Downwind limits

Downwind Foil
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Kind of a crazy thought, but it’s been on my mind lately and I thought I’d open it up for discussion. We seem to just now be on the cusp of the modern era of downwind foiling with what is possible on the new gear. Like all these pursuits I expect people to start to push the limits of what’s possible, and I’m wondering what that looks like for downwinding.

We’ve seen people pushing the endurance/distance limit further and further and that’s one obvious avenue. We’ve seen the speed being pushed with the races and the push for faster foils.

The limit I’m most wondering about is size/risk, similar to big wave surfing. Are we going to see people begin to tackle the Southern Ocean and similar conditions on a downwind set up? I’m mostly interested in the conditions and if it’s even possible to foil above a certain swell size, but I imagine there will be limits pushed in distance too. Could you do tow ins and just ride out there when it’s doing it’s thing? Say, like this for example:

And then distance, there’s only a few options for runs from place to place. The shortest are around 1000mi. Is it possible to foil from Southern Tasmania to Southern New Zealand, around 1000mi through the Southern Ocean? 33 hours on foil at 20mph. Could you even get up again in those conditions if you didn’t have a tow?

What do you think? Will we see people starting to push those limits and what do you think is possible?

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Not to mention a hot tub when you get home!

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I love the thought of possible multi day endurance dw races.

Could be island hopping with checkpoints on each island.
Adventure style.
Do you push on or choose to sleep

And would love to see people foiling the swells in those videos

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that would be cool. You could definitely do something like that in hawaii, start on maui, go to molokai, then to oahu.

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What about limits for everyday runs, as far as wind speed? Right now the direction is right for a run I’ve wanted to try near Portland Maine, but it’s gusting to 60kts, so I’m drinking coffee inside.

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I think it’s more a case of safe entry/exit in the stronger wind speeds. Paddling out and into a port or channel. 60kts doesn’t worry me at all out in the deep :laughing:, but if I have to put in and pull out at a beach…… no thanks.