foil gear will likely go faster, but this set up is far easier to use.
There are so many conditions round the world were due to the gusty nature of the wind, kitesurfing is not feasible, but Wind Foiling will be perfect. This said there is also conditions were Foil Kiters will be going sooner the Wind (as I found out over the last few days). No one is riding in the same conditions, and i am lucky to have all the toys t my disposal. Wind foiling is going to open up so many more riding days a year and bring back a lot of windsurfer frustrated with wind & Gear limitations.
Ride safe,
JB
