Prone takeoff in huge waves

The boards most prone foilers use jut absolutely strugglew to get into those waves. You gotta take a look at the guns that surfers are using on those. They have a lot of foam and length and less width. Foils get sketchy in bigger waves. The water tends to suck up the face and wanna pull the foil out form under you. Paddling into head high waves is tough. Towing opens up so much.

So what is your foil setup for getting into bigger waves like that? Small foil, long mast? 650/700/800? fuse length? Shimming baseplate? Technique?

My board is 17” wide, I use an 85cm mast, a slightly longer fuse, and normally a 740cm wing. Technique wise, for me it helps to drag my front foot until I’m at the bottom of the wave and at a stable height, this helps as you have both hands stabilizing as you drop down and your chest/upper body more forward over the board holding it down and your front foot is a second contact point with the water (like a catamaran). You can see my foot still dragging in the one picture as I’m still stabilizing and haven’t brought it up quite yet after dropping in.

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