Small skimboard

[Peter_Frank]

I mounted a 3 foot skimboard on my hydrofoil with a platemount (option for the KFBox) - no practical purpose whatsoever except just for doing it and having fun

It barely floats, and difficult to start even in only 1-2 feet chop, but had a great day with my other foiling buddies this saturday


A few pictures from the virgin day with this babysize:





























PF

PS: A few more from this day here

[IanNJ]

nice! I recently destroyed my board (see the stupid things you have done thread post 1). and mounted a wake skate 144cm long. Do you find that your turns are easier or tighter on a small board with low swing weight? I also found that im terrified its gonna snap as I can feel the board flex!

[Starsky]

That looks almost too small! Mine's 43" and its a nice sized platform ( a tiny bit bigger than the all carbon minimalist board offered by Horue). You can find bigger but most are foam core. My feet look like their in the right place with enough margin to widen the stance for going a little faster or in difficult conditions.

It's wood, Pretty high quality 5 ply hardwood with top and bottom hard plastic sheet. it has some flex when used as a balance board, but not very perceptible while foiling. Certainly not worried about it breaking. Have gotten used to it and prefer the flat padded deck and round nose compared to the stiffer more domed and waxed deck with deadly point on my surfboard. Its neutrally buoyant so needs a little neon float on the tail to help find it as it sits so low in the water, but that same quality makes it so easy to manipulate with your feet and waterstart compared to the more buoyant surfboard. It also runs after a crash both at my head and downwind sooooo much less than the surfboard set up, which can actually run away on you when your trying to tension your lines and get your kite back up. Have had to sprint a full 2x line length after my surfboard ending up with the kite on the water straight upwind! Once the swell gets that surfboard moving it motors! The skim set up just sits and only moves as fast as the water its in.

Just like not all surfboards are really foil compatible construction, I think some cheaper skims are probably too flimsy to really match well with a foil. Do some research and you can certainly find em that work really well in size, flotation, flex and strength. some of the foam core boards would work really well with just a little more work to make a solid plate mount.

All in all, Im much happier with the skim set up and both the surfboard and cheap wake skate are back in the basement.

[Peter_Frank]

That looks almost too small! Mine's 43" and its a nice sized platform ( a tiny bit bigger than the all carbon minimalist board offered by Horue). You can find bigger but most are foam core. My feet look like their in the right place with enough margin to widen the stance for going a little faster or in difficult conditions.

It's wood, Pretty high quality 5 ply hardwood with top and bottom hard plastic sheet. it has some flex when used as a balance board, but not very perceptible while foiling. Certainly not worried about it breaking. Have gotten used to it and prefer the flat padded deck and round nose compared to the stiffer more domed and waxed deck with deadly point on my surfboard. Its neutrally buoyant so needs a little neon float on the tail to help find it as it sits so low in the water, but that same quality makes it so easy to manipulate with your feet and waterstart compared to the more buoyant surfboard. It also runs after a crash both at my head and downwind sooooo much less than the surfboard set up, which can actually run away on you when your trying to tension your lines and get your kite back up. Have had to sprint a full 2x line length after my surfboard ending up with the kite on the water straight upwind! Once the swell gets that surfboard moving it motors! The skim set up just sits and only moves as fast as the water its in.

Just like not all surfboards are really foil compatible construction, I think some cheaper skims are probably too flimsy to really match well with a foil. Do some research and you can certainly find em that work really well in size, flotation, flex and strength. some of the foam core boards would work really well with just a little more work to make a solid plate mount.

All in all, Im much happier with the skim set up and both the surfboard and cheap wake skate are back in the basement.

Yes, mine barely floats either - and when I fell off and it was upwind of me, nose upwind, I waited for it to "swim" down to me as usual

Nothing happened - then I superman'ed to get up to the hydrofoil, and it took a long time - the board did not turn itself downwind like used to when a "directional" with some kind of nose.

So I would almost swear that it dolphined UPWIND by itself ha haa (maybe not, but you get the idea - it does not dolphin downwind itself like used to)

If you get away from your board when you ditch the kite, dolphining is desired, as you can get your board back and sit on it while trying to relaunch, or just enjoy the ride to shore
REALLY unpleasant to be in the water for a long time with no buoancy, and risky too

But you are right, when you have the kite up, it is better if the board does not dolphin


I find it really difficult to start on this small one as said, compared to a normal strapless board with surface area and volume, so I got the opposite experience than you (maybe because your board is slightly longer)

PF

[foilonfoil]

Friend did the same with a bolt on foil and was using it for about a month before he snapped the board in two. He was jumping it

[Starsky]

With close to neutral buoyancy a break could end up with a sunk foil! I'm pretty certain mine is pretty safe, but it really is quite a thick and strong wood skim, strapless with no airs. I would warn anyone going this route to test their set up and only use a board they are confident is strong enough for the job. Most of the wood skims on the market are not thick or strong enough and it took some research to find one I was willing to use. A couple of layers of glass on the top and bottom would drastically increase strength, but if your going to go through the trouble of fiber glassing I would also go the extra mile and get one of the larger more buoyant foam core boards on the market and glass insets through the board from deck to bottom sheet. Something like a Zasp Wedge in size large. Problem is then your looking at a significantly more expensive skim. Still, there are deals out there to be found.

@ PF

Looking at your facebook pics, my skim is closer to your Takoon board in size than it is your tiny little Brunotti.

[ulx]

This is my new toy. Kakoo Compact, 108 x 44.



I am still/again pretty new to the sport but like the board a lot. Transport in a car is a dream, I find waterstart with it much easier than with the volume-board I had before. The surface for my feet seems to be all I need so far. I was surprised how accessible it is. It is even possible to do board-in-water-jibes with it. I had thought that would be impossible. And I survived many more touchdowns than I would have thought. When I crashed the first times and couldn´t see the board afterwords, I thought, shit, it drowned. But it didn´t. It just takes some seconds to resurface. It even works a little as a floatation device. You certainly cannot lie on it. But with one hand on the board it is much easier to swim than without.

I am very happy so far. Everything feels very light with it (board plus foil 5.1 kg). Took me some sessions to get into foiled jibes again after a long break but now it starts to feel right again and they are getting better and better again.

And by the way. Thanks again Peter for your information about line lengths. I usually use 26m lines now. From 10 to 6m wave kites. By accident used 20m lines with my 10m in marginal winds some days ago and will hopefully never have to do that again soon So much less efficient.