So it has happened. eFoils and Foil Drive Assists going through the lineup.
Where do eFoils and Foil Drives fit in the lineup hierarchy?
First there were SUP’s, then SUP Foil boards and Prone Foils introduced to the lineup and causing varying degrees of UPSET. This past week it happened at one of the better spots in Northern California.
We have been SUP foiling when the waves are gigantic at this protected, otherwise beginner spot, for the past 4 years. Buoys typically 15+ feet at 18 seconds and Mavericks would be breaking 30+ feet. The knowledgeable beginners stay away, so the foamies clear out and we will catch waves at the halfway point where the wave softens and the short boarders, or better long boarders are about to kick out at the end of their rides. Takeoffs can range from 6 to 12 foot faces so its advanced foiling conditions.
This week I was out and it was big, but not gigantic buoys 12 ft @ 14 seconds. The long period wraps the point inside to where the beginners sit and there was a pack of foamies well inside. I was SUP Foiling and could takeoff on 5 to 7 foot unbroken faces 200 yards wide of the pack. Then I fly wide into the open, unbroken ocean.
I turn for a wave and the eFoil Assist guy 20 feet inside of me says “You going?” Really! You’re going to power OUT into the lineup and then ASK me, as if you are going to SPIN and go!!!
There has to be SOME UNIFORM etiquette around eFoils.
I am not a hater, and there are some outer reefs that a Foil Drive Assist would be great but at this spot it was clear that the eFoilers were NOT advanced riders. They were learning to takeoff deep as opposed to developing good paddle skills and flying wide of the whole world where the entire open ocean would be their playground. Thoughts??
Sample video here. Example where we were all getting along. I am the UPPER LEFT most person.
Prone guy was crushing it, flying all over the place, he is pumping out in the opening clip.
Foil Assist guy center top video takes off @ 5 seconds and falls. I then paddle and takeoff @ 10 seconds upper left. Foil Assist guy stands up and takeoff again @ 20 seconds. I cut back and see 2 others on the wave and fly super wide. Prone guy hops back and loops around.
Foil assist guy is porpoising up and down and crashes again @ 27 seconds, I go off screen and back and prone guy flies back out to his friend at original takeoff spot.
I don’t like foildrives in a lineup anymore than you. But I fail to see the problem in that video. Looks like a perfect day to learn how to use it safely. Lots of open space.
Powered crafts will eventually be banned from most lineups due to safety concerns. The problem with the e-foiler’s in your video seem to have more to do with lack of understanding of basic etiquette needed to minimize issues with others in the lineup.
E-foils allow the rider to bypass typical conventions like, hierarchy, furthest out, and Right-of-way while on waves. Maybe a conversation or two with those offending riders would help.
Cowells is technically a 5mph speed zone, so if it becomes an issue, the harbor patrol or lifeguards can ding them for it since an efoil should qualify as a boat… that said, it’s not as bad as last winter when some guys were towing in with a fishing boat there. They were staying wide, but still, zipping up an down right next to one of the most crowded surf spots north of pt conception is bad form if you ask me. Not helping the foilers cause at all and giving ammo to all the surf moms and grumpy longboarders who want foiling banned outright.
I had more experience today with Foil Drive Assist in the lineup. In short I am recommending:
1) Foil Assist have to take off WIDER than any other Surf Craft. Never inside of another Foiler or Surfer. If someone is paddling for a wave wider (even if you think they are going to miss) don’t go.
2) If you can communicate with anyone else in the lineup YOU ARE TOO CLOSE. Go further down the line.
Foil Assist permits catching unbroken waves, think a built in Jeremy Riggs. There are plenty of waves just don’t pee in the punchbowl where others are trying to catch waves. Go wide and the whole ocean is free to fly.
The other observation was that the Foil Assist gets people out to the lineup faster. 2x faster than me on a SUP foil, much faster than laydown. Essentially they have a tow team built in and are doing loops. So when they’re on a wave priority rules should change, similar to a foiler when pumping out for their second wave.
I had a Foil Assist guy turn 10 feet inside of me and say “I’ll go in front of you.” I had a 80% chance of making the unbroken wave, but suddenly I was paddling in propwash and did NOT catch the wave. I had caught plenty of waves so not a huge upset but … Mmmmmm!
383 users on this site, its kind of a push to say a post like this would even reach your target audience. Why don’t you post on the foil drive Facebook post. Or better yet just communicate to the foil drive user in question.
