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Choosing a foil board

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holden
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Re: Choosing a foil board

Postby holden » Wed Jul 17, 2013 9:42 am

@rowboat: a hard decision!
what i tried so far: carafino, magma (batman wings), ketos (standard and race foil) and a foilgaz (high ar) prototype.

i like the ketos a lot and love the foilgaz. carafino and magma are too slow. vmax needs to be at least around 22 knots so you can ride it out if you are overpowered and in need to go downwind.

high ar boards are more stable on the roll axis. this does not mean that they can not perform tight turns. you just need a slightly different technique. in waves more roll stability is better.

on the other hand, foilboards with a fast profile need a bit more speed to get going, so i can imagine that they are a bit harder to begin with and you need to consider that fact when you ride in the surf.

i would never ever go back to a less efficient foil. i do not race, but the feeling of a more race like foil is unbeatable.

h.
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rowboat
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Re: Choosing a foil board

Postby rowboat » Sat Jul 20, 2013 7:35 pm

@holden Thanks - very helpful. I am looking hard at the Makaira/Zeeko. Despite the funky name, it seems like a good design for what I'm looking for (freeride/swell riding).

@KitesurferRO - I take it that you have the Zeeko -- or are you selling them? I would love to hear some direct experience!

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Re: Choosing a foil board

Postby Arcsrule » Tue Jul 23, 2013 1:39 pm

i proved 13 years ago that a flat piece of plywood with foot straps was truly all i needed to kitesurf, no fins either. so why would anyone need a board in addition to the foil? why not just bolt the foil to a piece of plywood--functional?

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Gioro_T
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Re: Choosing a foil board

Postby Gioro_T » Tue Jul 23, 2013 7:23 pm

The plywood is too ... agricultural.

:bye:

holden
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Re: Choosing a foil board

Postby holden » Wed Jul 24, 2013 9:11 am

Arcsrule wrote:i proved 13 years ago that a flat piece of plywood with foot straps was truly all i needed to kitesurf, no fins either. so why would anyone need a board in addition to the foil? why not just bolt the foil to a piece of plywood--functional?
same with me! got inspired by zero prestige back in the days! to be honest, a plywood platform with just enough room for your feet is all you need.

but there are some considerations. starting is a lot harder without a proper board, not impossible though. you need to do all you jibes and tacks in the air, very hard to do. sometimes when you get out of balance your nose will go down. in this situation a nice scoop catches the board and you are more likely to continue. no scoop and you go down for sure. in very light winds you start on the board and you sometimes need one or two kiteloops to get the board in the air. you need a board that can do that. last but not least, some foils don't float. if the board does not float enough the whole thing will sink.

but, on the other hand, all these features can be done with a very simple plywood board. two layers glued together to make a nice scoop, nice outline, four holes for the foil, some deckpad, wax or whatever and you are good to go.

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Re: Choosing a foil board

Postby Arcsrule » Wed Jul 24, 2013 1:03 pm

I would love to demo one before dropping that much $$. Considering Florida is the land of lemmings (follow the crowd), i'll probably never seen one! also, I would be launching through the surf in shallow water. all the vids i've seen only show foils in action on flat water. how do they work in sloppy waves/aeriated whitewater?

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Re: Choosing a foil board

Postby holden » Wed Jul 24, 2013 1:50 pm

some folks do foilboarding in the surf. i would love to but there is none around. i heard it is great fun. not easy at all.
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Re: Choosing a foil board

Postby holden » Wed Jul 24, 2013 2:03 pm


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Re: Choosing a foil board

Postby davesails7 » Wed Jul 24, 2013 8:00 pm

I don't think there is anyone who will demo them, but since it takes so long to learn to ride one, would a short demo help anyway? You'd need a few hours to see if you really like it I would guess?
holden wrote:same with me! got inspired by zero prestige back in the days! to be honest, a plywood platform with just enough room for your feet is all you need.
Seems like a cheap skimboard would be sufficient. After seeing the videos of Bryan Lake riding a "foiling skim board", I wondered if this would bring the cost down considerably. I haven't actually seen a close up of his board.

If you use a wood skimboard it would be super cheap! Just throughbolt the foil and the straps! Could that bring the cost down to under $1000?

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Re: Choosing a foil board

Postby tautologies » Wed Jul 24, 2013 8:28 pm

Arcsrule wrote:i proved 13 years ago that a flat piece of plywood with foot straps was truly all i needed to kitesurf, no fins either. so why would anyone need a board in addition to the foil? why not just bolt the foil to a piece of plywood--functional?
I think the idea from Zeeko is that you can ride the board separately from the foil. I dunno how good it is.

Now in terms of proving...sure you can ride a piece of plywood...but is it the best can ride? I think there is a huge difference between what can float and do a job compared to what is doing the job the best.

In terms of foil I agree that once you are up and riding in principle you do not need a board, but if you are beginning riding it is really hard to stay up all the time, and a well designed board will bounce up where a piece of ply will nosedive.


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