Ride what you have. It’s the first of the generation of good foils. Yes, new gear is better. But it’s not the huge shift that it was before. Prone session was really fun. Wind is up now and all the FD guys are on it.
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Glad you got it fun. Wind was calm around noon and the rising tide too. I shoulda gone foiling but my ego needed a recharge, surf was fun and weather so nice. Hopefully Ill run into you sooner or later
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Not 100% true, just because its “new” doesn’t mean it’s better… the first gen Cab foils has better lower end imo, which some people might prefer!
I picked up a 4’10" 45L board and went out this afternoon again at mondos and had much better progress catching waves and even got up briefly a few times . Learning alot with each session as I make baby steps toward prone foiling. Every session I learn at least 1 or 2 more things that will help for thenext sesh. Today was to actually pop up fast, not slow. If I wait too long I actually make it more difficult if not impossible to actually pop up. You kinda gotta just throw yourself up there. But also def keep the nose down at the same time. It all makes sense logically but in practice is when it really makes intuitive sense. Good fun. Im having a blast
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One thing that helped me was pop up fast but keep holding the nose.
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Just a follow up. I had bought some cab wings on fb mkt 800 and 1000. I took the 1000 out today and also added 1 degree + aoa and that kept me from breaching and was able to get a nice ride halfway across the pt at mondos. Popping up was so much better too. Predictable, smooth… I used a bottom mounted 13" unifoil stab on an aftermarket medium fuselage. Pretty stoked. Progress is moving along nicely
Things of note, def pop up fast, stand feet straddled offset across the stringer. For now Im probably hunched over like quasimodo tho. I will work on the stance gradually. Im also learning how to paddle and catch smaller waves and time my popup, not too early… and gradually sliding more forward as the waves starts to accelerate and grab the foil. There are def subtle things you figure out that you just dont read about or nobody mentions on youtube.
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We’ve all forgotten them we learned so long ago haha. It’s taken for granted now. I had a decent SUP session out there in the tiny waves early afternoon.
Was that you I talked to today after you got out on the red kings sup and ono 230 foil?
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Agreed. For me, using a short 55cm mast on an inflatable wingboard has been the magic combo. When I fall, I don’t fall very far. And if I hit the board, hey, it’s inflatable. And I’ve got so much volume in the board that I can paddle for tiny waves, way off in the middle of nowhere, without worrying about decapitating someone.
I’m a little overfoiled at 85kg with a 1300 wing (7 AR), but it’s still fun.
And figuring out the right conditions to go in is so important. Two foot tall waves are so much easier for getting started, compared to three foot tall waves. It’s like the difference between teaching a complete beginner to surf on a longboard versus a shortboard
Very cool. I have been reading up more on the inflatable boards. Like the gong dw boards. I was curious what a super short mast would be like too. I know cabrinha has a 40cm mast but that seems a little too short. 55 cm sounds great tho. Also would be cool to use for lower tide or shallower point breaks up the coast ; )
I’ve only used a 75cm and a 55cm. Falling from a 75cm hurts way more than falling from a 55cm–it’s not a linear equation, feels more exponential haha.
For my local beach break, I bottom out with the 75cm mast at low tide, but no problems with the 55cm. I think you’d have to be surfing somewhere REALLY shallow to need a 40cm, and it would probably make pumping a little more challenging. And you might not even really feel like you’re on foil, since you’d be so close to the water. With a 55cm I already feel like I’m close to the water and very mildly constrained in terms of turning–a 40cm would be a significant constraint.
But on the other hand, bringing the foil closer to the surface would help it get more power, so maybe a 40cm could be suitable for a particularly soft wave at a very shallow spot. I think it might reduce the fun factor though. At some point, dockstarting or SUP foil seems more attractive than trying to prone into a super tiny wave.
If you buy some gong stuff, I’d HIGHLY recommend getting the SCS nuts (open not closed). It’s a set of foil nuts connected with a little stick, so instead of adjusting 4 nuts when you attach the board, you basically only have to adjust two of them. (their website doesn’t really explain the difference between the open and closed nuts. I bought both and found out that the closed nuts just means that you can’t screw “thru” the nut, you can only screw “into” the nut, and then the bottom of it is closed off. I guess it works for inflatable boards, but you might have to add more washers to the top of the screw if your screws are too long)
re: the gong inflatable dw boards, I’ve also been considering getting an inflatable cruzader. But there’s a shaper in a country near where I live who says he can make me a hardboard copy of a dw board that has a V-shaped tail, and he would charge like $800 instead of $2000 for the hardboard.
I’ve read that the V-shaped tail is pretty important for getting the board “unstuck” from the water, and some people say the inflatable boards stick to the water more.
In my country there are only a handful of people who foil, and the secondhand market is crap, so it’s tough to find advice from experienced people on getting the right gear for the conditions, and it’s tough to sell stuff if it doesn’t work.
But the idea of having a basically indestructible dw board to learn on sounds appealing. If I was in Cali, I’d probably go for the inflatable board, if I knew someone who had tried one there and liked it. But in my local area the windy days are usually like 10 knots, maybe 12. I can travel a couple hours to a place that gets 15 knots to practice, but for dealing with 10 knots I’m concerned that the inflatable gong cruzader might be too sticky, and not have the V-tail shape.
I can see the advantage of a hard dw board. considering that it can catch very small swell it def looks more sensitive/subtle. Ive been watching youtubes from lanceisoutside. He shapes his own boards from insulation foam. Seems simple enough to give it a go diy.
Took my cab h1200 out today. I got some of the best rides on it. Super high on the mast, long rides across the pt with some pumping for the heck of it. No double dips yet tho. So stoked. The +1’ aoa shim really made everything work great.
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Nice work! which stab?
I had a foilparts medium fuse with a unifoil 13" shiv.
Getting lots of practice catching and popping up on the board. Its almost feeling natural. I think the consistency of foot placement will be my goal. I want to eventually be able to pop up in somewhat steeper waves which means getting up quicker? But that will probably come with time and experience. There are so many guys on sup/dw boards out there killing it making that look so fun. I’m sticking with the prone for now but def have my eyes set on a dw setup in the future.
Quicker surf pop up is how you ride the steeper waves. What board are you on? I think I might have saw you out there. I was on the red 8" DW board with a black hat and QB paddle.
Ah yeah I saw you out there the past two days. Im on a 4’10" 45l ffb rubix white/ black. You were killing it.
Ive been out for over 2 hours mostly paddling around but when a good wave comes Im 50/50 gonna catch it. With my luck Im always going out right when the tide gets too high so lots of waiting around. But when I catch a good one it makes everything worth it.
Prone is fun but I got tired of waiting for waves, if I want to wait for waves then I’ll just surf. That’s why I switched to tow boogies or SUP. I can get into any wave I want before it is even a wave. Worth it every time.
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Im hoping Ill eventually be able to pump and do multiple but also start heading to other spots with a bit more juice or better surfy setup. But sup def on my list. At this point everything is so new to me it doeant take much to get stoked. Kinda like early days learning to surf.