Just watched the recent footage of Mike Pedigo going down hard on a white water hit. Watching someone with Mike’s skill level, still have bad luck, and resulting in serious injury motivated me to be a little more cautious, or at least preventative, when on the water.
Anyone have a recommendation for an impact vest for prone foiling?
Check out the Follow Vid vest. Extremely lightweight and minimal, but it has a full padding layer including the sides. It is very low profile and the padding is not “structured” (some of the foil specific impact vests have harder panels) but I find it is the best balance between protection and freedom of movement that I’ve found.
For surfing, I think the wake vests are probably the best option. Winging and kiting vests are meant to be worn with a harness and don’t have protection below the ribs.
Evo.com has them on sale for $90 right now.
Cheers
Thanks for the recommendation
I have the mystic star vest in bright green for winging way out. It’s pretty slim. I bet it would be good for that.
Anybody want to analyze what went wrong in this clip? Not making fun of the fall, just trying to see how to better complete the turn. As always I’ll fully admit Mike is a way better foiler than I am.
Looks like he tried to do a slash in the pocket. He’s towing though, maybe better served by going out on the shoulder further since he should have plenty of speed to do that. This would’ve allowed him to draw the arc of the turn out more, giving him a better view of what he was coming back to hit.
Then when he goes into the white water, he goes sideways into it. If he had gone more vertical it would’ve kept the foil more perpendicular to the white water and therefore easier to control? Going sideways into the white water also keeps you in the white water for a long time, so it’s super unstable in ways you can’t predict.
Looks like he was halfway between two turns and never fully committed to one of the other and that’s what took him down.
Heal up fast Mike!
Limited sizes available right now but the Sooruz surf vest is perfect for prone. More sizes available in June. Feel free to pm me with any questions. Ignore the link seo language it’s bugging out, this is not a wing vest haha
For that that have experience wearing vests in the surf, do the vest have enough floatation to affect duck diving or staying under the power of the waves?
This has always been a hang up for me.
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I wear a Vaikoba PFD when I tow foil which then doubles as an impact vest.
I tried wearing the PFD prone foiling for a couple sessions to make it easier to paddle around on a 27L foilboard. Paddling out to the lineup was easier with the PFD and since it’s not a USGA life vest, duck diving was not a problem, but the waves were only WH with occasional CH sets. However, paddling to catch a wave seemed a little more difficult. The extra drag from the PFD probably slowed down my acceleration while paddling into a wave.
I gave up on wearing the PFD during prone sessions.
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After I broke my ribs surfing I bought the EVO shield, you wear it under your wetsuit with works great for protecting your ribs and molds to your body.
Going to retract my recommendation for the Follow Vid vest. After using it for about a year, the zipper is significantly corroded and barely works. Its a nice minimalist design, but using a zipper with metal is a real design flaw.
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Traditional surfers wear impact vests for shallow reefs in Indo all the time. It should be alright for foiling
I have a Follow Primary XL impact vest, it is ok but very heavy when it is wet. feel’s like 10kg/22lbs
I need a one size bigger foil and my pumping is much worse wearing it.
So I am looking for an impact vest that doesn’t soak up so much water…
Man…I just don’t understand why companies make vests and harnesses that are total sponges…neoprene is not the only material out there for waterwear…also need more hi-viz rather than all black all the time. Seems really, really dumb to me…thanks for the ranting opportunity…
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I was the kid who always had sore ribs after sessions of lying prone on a bodyboard.
I have been wearing an Oneil Gooru vest for over a decade. I bought a spare Oneil vest when the zipper eventually corroded in the closed position. But I am still using the original one as a pullover.
In addition to chest protection I became a fan of hip protection as well. My brother calls me batman.
I am a fan of soft helmets too, Gamebreaker being my favorite.
But eventually after having a pair of shorts and a vest, I found I preferred a one piece design. I am a big fan of the Patagonia Impact Short John. It is so nice not have to keep adjusting the vest from riding up. Recommend ordering up in size for the Patagonia (I wear the same size as my wetsuits and is worn inside). It is my preferred protection in the surf for everyday use. No negatives for me, other then having to learn how to take it off. I still use my original vest & impact shorts for kitesurfng. Having the vest offers padding to the ribs from the pressure of a harness, and the harness keeps the vest in place.
I like the Manera vest. Take a look at kiting impact vests, they have worked well for me so far.
Been using the Airush AK Impact Vest Riot. Side zip and nice low profile. Definitely not as protective as some of the others but is great for proneing. Dont even know I have it on.
Well F*…first day of foiling on vacation at Floras Lake, OR and my ribs hit my board rail pretty hard…been using an O’neill Slasher Comp since this happened to me when I first started a few years ago. Glad the vest was on, and that I got one with padding all around, but I’m in a lot of pain and doubt I’ll be back on the water this trip.
I’ve thought that some of the vests like the wingman are both way overbuilt and overpriced…now to so sure on the overbuilt part at least