Really appreciate your thoughtful reply. There is a lot to chew on there. I realized I wanted to foil about 6 years ago while watching some guys DW the south shore of Oahu. They came around the point at Black Rock, connected unbroken swells down past Diamond Head on to towards town, swooping in toward shore picking off the breaking waves on the bigger sets then pumping back out to rejoin the swell train. Wow!!! Fast forward to today, I still haven’t made the time to foil. It’s at the point now that I’m ready to write it off as a pipe dream, because of my age, my fitness, it just felt as though it was out of reach. That is, until the other day, when I sat in the lineup at my local break and watched guys on foil drive having the time of their lives. Now I’m looking to buy all the gear and learn to foil.
At this point I can’t say whether I"ll stick with FD beyond the learning phase or not. I am grateful for what it offers. I will say, buying gear is proving challenging, in part because FD makes it possible to get smaller boards and foils than a beginner normally would. Then there’s the mast. The motor position (15cm) argues for a longer mast when a shorter one might be better for when I ditch the FD. I know,I’m overthinking it, but it’s hard not to when I’m looking to spend thousands of dollars. Anyhow, thanks to you and everybody else who has shared their time and experience.