Surffoils.
Gotta agree with you on this. Fascinating where this is going. Saw a guy on one at Malibu the other day. Like the Loving Spoonful sang many years ago…" Do you believe in Magic"
Thanks Proneman, I’m sure Foil design will cover a lot of ground quickly like board design in the 70s and 80’s.
I’m looking forward to seeing how everyone solves the challenge of designing a craft that 1/2 submerged and 1/2 airborne. There’s no rail, rocker or fins anymore.
It is probably faster if you say so, but it looks to me like the maneuverability is an order of magnitude lower.
Combined with higher speed and sticky-out sharp bits, it looks like it’s only suitable for very uncrowded locations.
Mr Mik, Im sure if surfboards were invented today theyd be outlawed for being too dangerous. Everything is.
Yes the current foil designs available don’t lend themselves to manouverability, youre really riding the foils limitations not how you want to. But that will change in time.
awesome stuff. i would hate to get that fin up my arse tho
hi surfoils i would like to buy your kit if it works and lifts you out of the water like that. i have a 6 10 by 4 inch thick by 25 wide marko blank. ill make the board especially for the foil. keen as
my email is boxoffluffys@hotmail.com… in New zealand cell 0212994678.
i can pay by credit card
DK is an unreal surfer by the way
How hard is foilsurfing?
Will only the best surfers be able to get a handle on it, or can anyone learn it if they put in enough effort?
Hi Paul and MrMik, foiling is easy, really easy with the right foil.
I started making surfing foils after talking with Terry Hendricks here on Swaylocks and while it was always a surfing oddity the Boating foil design was picked up by kite and SUPs and then morphed into Twin lateral foils. The Twin lateral foil design is great for level steady flight but not if you want to surf foil in the wave zone that we are familiar with.
I never planned to make or sell foils but I can’t help but do a complete disruption of this design because it’s not heading in the right direction , it’s too hard for most people to pick up and way too dangerous but it doesn’t have to be. The Japanese guy who copped a foil in the head and split his face open didn’t need to happen.
I’ve got the design finalised and you can attach it to any surfcraft old or new and go foiling in a manner that’s safe and simple and just amazing from the very first second, At the end of your first wave you’ll say “Well fuck me, I never thought THAT was possible.”
The problem is that I have to wait until it’s been tested over and again and the install is completely smoothed out and the legals are sorted and the suppliers are happy to provide consistent numbers. I don’t know if I have a hit or a miss on my hands but if people want it , I want to be able to supply it and at an affordable price too. I’d rather make a small profit and keep it going than try to screw every penny from each sale.
It’s simply designed and something that will have any Swaylocker running out to the shed to build their own but I’ve built a very safe design that’s also adjustable and easily replaceable if you lose or break a component. ( Which is why I have to sell it cheaply because it’s too easliy copied by guys like you lot ! )
I’ve got some details that definitely have to be sorted before the first run of just 20 surf foil kits become available and I will do the reveal here because of Terry and so many of you who have shared your own ideas here. And only 20 at the start because it’s all coming out of my pocket and every dollar counts in many ways with a family to provide for.
$250 for a surf foil kit is a lot of money to some and an easy spend for others but its the base cost of materials and manufacture and shipping and a very modest profit added. There’s no fancy packaging but you do get a letter of thanks from me.
The first 20 kits should be available before the end of the year and if anyone’s interested there will be a second run if you guys haven’t already copied and improved it out of sight.
I only decided to do this a few months ago so hang in there with me. Thanks, Brett.
What you are doing is quite admirable, in my opinion. You are breaking trail, for others to follow.
Who knows, maybe I’ll try it and love it to bits.
I could even get involved with this 3D printing of fins/foils stuff.
How about using a 'foiling launch vehicle" attached to the surfboard with a quick release. You kite-foil-surf it into a big wave long before it breaks, then pull the quick release and surf the wave on a conventional surfboard.
Meanwhile, the kite-drone-foil keeps cruising along, maybe even coming towards you to give you a lift back out…controlled by a Raspberry Pi…
You’re killing me with this information but it’s also highly exciting. You have been more than helpful in the past so I take no offense if you can’t answer me but I figured I would try anyway. Where are you getting those metal gull wing brackets?
Monkstar1… What gullwing brackets ?
Bill, thanks for that. I’m just following on from when Terry Hendricks was starting to try my low aspect foils. He always used those wide high aspect foils but changed to something more like mine in his latest surf foils.
Making foils isn’t hard, this guys making them from pine with a few layers of glass and he’s a big guy.
Some cool shots of paddle foiling in smaller waves on the east coast
<img src=“https://i1.wp.com/asurferscomposition.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/IMGP2239-2.jpg?resize=1038%2C576” ?>
http://asurferscomposition.com/2017/04/24/monday-surf-re-cap-satellite-beach/
Monkstar1, they were made by a friend from 3mm Aluminium.
Lawless, those pics convey how it feels to ride foils in the surf, not all that shoulder hopping, but Foil like your Surfing. Fast, smooth, it’s not difficult to do on a normal board. No vest, no helmet, just a leggie.
This thread can be a design journal for my reference as well as other who might try making a foil.
I’ve tried simplifying and condensing the design because it uses less materials, less weight and it makes it more controllable.
I’m using a multi foil setup where once it lifts the height above the water is completely stable at that or any speed.
In an effort to make things simpler I’ve got that height down to 2 inches but it doesn’t look like your flying so I’m raising it up to 4 inches.
I also dropped the width of the foils to 16 inches and that’s overly stable, it’s a bit like a push bike in that with speed it gains stability. So I’m bringing the width in to 11 inches. Might be too slim and unstable but at least I’ll have leant something. I’ll test that tomorrow.
I have the design finalised but certain dimensions look better.
Are you now using one keel or multiple keels? Are you still focused on lateral foils? How are you mounting them to the board?
During your efforts to lower the ‘hovering height’ you must have had some experiences when it was too low, so the board touches the water much of the time. How does that go? Any chance for a ‘hybrid’ model that hovers when going more straight, but engages the boards rails when turning harder?
Monkstar1, I’ve PMed you.
MrMik, it’s a personal choice about height, some like to be seen to be flying so they stand out in the crowd, other don’t care but lowering does bring the rails into play based on the foiling height and the shape of the board in the back half. And even with the rails just touching the water they don’t really make any difference until they are more deeply engaged in the wave.
I’ve got foils on a standard shortboard and a Simmons-esque board and you can feel the rails work in a cutback on the low foil so a Hybrid is a reality.
With a foil you don’t need any conventional fins but on a Hybrid you could involve all sorts of rail fins.
Because of the athletic nature of the sport foils will be shorter, guys are already doing aerials on foils.