hey all foil enthusiast! first off i want to disclose that i work at Liquid Force Kiteboarding! WE have been bit by the foil bug! We / I want to take the opportunity to show a little about what we are working in our world of foil kiteboarding. Our design and R&D testing teams have been seen working hard on many design concepts. Enjoy the previews of what someday will come to light! and yes..i know some of you are going to give us some grief that the vid is behind a boat..and you are going to ask for vid with a kite..well...stay tuned! Enjoy!
Attachments
JF icy turn..
julienLF_foil2.png (671.94 KiB) Viewed 8979 times
LF team rider and R&D coordinator Jason Slezak
LF team rider Brandon Scheid foil carve
Proto sneak peek
LF designer Julien Fillion feeling the glide
Last edited by liquidforcekites on Sun May 04, 2014 12:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
right now we are working with aluminum...please keep in mind these are just protos that we are working on with the help of a few wonderful people! we are having blast trying all kinds of different configurations and materials..It is amazing how much tiny variances in everything, that you can imagine, has an impact of performance..
As for placement on the board.The board that we are using is unique in that it has a pretty deep swallow tail design. The mast placement is in line with where WE feel it should be (at the moment) based on strap placement, and board rocker..Also, what we have found really great about this set up is that a person that is just learning can easily stay up wind or return up wind without having to "ride" the foil..It is possible to ride the board off the edge pretty easy..
its refreshing to see a big Brand getting into kitehydrofoil!
Great to see you guys using an affordable board as platform in the R&D.
I think kitefoiling choices at the moment are ridiculously expensive for learning and all around fun riding.
make it afordable.complete kit less than $1200 hundred
wishful thinking!!
1200 buc ks ? have you bought a LF surf board lately? they range from 700 and up... So if you double that it 1400 and up... Yes I think hydriofoils are out of reach of most people... hell new kites are out of reach for most people every year.
I think you are going to start seeing the prices start to come down but 1200 is pushing the limits for a complete package. Figure out the cost of material , labour, shipping, marketing, graphics, paying team riders, and the list goes on... I think a price point foil will be around the 1500-1800 mark. How many people could afford a race board in the last couple of year... with 600-1000 just in fins alone? If LF can pull off a low 1000s dollar complete package good for them.
some one else is trying to deliver a price point foil and no one has seen them.. A lot of people have a lot of money out there with no product all ready.. But that Is another story.
Looks great!
I hope an alternative to a full carbon foil will come cheaper and sure could be as much fun!
If by chance Julien brings some proto to montreal and want to sell them... Send me a PM!
Also, try for the final product to have something easy to travel with.
tkettlepoint wrote:1200 buc ks ? have you bought a LF surf board lately? they range from 700 and up... So if you double that it 1400 and up... Yes I think hydriofoils are out of reach of most people... hell new kites are out of reach for most people every year.
This looks to be built on their kitefish board though which is a lot cheaper. I think the new price is only around $400 for the board so that saves some money. Not sure if that would allow them to get the total package down to $1200. Will be interesting to see how it turns out.
Maybe this could be sold to the wakeboard crowd too? That would mean much larger production numbers and lower prices.
I'm all for it but in aluminum, $500.
Aluminum should be cheap unless you're doing it wrong.
The wing pictured looks like it need not even be foiled, just a plate will work with that planform.
Carbon should be $500-1000, after all it is a good couple pounds of carbon and can benefit from being foiled properly.
$1500-2000????
Ok, but for that you could buy tools and materials to prototype a few yourself.
Not for every punter, but that is why foil makers have been "popping up" everywhere.
Still a tiny market though so they also "crash"
I like the forward mast, though I wonder if it is related to a low speed limit on the wing depicted.