busted gear and egos! tell me your sad hydrofoil stories

[windfreak74]

im from south america! We get gear at 50% plus increase. so every piece of gear is a investment!!!
wipped out the cash my a new front wing!!! first time out having a blast... new wing delivering smiles and laughter at each carve!!! awesome....... until a big underwater bolder was waiting for me. crashed and burned at full throtle!
result bent nose fuse (alum) giant crushd dent on the wing and a neck wiplash pain for a weeK!!
work hard, replace gear and hopefully dont repeat!
take care guys!!

[TomW]

Why do you pay 50% more ? Why do you foil in places with big boulders in the water ?

[deniska]

Last week I broke a free race wing landing a rather small 7m jump in deep water

Before that in December I lost a foil cause the rails broke when it hit water after I kicked it off during 10m jump. I have more stories like that if it makes you happier

[windfreak74]

no it does not make me happier!! i feel lonely! cant foil, cant kite so i must share stories!!
tomW ,since i live in chile taxes and shipping sometimes cost more than the product itself!!! ouch!
i kite mostly in rivers mouths. most river are bouldery here in chile. well sometimes they are there sitting waiting for you!! sand shifts with currents and another boulder is born just waiting for the bold!!!
if you share, your spirit gets repared but you wallet doesnt!!!!

[plummet]

Well, plenty of tomahawk to whiplash crashes. Bashed my foil into the beach maybe 6-10 times, submerged log once, big fish another time, wrapped it up in a fishing bouy another time.
Apart from the occasional scratch the foil is going strong!.... And so it should, I made it strong. Its carbon with bamboo core. Its a damn robust combo.

[cglazier]

Sometimes we have weeds here (very old picture)

[jumptheshark]

Carafino! Remember that whole dust up? That foil in the pic is not all that different in dimension to the Lift I'm on these days.

Snapped an aluminum fuse last summer and lost the fairly new wing that was on it. Was "lucky" to have done it very close to the spot I launched from. Yes, it was sad, but it prompted me to make the shift to carbon and I can't say I have regretted any part of that. In the end I feel pretty fortunate to have the toys I do. I wish this current situation would end so I don't have to feel like a criminal just using it! Well that and to avoid financial ruin, but mostly just wanna kite.

[TomW]

no it does not make me happier!! i feel lonely! cant foil, cant kite so i must share stories!!
tomW ,since i live in chile taxes and shipping sometimes cost more than the product itself!!! ouch!
i kite mostly in rivers mouths. most river are bouldery here in chile. well sometimes they are there sitting waiting for you!! sand shifts with currents and another boulder is born just waiting for the bold!!!
if you share, your spirit gets repared but you wallet doesnt!!!!

Sorry to here it man ! I make boards as a hobby and been to brazil 4 times. Last 2 times I brought and extra kite surfboard and sold it cheap for 150 € to a local. They seemed pretty happy.
I'm hoping to go again later this year if I can. I should bring a Gong foil and board try to sell it at cost.
Could you set up local production? License a design from Gong, slingshot or some other sympathetic company. Start with wings.

[windfreak74]

Tom W , im just bored, ive been since end of january on lockdown ! in brasil the interest there is different from chile. kiters there are opened to anything new, most want to kite in whatever they can get a hold off.by the way Ive seen your boards here on the forum! your quite a craftsman!very nice stuff!! have you ever taken a shot at building a hydrofoil?
ive done it it takes major time and commitment! my fuselage inserts never lasted poor choice in material. carbon fiber is nice to buy it!! handling the the sanding and itching from building stuff is just nasty!!! remember having the the itch for a full month from messing around with carbon cloth and resins!im almost convicing tmyself to buidl a hydrofoil board.

[revhed]

R H