Man, I know this is the no dumb ideas thread but the MAGIC of board foiling is being able to tap into the natural balance flight control computer between our ears and not have to rely on some kind of $10000 mechanical computer to manage ride height. I can’t see the moths or the computer controlled AC nonsense without thinking how stupid boat foiling is.
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to be clear this is to increase the low end, which might become interesting when average joes want to try ride AR 18 foils or whatever is in the pipelines
but yes this isn’t your thread
Love this thread. I have thought way too much about flaps and also the multihull board. A few others that occupied my brain space:
1 - Variable Shims. A springy shim that allows the AoA on the stab to reduce as speed increases. I have actually tried to build this but the complexity of removing side to side movement on a flexible shim material has halted testing…
2 - Jet propulsion, inlets in the wing and jet out of the fuse. Battery and motor both housed in board with a driveshaft down the mast to reduce drag.
3 - RIB board. Have a small rigid board (Kite/Tow Size) with various inflatable pontoons that can be attached like a RIB made like inflatable SUPS. Can get Tow, Prone, Wing, DW all from the one board and packs down super small to travel.
4 - If we are getting really stupid, time to build a foil that flaps like bird wings…
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The rib idea actually already exists (lift foils blowfish). Can’t imagine it’s very good though. I started learning winging on a large inflatable and that was definitely bad for progression. Way too much drag and flex
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Exactly, the blowfish is a good example except I don’t think that does anymore than add stability to an existing board shape. I was thinking more of the existing inflatable wing/sup boards etc with a common rigid central component for the foil attachment/feet. I never said it was a good idea, just an idea!! 
Oh, I completely forgot about the next gen foildrive idea:
Put the motor vertically just above the mast in a recess in the board. A vertical drive-shaft goes to a right angle bevel gear to the propeller shaft. That way the motor bulge drag is reduced greatly. We could even go with a small gear ratio to get the motor speed up higher and therefore a lighter smaller motor.
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Every time I’m at the local hardware shop I look at the right angle drill attachments and think to my self, how long would it last…
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Elastic booster, though tbh I’m less interested in direction than the idea of v2 BRM… Maybe this allows you to ride a 300cm wing race foil
Kite lines on a reel, I imagine there may be some advantage to having lines at 5m, 10m, 20m? Upwind decreases, power increases as line lengths increase according to kiting conventional wisdom, but that may apply poorly to this context
Two retractable dog leashes on a two liner would be fun to try.
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Two kites at the same time.
A regular foil kite to go upwind, then pack it down and parawing downwind.
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1 mast that works for all systems!
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quick release systems are an innovation that no one asks for, but I am sure one will catch on eventually in mid-range gear.
Here is a list, prompted by slingshots clever widget:
Or you could go with my own - Patent Pending - ridiculous innovation. Take a foil that disassembles, but has a bit of connection movement, and permanently epoxy it together to eliminate the movement…but it never comes apart ever again! Anything for a bit more performance!
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Yeah I think the QR systems solve a problem that the industry isn’t ready for just yet (eg See bicycle QR that solved a problem). Who is foiling that is worried about 1min lost to twisting an screw when all that matters is how rigid the system is. I’m almost ready to buy a van so that I can epoxy a setup!
Scooter handles
As much as I dislike this insta scoot account and the desperately attention seeking content, I think this could eventually be a thing.
- Allows you to ride switch, good for reducing back leg fatigue
- Allows you to incorporate arms into the pump
- Can ride a very narrow board, because you have extra leverage, will we see 10"?
- Easier to jump and land
Hate to say it, but scooter kids coming to the lineup soon
I don’t think you could paddle them in, but if the ‘scooter kids’ discover foil drives its game over lol.
They find a way to rock start and then scoot over to lineups… 
or just paddle in with the handle bar on the side. Who is gonna try that first
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absolutely. I’m surprised we don’t see it yet, seems like it would be easy to install on a scooter, and the throttle right on the handle-bar. Waterstarting would be interesting but likely very doable.
Last week I brought a dollar store umbrella to the dock with me. I dockstarted, turned 180 downwind and easily deployed the umbrella while pumping, and I suck at pumpfoiling. I look forward to trying on an opposite wind direction where I have more room downwind. Even though wind was light, it was still faster than my board speed and I could feel some assist. I’ll likely try reinforcing the umbrella for stronger winds. Maybe I’ll need a quiver, it would cost like $25. I also found that when I crashed upwind the umbrella helped pull me back to the dock.
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I think I’ve seen the umbrella on the dockstart page, seems like a great idea. I’m pretty excited for someone to take the folding umbrella mechanism and build kite around it, seems much more reliable than the kite line approach.
Fwiw, the wingsuit idea is an extension of that. Kai Lenny manages to live a decade in the future
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