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Foil board

A forum dedicated to Hydrofoil riders
watercamper
Medium Poster
Posts: 189
Joined: Thu Sep 24, 2020 12:57 am
Kiting since: 2017
Weight: 146
Local Beach: US: the Columbia river Gorge, lower Columbia river, Oregon coast. Mexico: La Ventana (Rasta beach in El Sargento) BCS
Style: Foil mostly, Surf, TT on the ocean
Gear: Slingshot 4,5,6,7,8 UFO V2; 3, 9m V1.1
Slingshot 4,5,6,7,8,9m SST
Flysurfer Peak4, 4, 5, 6, 8: Peak5, 4
Flysurfer Hybrid 3.5
Naish Pivot 8,9m
Liquid Force Mission Control bars modified for foil with Infexion seat belt, DIY lines
Ocean Rodeo click bar
Lift Classic 150, 101 cm mast
Sabfoil W590/S330, 101 cm mast; W550/S325; W679/S483
Slingshot 2020 107cm micro Dwarf Craft board strapless, 11 liter
Slingshot 2022 100 cm Dwarf Craft, strapless, 11 liter
4'10" Firewire Evo Helium
Cabrinha 137 n 141 Tronic
Mystic, Ion, O'Neill, Buell, Patagonia, Pro-Tec, Liros, Infexion
Brand Affiliation: None
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Re: Foil board

Postby watercamper » Wed May 18, 2022 2:06 am

The perpendicular strap lets you easily maneuver the bd for waterstarts. Then, because it is tight and mine was scooted a smidge fwd, as soon as I came up, my foot rotated a smidge and I was strapless. And I could try foot switches without the strap in the way. Best advice I was given ever!
These users thanked the author watercamper for the post (total 2):
ieism (Wed May 18, 2022 6:49 am) • bitxopalo (Thu May 19, 2022 9:33 pm)
Rating: 6.06%

andylc
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1175
Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2017 3:26 pm
Local Beach: Exmouth
Favorite Beaches: Saunton Sands
Gear: Reedin Supermodel V3 7,9,11m, Duotone Juice 13m
Saul Custom Wave Board 138cm
Nomad Superleggera LW 142cm
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 2 times
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Re: Foil board

Postby andylc » Wed May 18, 2022 8:28 pm

Thanks for the replies! I'm going to start with a board around 140cm or so with a reasonable amount of volume, and probably go with a set of hook straps to learn with, aiming to be strapless in time. Narrowed it down to the Levitaz Match, or a very tempting 30% off offer on the Duotone Pace SLS, which I quite fancy as it is super light, and I do rather like light kit.

IWantToFly
Frequent Poster
Posts: 368
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2020 9:43 pm
Kiting since: 2019
Weight: 77kg
Local Beach: Jones Beach, Sauvie Island, Floras Lake, the Gorge, OR coast, La Ventana
Favorite Beaches: La Ventana, the Gorge
Style: I wish
Gear: Groove Skate Pro 110cm
Kanaha Shapes 42” (106cm)
Triton T1 Monowing
Lift Classic 170
Litewave Wing 155, Kick-S 139
OR Mako 140
Duotone Whip 5’0”
Naish Pivot 6, 8, 10
Flysufer Soul 6m, 12m
Flysurfer Peak5 5m, Peak4 8m
Cloud 2.8, 3.7, 4.8, 6.2, 8
Pansh 7/11
Has thanked: 72 times
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Re: Foil board

Postby IWantToFly » Thu May 19, 2022 9:25 am

Late to the party, but I’m learning to foil now. I’m about 10 days in and can solidly ride both directions, starting to jibe with my better foot forward. I have primarily a very low volume board and heavy, sinker alu foil setup (Cabrinha Double Agent). I started with half hooks and found them stupidly dangerous. Yes, they were usually fine on my feet (still twisted a couple times before coming out), but I had more than one occasion where I was struggling to push that f*cking board/foil around to start that I caught lines and even my bar in the hook. (Edit to add: this wasn’t just potentially dangerous - my kite actually looped and I got yanked and my kite tomahawked.) I also fell once on the board and caught my lines. While I am already much better than I was, I find the idea of something that can hook my lines and bar that way to be unacceptably dangerous until I am MUCH better at controlling the board.

I’ve been happy with a single front strap fitted relatively normal. Yes, my feet have gotten twisted a little a couple times and I could see how an injury could occur, but I’m not wedging my foot in there super tight and I have had no major trouble with it releasing. If I had a sideways floating setup and a bit better flexibility than I personally possess I think I would still use a strap for the first few times and then jump to strapless.

Good luck.
Last edited by IWantToFly on Thu May 19, 2022 10:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

andylc
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 1175
Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2017 3:26 pm
Local Beach: Exmouth
Favorite Beaches: Saunton Sands
Gear: Reedin Supermodel V3 7,9,11m, Duotone Juice 13m
Saul Custom Wave Board 138cm
Nomad Superleggera LW 142cm
Brand Affiliation: None
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 139 times

Re: Foil board

Postby andylc » Thu May 19, 2022 10:00 am

Good point! I think just loose straps at the front seems like the way to go.

leeuwen
Very Frequent Poster
Posts: 850
Joined: Fri Apr 05, 2019 12:16 pm
Kiting since: 2014
Local Beach: Anything in NL
Style: Foiling around
Gear: KauperXT 11M Falcon
Ocean Rodeo aluula roam 10m / HL Crave 8m/6m
Slingshot ghost 4M
Sabfoil 1350L,633,699,671/ 83-103 kraken mast / Groove Skate L + Radical / Sabfoil T35
Lieuwe Shotgun
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Has thanked: 84 times
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Re: Foil board

Postby leeuwen » Thu May 19, 2022 11:13 am

When I used a foot hook I set it up the ”wrong” way around.
So with the hook facing forward. (mostly due to board screw holes lay out)
Never had issues with gear getting into the hook. I was using a “floater” setup at the time (633 wing) where the board would mostly sit on its side by itself without input.

Also with nothing placed in front of your foot it’s pretty much impossible to get a foot/ankle injury.
I also used very loose straps and tighter setups but found this setup to be far superior in regards to potential injury.
Now riding mostly strapless or with full straps for jumping so less relevant for me but my experience with a hook was that it is a good stepping stone before going full strapless.


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