I have a close friend who would like to start foil surfing, and he needs advice on choosing his equipment.
For the foil, I’ve already advised him and we’ve found some good second-hand equipment, but for the board, I’m a bit lost when it comes to shapes!
He’s 1.76m tall and weighs 70kg, he’s an advanced surfer, and he has no trouble paddling. He’s done two sessions behind a jet ski, and would now like to get into the waves.
I know we generally recommend a board in the 40L range, or just under, but do you have any models to recommend?
I’m on the Portal Enigma 5’6/55L and it has been great getting me started prone. If I could go back I’d go with the 5’2/45L size but definitely worth a look. Unifoil quiver killer is the same board. I’m 5’8, 77kg
This if he wants a board he won’t grow out of for a good while and feels like a shortboard. My coworker ditched his higher liter midlength for this. Long wait time for Amos.
If he has longer paddles and wants a high wave count, go Enigma or Quiver Killer (same board). I’m on the 5’2" 45L QK. I’m 5’8" at 73kg. I almost got the 5’6" 55L and glad I didn’t. I don’t need more paddle and can still duckdive. The board feels much smaller when it gets up on foil. I was really struggling with prone in the beginning even though I’m a long-time shortboarder. Haven’t had the chance to tow. This board made everything so much more enjoyable. I’m probably gonna be on this board for a while, but that Amos Kruzer 4’11" is on my radar when I feel the need to go smaller. I think both boards would stay in the quiver for mushy days as opposed to getting something used that just gets resold for a loss.
Only $375 for an awesome like new FFB Fusion 4’9 which is 38.1L. This board is $1200 new. That’s a perfect spot to start - save your friends money! As they progress and learn more about what specific style they prefer they can go crazy and buy a fancy new board. But that fusion is a great daily driver and similar to what I learned on.
I learned on a board that looked exactly like a standard short board ~40L and it was nice because it didn’t feel so different from shortboarding. If the Enigma (quiver killer) 55L was available back then, I think that would be a good option as well.
Best to know what conditions you’ll be in. Some of the prone boards that are really flat with boxy rails, deep v’s, or multi chanels in the front are best for soft waves, whereas boards with rocker and relatively flat bottoms and surf rails will allow you to pop up holding a rail, get control, then stand up which is very helpful if you are a good surfer learning to foil in breaking waves. The 2024 Cabrinha 04 bump, Amundson nubby, FFB Fusion type boards are all great if you can good a good deal. Midlength might be the call if you are riding California type point breaks or reef breaks that require you to take off on the shoulder.
Totally agree with this. My first board was a Lift 4’4" 44L wing board with a flat bottom and thicker rails. It absorbed the energy from whitewash readily and provided a stable surface laterally while popping up.
I’ve switched to a 5’2" 45L QK and it’s a very different experience. I struggled with pitch control mostly and this board is very forgiving for that. It’s given me a huge wave count and I can paddle into shoulders at reef breaks very easily and early now. I much prefer dropping in early to catching whitewash.
That said, catching whitewash is noticeably more challenging. I get much less push on the pin shaped tail and the canoe shaped hull is much less stable laterally at low speed. White wash will jostle me side to side a lot and I have to ride it out, wasting speed, until the board is under control enough to pop up. I miss a lot of whitewash take-offs due to not getting up early enough.
It’s changed where I position myself a lot and while it’s been great overall, if I was in different conditions, it might not be as user friendly. Foiling is so conditions specific that all gear advice should come with a footnote.
I started with a 5’0 board at 40L and it felt pretty challenging. Once I swapped to something around 4’6 and 35L, paddling got easier and I felt way more in control. Also, if you’re trying to get feedback on your ride position or pop ups, I’ve been using a 360 camera from insta360.com to record sessions - it’s helped me catch small mistakes I didn’t notice before.
I have proned a ton of boards from many brands… Flyline, portal, proper, apple tree, FFB, foil surf machines, 270, amos, Armstrong, takuma… I’m sure a few others. Lift prone boards are the most user friendly boards I have ever used. Can’t figure out why, but incredibly forgiving on every takeoff (whitewash, big, small, steep & weak). It’s like cheating compared to some. Just to give the other end of the scale, the portal trans medium is most challenging IMO.
