Does the foil board itself give us any lift?

[scottnorby]

Agreed
At 12 minutes in he explains the same concept i explained

Flat hand out the car window— lift
Fist out the car window— turbulence and no lift

Bulbous or flat faced rails kill all turbulence

[Peter_Frank]

It might give us some lift, but IMO useless lift, as the drag is extreme, meaning L/D is so bad, that the increased overall lift wing+board is more than put to shame by the added drag, so you will start/ride at a higher speed, and not lower.

This is the reason why high AR wings, even a tad smaller, has more overall ability to ride in low wind and start early also.

For getting into foiling, the lift on the watersurface helps a lot, but that is another topic...

Peter

[foilholio]

I think there is some potential for it to add some sail area and so contribute force in some manner. It would be a very minor effect though, and maybe even negative.