I migrated from Surfing to SUP Surfing because 2 guys on SUPs Rich Graff and Haley Fiske were able to catch more, and bigger, waves than I could on my 8 foot gun. I started with a 10 foot SUP and then added a 12 footer to catch big and bigger waves.
Half Moon Bay, my home break, is not known for great surf. Ocean Beach to the north in San Francisco has hollow, barreling waves and is considered one of the best beach breaks in the world. Santa Cruz to the South, arguably the surf capital of the US has perfect point breaks with long rides and crowds to match. But what Half Moon Bay lacks in quality it makes up for in size.
Then in 2016 and Kai Lenny came to town for the Mavericks induction ceremony. I was talking with him and he looked out at the lagoon on a small day and said “Oh my gosh I could be foiling all those waves.” Jeff Clark was the first to get a foil, followed by Haley Fiske and then me.
9 Seasons later I’m still trying to push the foil into big winter swell. Here is the latest clip.
Historically we were riding Barn Door style SUPs. In this example from 5 years ago a 7’ 4” x 31” L41 converted with a Tuttle box.
Interestingly these shapes were better suited to taking off steep and potentially in white water. The strategy was to drop down the face and keep the entire board on the water, weight forward and surf the wave until you could escape the power zone and afford to fly the foil.
The downwind boards do NOT allow for this type of takeoff. Today I want nothing to do with the white water. Watching the older footage gives me the willies because I would get clipped every now and then. Not pleasant.
Before foiling this is what ‘Big’ waves looked like on the 12’ SUP.
On the takeoff from this wave I was wary if anyone was inside of me. When I began to drop there was a bizarre warmth that was coming from the barrel and I could see with my peripheral vision an outrageous detonation. I remember thinking ‘well if anyone was inside of me there not there now’ and I carried forth.
This wave made the Wipeout of the Year awards for the other guy. I made this version with more a Christmas theme.
Coincidentally the 2 screen grabs below are from the exact same instant. To my left, right of the screen is the splash at the base of the wave from Matt crashing.
The difficulty with big waves is catching them. With a motor no problem. But when paddling in big waves are fast. And the bigger the faster. So you need to get significant speed up and then fly. Downwind foils lift relatively early and can maintain high speeds once flying.
Historically I would catch waves on a short, wide 7’4" x 31" ‘barn door’ style board. With short boards you can afford to takeoff late, drop and NOT FLY the wing. Stay front foot down and ride the board like a SUP until you are in a safer, lower energy zone. This style of takeoff allowed for smaller, low aspect foils. Lots of speed and control on the drop but difficult to fly very far after you leave the energy pocket.
The downwind foils allow for takeoff and continued flight. At this spot a 10-12 foot takeoff can pitch, then softened but then speed up over deep water. 1,000 yards or more on fast open ocean, glassy surfaced non breaking waves.
Example of riding a smaller foil. Way before high aspects were available.
Foil too far back in the box. Nose super heavy, unbalanced rig. Footstraps for great control but bad pump. Today with my downwind rig I could ride a wave like this 2 miles to the beach.