I find almost all prone boards to be structurally inadequate, esp FFB. Portals seem to hold up. I ride a board I shaped myself and it’s relatively big(35-49 L 4’10”x19 square tail flat deck solid D-cell blank with carbon) and UGLY and relatively heavy but it catches crumbly mushy short period waves better than any of my buddies on portals even with me being larger and mostly on a smaller foil. That wide tail is great for our slop(I feel like that super wide tail block gives something for micro white water to impact against), the trans medium is probably a better all around shape blending a little more paddle power in that pulled in tail(so better for more energy which makes sense since Jax is a step up from us) and the new mids with heaps of paddle speed are probably better for the bigger energy spots west coast, etc. it really depends on your break! When I’m out in the specific conditions I shaped that board for its lightyears better than anything else.
Honestly, I think a lot of boards are way too “good” looking. I don’t think a pretty board translates in any way to good performance and I feel like weight is overrated. Stiffness is KING. My ugly board rips and is unstoppable. Boosting to the moon strapped, hard groundings, foam hits(all at 200 lbs) Killed heaps of foils.
Got a picture of your ugly beast board? Im looking at making my own foilboards. Curious what people feel works best. My ffb rubix 4’10" 45l board works decent. For the volume Id expect it to catch waves easier but might be its a tad too wide and has all that fancy bottom contour going on. I was think just heaps more volume and a midlength profile would be better. Ideally Iw ould love to catch waves close to unbroken if possible.
I rode the 4’5” TM19 for just about a year. I’m 6’3”, 200 lbs, and probably logged 150 to 200 sessions on it (the board in my profile picture) No doubt about it: the board is lightweight and really well made. I’m also a big fan of the company and have a ton of respect for both Mike and Erik. I just picked up another shape from Portal and couldn’t be more excited to get back on one of their boards.
That said, something about the bottom shape (on the TM19 only) made takeoffs feel pretty critical. The board definitely works, and I was able to manage it, but it could be unforgiving at times. It struggled with whitewater takeoffs, and on steeper, late drops, it would sometimes get a bit squirrelly. That was especially frustrating on runner days with quick exits over shallow reef. There can sometimes be a 10 or 20 minute wait between chip opportunities by my house. I’d often have an extra wobble or two, and occasionally just eat it.
Two other prone riders in my area had similar experiences and ended up selling their TM19s for something a bit more forgiving. That said, a fourth rider in our group absolutely loves his and rips on it, so it’s clearly working for some people (and worked for me for a long time).
Once you’re up and flying, the board is insane (stiff and lightweight). I can usually link waves for a good stretch, so takeoffs aren’t everything, but they definitely became a factor on certain shore runners days or when the drop required a more technical entry.
On my Lift board, by comparison, it feels like you can’t miss a takeoff. You can put your feet just about anywhere, and the board stays rock solid. My old flyline (“the barn owl” was shaped by Mike also) was really stable as well
I really think that FFB rubix shape evolved from their shitty construction. Those boxes don’t fail dramatically, they just flex and that messes with takeoff, responsiveness, and pumping. One or two sessions is enough to change the board for the worst. If your a designer shaping those boards, you try something new and exciting and you trick yourself into thinking the shape is a game changer because it’s so much better than the 3 month old board with no visible damage but in reality the shape does nothing it’s just stiff and the old board is flexy. Hence that crazy FFB rubix came to be!
Haha sweet! I love it. So ugly but works awesome and the shape looks very simple. Almost too simple. flat rocker all the way thru, except towards the nose slight chine on the rail, outline like an ironing board. Did I get that right? Any subtle details Im missing?
Whats the carbon layup like? Divinicell is pretty expensive? I wanna make somethung like this. Lots of float, stiff, easy to paddle, catches everything. I was thinking quiver killer initially like the 5’6" with 55l volume but custom seems to be the call.
Theres a utube vid of eric geiselman on a very short simple board too. It seems the simple the better.
I have a donated old naish wide and fat wing foil board that I was thinking of reshaping toa prone board too
You got it 100%. Ironing board. The deck is two layers of 4 ounce carbon bottom is one layer with tons of reinforcement around the boxes. This whole blank is 3 pound Divinycell, which is much much stronger than any EPS. In my experience for an EPS board there needs to be internal carbon, reinforcing the boxes that transfers the foil loads all the way to the front foot. The little high density from insert in the freedom boards is definitely inadequate. I WISH I could dissect a portal to see what’s in there!
