Hey all. I’m in a rut learning to prone. No previous experience foiling, but I’ve always been an intermediate shortboarder. I’m on Oahu and have been pretty spoiled because I’ve had access to gear to learn on as well as some high level guys to paddle out with. I’m starting to think all of this has pushed me to hard too fast and I need to reassess my gear completely.
I’m weight 75KG, and here’s what I’ve had to borrow and what was going on when I used it.
Old 5’1 30L board with Lift 200 HA and 32 Surf. Had real trouble getting into waves. Not enough volume in the nose for me to put my weight forward. Either I had no speed to get going for small stuff, or I’d go for steeper drops and was just getting boosted. The waves here have a tendency to feel like they blow right past me with no sense of foil engagement.
Big 60L wing board. Switched to Lift 170 HA and 32 Surf. Paddle was easy, got into smaller waves much easier. Foil engagement was kinda more gradual. Still got boosted sometimes. Yaw would drift unpredictably though. Pitch is still the hardest to be consistent. I’ve realized I’m a very back foot heavy surfer who has trouble slowing down my pop-up.
Finally scored a used board of my own on recommendation from a friend. FFB Rubix 4’4" 37L. Not sure if this was a bad choice relative to my skill level.
Ok, based on all this, I’m looking to pick up my own gear. Was hoping to try and score used because it’s plentiful here. There seems to be a lot of Lift and Axis options. I like that Axis is a little less expensive and more modular. Found a guy who wants to sell me the following setup, but I’m not sure if it’s appropriate for my situation and our waves here. Again, I’m 75KG. Here’s what he’s offering:
Axis SP 860 front (he also has 1020 and 1150, but they seemed less suitable)
Freeride 400 OR Freeride 500
Red Ultrashort fuse
Axis 75cm mast
Everything else necessary to slap it on my board.
$450 USD
I’m not against buying new. I was just hoping to go used because guys seem to grow out of gear fairly fast early on. If this isn’t suitable, what is recommended in a perfect world? Again, I have good purchasing options from Lift and Axis. I’m pretty desperate to get things moving. It’s been a few months and I know prone is hard, but I feel like I’ve been making it unnecessarily hard on myself.
I don’t know much about the Lift side of the question, but that Axis 860 isn’t going to pump at all, so consider that. If Axis I would at minimum go for a black advanced (or advanced+) fuse otherwise you are going to have the hassle of poor next foil options. My axis bet would be a 75cm-80cm mast, 910 png and 375 progression tail on an advanced fuse. Even years later that still doesn’t seem like a terrible bet for me.
Ask to try that Axis setup for a week. Also consider that there will be a long rut period, and now that you have an appropriate board I’d be careful of mixing up the gear up too often.
The SP 860 pumps really well. I mean, I can static dock start on it no problem.
Its actually a good small wave front wing. For about 4 years it was my go to. If you start getting into shoulder high waves, its going to be too much foil.
If you can pick up that whole axis setup for $450, that a prett good deal to get you started and on foil.
Fair enough, I didn’t use it that much and found the 910 to be much easier to pump. The 860 rolled amazingly well but felt like pumping through treacle to me…
Yeah, I don’t know enough about axis when it comes to the fuse options. I wasn’t sure if the red fuse was going to severely limit future options.
Getting a few years out of a new setup doesn’t seem too bad. It’s when people are changing out within the year that I question getting new gear. I don’t know much about the 910. The other wing I was looking at was the BSC 890 (also requires black fuse).
I’m not a prone foiler but a buddy who is told me:
Learning with a bigger board and a smaller foil is better. Catch more waves and worry less about linking waves until you’re solid.
As far as the foot pressure thing goes, that sounds like exactly what those progression foil tail packs were for. I winged a progression foil and found swapping the tails to the desired foot pressure position either made the ride perfect for me, or horrible for me. Maybe track down one of those kits?
On the back of Bryan’s advice, the BSC890 is going to be a big foil for you.
I’m ~90kg and the BSC890 started feeling hard to hold down when I was learning to turn.
Not a lot of dock starts here. Even the smaller surf has a tendency to be thick and powerful. I feel like I’ve been going after occasional waist+ waves because I was having trouble feeling the foil engage on anything smaller. Felt like the waves would just blow past me.
Can you describe what happens when you have “too much foil” in shoulder high waves? As long as I can engage in the smaller stuff, that shouldn’t affect me, but I’m just curious.
My take is, AXIS go for a black fuse. The red fuse is a dead end and only worth the 1300 at this point.
That foil is a good surf foil and since it’s oversized it can pump a bit. Very thick though, not efficient like newer foils. You can learn on it. You will have to replace the fuse and foils when you go to upgrade though. If price is a huge factor, get it and learn to foil. If you have more budget spend $800 and get something more modern with a better upgrade path.
Some random raw surfline rewind footage of me on the 760 back in the day. It was a good surf line.
I’ve been eyeing that wing. Not many used ones floating around here. There’s an 810 and 740 right now, but wasn’t sure if they’d be too small for learning (75KG). It’s reassuring that if I bite the bullet on a completely new setup, a BSC sounds like it might stick around for a while.
Curious how the BSC 890 compares to the Lift 200 Surf v2 because there’s a bunch of those floating about.
If I went this route, can you recommend what to build around it?
Black short fuse?
68cm mast? (We have some shallow reefs here. 75 is probably the limit, but I was considering the 60 or 68)
Which tail wing would be appropriate? Freeride 500 and Freeride 400 are available used right now. I was actually considering both. 500 for some beginning stability and then switching to the 400. Open to other suggestions.
Black advanced + (not the shortest one, but the 1st or 2nd after that I can’t keep up with the naming scheme, shorter than the ultrashort though, the “advanced plus” is important)
68cm mast at the absolute shortest. 75 works most of the time. Your foils will get scratched up. Doesn’t affect them in a noticeable way unless you’re racing.
Tails. If the tail doesn’t have a P after it then it doesn’t matter which one. The flat 460 is OK actually. I rode the 375 way back in the day. The “skinny’s” are the newest hotness and do make a difference.
While I haven’t ridden AXIS for awhile, my brother is the demo guy for LA, so I do see most of the new gear. It’s extremely hard to build a foil setup for cheap. If the foil has been released in the last year and a half then it’s a good buy. If it’s older than 2 years old, then it’s gotta be cheap.
If you want to buy once and be done with it, buy Code.
The flat 460 is OK actually. I rode the 375 way back in the day. The “skinny’s” are the newest hotness and do make a difference.