Yeah I saw some of the Foil Drives at this spot doing some pretty questionable takeoffs near surfers this week too, kind of made me worried that foiling could get banned there more easily. They should at the very least try to take off where the normal sup foilers are taking off (pretty far on the shoulder) from rather than right by surfers, since they have a paddle and an engine.
Conventional SUP riders must be feeling some relief as the angst is deflected at foilers, and thence to foil drivers and efoilers. Windsurfers at Hookipa encoded rules many years ago.
Zone B is designated for surfing when at least five or more persons (5-man rule) are engaged in surfing within this zone**. No person shall operate a sailboard within this zone within the surf break area.
“Conventional SUP riders must be feeling some relief as the angst is deflected at foilers, and thence to foil drivers and efoilers.” Ain’t that the truth. Years ago the SUP’rs got major ***t in our home spot, but now the SUP’rs are giving us foilers the business, “that’s not surfing!”, etc. Particularly since most of the SUP’rs now are the aging surfers, who used to give the SUP’rs crap. And they will soon probably be sup foiling and then giving the efoilers crap. That’s the surfing circle of life LOL.
Fast forward one year… It’s even worse now because every month a new e-foiler shows up. With the new technology these people that were just motoring back out slowly are now up on foil going back out. It’s not sustainable and ban is inevitable, let’s hope they don’t do a blanket ban on all foils.
yeah thats my worry too. Every foil drive / e foiler guy i see on the beach says they have the motor so they can “go where no one is” and 10 minutes later they are in the same lineup as everyone else… A lot of these guys have no surf background either so their knowledge of etiquette is lacking. If they want to keep doing it they should probably work a bit more at self regulating before they get regulated.
I would be in favour of banning efoils, all forms of motorised assistance inc foil drives from the line for the following reasons:
I have been snaked and then abused by a foil driver user who almost hit me saying it’s my wave, when if they had no motor they would not catch any wave
Another time kite foiling a foil drive user motored directly down wind of me when I was attempting to start kite foiling. These new generation of foil drive users has no common sense and do not know the rules of wind sports and where to give way, they just press the trigger and fark everyone else. Let’s ban them before they ban normal foiling altogether.
A foil drive user has no right of way in the line up even if they caught it earlier on, they are using an assist product and shold be treated like a PWC in all states and banned.
The majority of foil drive users wouldn’t be in the lineup without it, so get out of the line up as you don’t have the skill to be there in the first place
The noise is so annoying of the motor. As long as I can’t hear them I’m ok. Unless I’m getting to use it myself
It seems pretty simple to say that anything with propulsion NEVER has the right of way over self propelled craft.
Motorized<under sail<prone foiler<surfer<swimmer
If you are lower on the right of way ladder (ie motorized) anyone higher than you(ie surfer or swimmer) should never have to ever think twice about changing their course due to your movement.
Foils are way too easy to maneuver and stay out of people way for this to be an issue but of course 100% of foilers are lifetime kooks who can’t help themselves and have zero awareness of surfing etiquette
Foil drive is 100000% a PWC … Which is fine they are sweet and there are a million places to use them. Even maybe at a surf break on a day with Zero surfers out. but the idea of thinking they are something in the middle is insane
Totally agree with your lineup priority ranking here, and motorised should entirely avoid lineups, as do kites and wings, (and so should foils for the most part), no question there.
This is crux. What makes all of this a likely mess is that the target market for foil-drives is quite exactly a person who wants to ride waves but cant. Probably can’t because they can’t surf, so doesn’t know the lineup. Would think nothing of surfing 1000 waves per session without realising they’d got in the way. Equally likely to ramp a jetski in a lineup… Despite the marketing with all the great surfers riding them, the buyer will be for whatever reason someone not able to surf without it. In the middle of nowhere that is fine, but in a surf area that is always going to cause a clash.
There is definitely a spectrum, maybe not from a surf lineup perspective where I agree it is black and white and they have no place (neither do foilers in most instances, but hey at least it’s silent), but I think there is some inevitable spectrum. I think you only need to look at ebikes to see how inevitable it is for electric to entirely take over a sport and the sport to end up having to deal with it. Even bike parks with shuttles are overrun with ebikes. It basically opens up a sport to people who otherwise wouldn’t get satisfaction doing it - you can see the issue here with surfing!
