Skimboard foils

[Peter_Frank]

The reason width COULD be an issue for some, is when carving hard in chop or waves, leaning heavily into the turn - where you dont want the edges to catch

PF

[Starsky]

With a 90 cm mast I haven't had much problem. Board is pretty average skim dims. Almost 20 inches wide.

[bigtone667]

I mounted my original LF foil to a LF twinskim and it's worked great, no straps though. I don't understand why width would be an issue, you're only on the board for a second before you take off on to the foil.

Width is only an issue for me at start time in 8 knots. I might spend five minutes diving the kite and looping the kite just to get the board up out of the water and planing so I can get up on the foil. Once I am planing I can generate enough speed to pop onto the foil. Having a wide skim board will make it a little easier to get up and planing.

[Starsky]

There is a trade off between rocker and low end. Flat rocker and your up and going a little faster. More rocker and your not up as quick but the board is a lot nicer on inadvertent touch downs. The board I'm on now has a fair bit more rocker than the last and only pops up a fraction later. I much prefer it as most of my time is spent up and riding.

For the ultra low end or heavy riders I suspect a bit of foam goes a long way.

[bigtone667]

I had bolted my original Fish Foil to a Victoria Skim Board and it worked quite well until I almost snapped the skim board completely in half and lost the foil.

My goal in life is to find a board that will get me up and planing in the lightest wind possible (100kg!!) so I can then pop onto the foil.
I didn't really want to buy a large floaty board with lots of swing weight, so I started on the El Stubbo (too small), Shinnster (better), Jackson (still too small. too much rocker), Crazyfly door (pretty good but ugly), Victoria Skim (pretty good but mechanically weak).

Naish has bought out a skim board/foil board, Naish Hover 155. Slightly larger and wider than the Victoria, definitely more surface area than the Stubbo/Shinnster/Jacksons, very flat with some nose rocker. They used tracks to hold the foil, so you can move the position of the mast around.

Should get to try it tomorrow. But pretty sure this will be the light wind monster and the jackson will be the surf monster.

http://www.naishkites.com/product/hover-155/

Let us know how you find it - haven't heard of any demo reports yet!!

The Naish Hover 155 got it's first run yesterday. My thoughts are:

1. There is no rocker through two thirds of the board, but the front third of board does have more rocker than a standard skim board. The nose rocker helps in finding the beast after a crash.
2. There were no issues attaching a Zeeko/Carver foil, but, there is a small hump through the middle of the board and I needed to lift mast off the board with with plastic washers (2mm). You can move the foil backwards and forwards about four inches.
3. Flotation was excellent with the Zeeko Foil.
4. I attached one strap across the board for a toe hold when positioning for the launch, then pulled my foot back and rode strapless. The supplied straps are really great.
5. My first launch was interesting because of the extra float in the "middle of the board" created by the round edge. I was fine after a few more launches.
6. Because there is so little rocker, fast heavy touch downs become crashes (unlike the Jackson, where I can often save them). Upside of the crashes, is the board has a tendency to spear into the water and not follow you like an Axe.
7. My reason for getting the board was light wind starts ...... it's awesome. It was super easy to get up and planing and generate speed in light wind. The wind ranged from 6 knots up to 18 knots over a four hour period. I got plenty of light wind start practice.
8. I didn't really notice any swing weight on the skim board and it felt more agile than the other boards I have when up on the mast.
9. Super easy to the pivot the board when on the water.
10. The board felt nice and stiff underfoot.

I plan to use the Naish Hover 155 for all of my light wind foiling and flat water cruising in the future. I will try it in the small swell at my local beach and see how I go on the random touch downs .....