As you and rodntube have pointed out, there is a body of historical evidence pointing to several hydrofoil body boards in the past.
But who needs grainy photos when you have a patent on file with the US Patent & Trademark Office for Terry Hendricks’ “Super Slicer” hydrofoil body board. I think you should post this patent on that forum. If the admin denies it, you will have provided incontrovertible proof for all too see – 'nuff said.
(Throw in a couple of full-size pictures of Terry holding and riding one for good measure.)
More Credible Documentation:
Figure 2 in Terry Hendricks’ patent is Gaylord Miller’s design (last image: bottom of post). Terry Hendricks cites Gaylord Miller as the earliest hydrofoil board he was aware of.
Now you’ve done it guys, the thread is all in ruins…
Loads of incontrovertible proof that surffoils was NOT first!
.
Anyhow, I’m scared of the things and the mix of people who will be trying to surf them in crowded line-ups.
I saw two foiling apparati strapped to car roofs at Currumbin Alley today, I did not notice them in the surf though.
MrMik, I surely missed the mark of inventing boogie foiling ( prone ) by about 45 years. And Kai by another 10+ years.
But after seeing the video of Laird tow in foil, I made what I believe to be the first functional Paddle In surfing foil in around 2005 or 6 and have published the pics. But I could be proven wrong about being the first.
Not that I claim to be a Greenough or Velzy but sometimes an average guy can get lucky and work things out.
So Relax Mr Mik, I still think I might be the possible first at doing something very unimportant.
Certainly after a decade of exclusively riding foils I know a fair bit about them and I can very confidently say that current commercial foil design has a long way to go to get near Terry Hendricks’ level of understanding.
And I hope my foils will show that I’ve progressed Terry’s creativity and refinement to another level of superb yet simple hydrodynamics.
No worries, I was just kidding! Should have put a “HAHA” or something behind it I guess.
.
But I am indeed scared of the unwieldy things in the lineup.
Could one even tell if someone paddling on a board has a foil system underneath the board, before they start to lift?
.
Or do we not only have to assess a surfers ability on a ‘Pro to Kuk’ scale when s/he paddles for a wave which we would also like to catch, but also guess how high s/he will fly?
.
And where/how do you plan to duck-dive when 4 or 5 potential surf-foilers are dropping in on one another on that wave that’s rolling toward you?
I was kidding too. Part of the problem is that the current foil design isn’t designed for surfing, it’s come from tow boat foiling on a river and it’s not changed much, so the thought of dodging 3 feet of submerged sharpened carbon foil isn’t too inviting i grant you !
But my foil design, ( well with Bill Stoneburners help ) is a foil that’s not much deeper than a standard Thruster fin, it’s not carbon, it’s not 2 feet wide and it’s not $1600. Currently running at $20 per foil prototype.
The whole design is light, cleap, and a lot safer, easy to ride and makes these long mast and Twin blade foils look like the death traps they are.
I understand your fear of these things. Have you all seen this hydrofoil guy ?
And the second pic is how this happens.
Irrespective of the lure of money it shouldn’t mean you put out a product that’s clearly a danger to the rider and anyone nearby. The problem is that surf foiling could get banned altogether if these injuries get too numerous.
I have attached documentation about Gaylord Miller found at the UC San Diego Library (pp. 77-78 at bottom of post).
From: http://scilib.ucsd.edu/sio/biogr/Scripps_Stories_Kuhns.pdf
Scripps Stories: Days to Remember in Celebration of 90 Years.
(La Jolla, Calif.: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California)
San Diego, CA 92093
October 1993
S.I.O. Reference #93-35
Bill,
I’ve only had one accident on a surf board and broke my nose. That’s not bad for 40 years of surfing. Oh hang on, closer to 50.
When we get this foil on display I’m going to be keen to hear the copiers explain how the trailing edge is the leading edge. (without turning the foil around.) And how they thought of it first.
Staneburner wrote: "My worst surfboard injury was a fin gash just below my achilles tendon.
At the moment, I do not see any copiers for that or two other alternate designs."
Same here, ironically my heel suffered the fin gash during the first test-surf with my self-made fin, which is supposed to be safer. I got run over by a longboard rider and one of her fins cut my heel. I do agree spear-like surfboards are more dangerous than sensibly shaped ones, and I always put a bit of rubber on the nose and blunt the fin edges on my boards. They all have much less pointy noses than the one you showed above. But, to answer you earlier question if spear surfboards are less dangerous than hydrofoils, I do think that they are indeed less dangerous. I can of course only base this on assumptions and on the few hydrofoil board designs I have seen.
MrMik, safety has to be the priority for designers of everything, if your customer gets hurt, it’s not going to encourage them to use your product again.
Fins are always going to be a safety problem and the longer the fin or wider the foil the greater the danger but everything solid is going to be a problem. The challenge is to make a safer fin like you did or make a safer foil like mine. You can still hurt yourself but the odds are reduced with sensible design.
Monkstar1, it’s an honest description of how the design has a trailing edge that becomes a leading edge just due to the change in water flow. Something to ponder…
Here’s a quick look at my foil board from 2015.
Its not what Im riding now but it’s an indication of how far my surf foil designs have progressed beyond what everyone else is doing in 2017.
Hi Lawless, surfing hydrofoils are also very intricate in design if you go outside the basic 2 lateral wing setups like gofoil and the rest have.
I tried on another forum to explain what I’ve learned over 13 years of making hundreds of foils but few were interested and some on a SUP forum pissed on my ingenuity so now I couldn’t be asked to explain at all. Why give away exclusive design to people who are only going to make money.
To that end my latest pic is a design that I call… The Red Herring.
But just like the sailing foils there’s a world of creative surf foil design to test, learn and refine. I’ve got it down to a point where I make a new shortboard foil, get 3 decent waves on it and then walk home because I know them well enough to know what needs to be changed.
The kit will be out for a small group to enjoy for about a year before it’s available to the public.
In your 2015 setup, it looks like you’re using aluminum or is that fiberglass? How flexible are the foils? How thick are they? It looks like you’re attached to the rear fcs plugs, will your kit work with a FU fin box? Have you found the placement near the back foot to be the easiest to control or do you suggest moving the foil up closer to the middle of the board? Are there multiple points of attachment to the board? Is the angled mast a performance feature or simply to lower the rail edges closer to the board? Is the trailing edges foiled down or is it just as thick as the leading edges?
As always, I understand if you can’t answer. I just wanted to write down the questions I had.
Monkstar1, there’s a lot to say and a lot to hold back.
I think Hans said it best in another thread that all the science and general wisdom in the world doesn’t come close to actual experience.
However, the kernel of creativity starts with speculation, a guess, a vision of something different.
