A few years ago there were the emergence of bidirectional hydrofoils. I was researching now they disappeared from the market. It seemed to me such a practical and innovative idea. what is the reason that they did not enter the market?
by the way the tandem and canard hydrofoil configurations also didn’t hit the market.
I remember looking into those back then. I read some reviews and the consensus was that they are slow and not very fun those who tried them said it was worth the effort of learning to ride a proper directional foil. I would love to try one, but not enough to order one.
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A few years ago there were the emergence of bidirectional hydrofoils. I was researching now they disappeared from the market. It seemed to me such a practical and innovative idea. what is the reason that they did not enter the market?
When was the last time you saw a plane fly backwards? A wing cross section is always made to go one way. If you send it backwards it will become unstable. They tried to work around this issue by using symmetrical sections, which however limits speed and adds drag, making it the very reason it never went off: It´s slow, draggy, unstable and way more difficult to ride than a regular foil.
I respect your point of view but I still think that there is a potential to be explored in the twintip foils. While they are slow they allow them to be adapted to twintip kite boards and make the change of direction much easier. although I never rode a twintip. I think it's a matter of custom.
the fact that they were not successful in the market can be related to the questions you mentioned.
the video below does not seem so difficult:
follow the comment of one of the manufacturers of foil twintip:
The Skate Twin by Andersson Foils is a true Bi-Directional Hydrofoil for Kiteboarding.
Super stable and fast going both directions.
You never need to tack or gybe on this foil, simply just ride it like a twin tip kiteboard going back and forth.
The Skate Twin can be mounted on to any Twin Tip kiteboard using the foilmount (foilmount.com) or simply use our Retro-Fit-Kit and bolt it directly on to the board.
The Skate Twin can be ridden with straps, strapless or even with boots/bindings. Its a true FreeStyle foil with endless possibilities.
If you ever wanted to do a back roll on a foil or big jumps then this is the one you want. The Skate Twin is also very stable for beginners to learn on.
Having two big main wings gives you a lot of stability. Although they are both a lot smaller than a conventional main wing.
The two main wings also gives you a lot of lift to power up wind. Both wings are CNC cut out of G-10 Fiberglass/Epoxy.
The mast/fuselage is made out of 6061-T6 Air Craft Aluminum.
Super stable and fast going both directions.
You never need to tack or gybe on this foil, simply just ride it like a twin tip kiteboard going back and forth.
(...)
That video, on flat lagoon water CLEARLY shows that the foil is all but super stable. Looks actually super twitchy in terms of yaw
They actually never show a change of direction TT style. I imagine you'd drop off the foil at some stage when the horizontal speed passes through 0 during reversal. Tacking or gybing is part of the fun.
Looks like many compromises are made in the profiles and design to make it bidirectional, and you'd wonder how much of the foiling performance advantages are able to retained. (not many of those displayed on that video)
Anyway, good luck with that
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ericmsil (Wed Aug 12, 2020 1:55 am) • cor (Wed Aug 12, 2020 12:34 pm)
Compared to other Foil ad videos this looks quite unstable. Of course I do not know the riders nor their skill/experience, but they seem to spend quite an effort on getting that board stable.
"if you ever wanted to do a back roll on a foil or big jumps then this is the one you want."
That´s interesting because you can literally do that with a regular foil as well.
Don´t get me wrong, I do appreciate if someone is trying to be innovative in the foil/kite-market. But I just don´t think there is any good way you can combine a TT with a foil because of the very different ways you ride these. Surfboard with a foil attachment just makes much more sense.
Last edited by cor on Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
When I first started foiling, I was intrigued by bi-directional foils because, to that point in time, I had only ridden a twin tip and the thought of having to learn to change feet was daunting. Without any directional background, it has taken me longer to learn the various moves than it would otherwise, but, now, I can't imagine wanting to foil with a bi-directional board. There are just too many compromises.
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ericmsil (Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:08 pm) • cor (Wed Aug 12, 2020 2:43 pm)