Weather that doesn’t line up with my schedule.
But, my biggest gripe is just the lack of real interest in the sport. 90%+ of my sessions are solo. I would love to have more sessions with friends but this sport really weeds out casual commitment. There are lots of people on the beach that have questions and think it’s cool but no one wants to put the time in.
Also…me in this thread…
Narcissists that will take any opportunity to show footage of themselves.
Careful what you wish for. I spent 7 years convincing my friends to get into foiling and the last 2 years cursing one idiot (friend) to get his (assisted) ass off “my” wave.
People talking about heart rate while downwinding. It’s impossible to “redline” for hours.
Kiters insisting on doing their unimpressive low altitude tricks right in front of me and splatting onto their asses. So 2000 and late.
Jumping over here from the DW olympics post to add two inspirational quotes.
“Promoting the sport”
Also want to add that I start dry heaving when someone says the phrase “foil/parawing portfolio” when referring to a foiler or brand’s gear.
Yeah, saying the quiet part out loud “we have lots of options for the parawing craze”
Top level unpowered riders, the guys who can paddle up anything anytime, making FD promo videos. There’$ only one reason to promote FD if you can get on foil anytime anywhere with no assist.
Can we just put assists as a whole in Room 101 and be done with them?
I believe they do more damage than good not only to the image of foiling as a whole but to the progression of the user into the vast disciplines foiling has to offer along with the challenges and victories they provide!
No putting Boogie in the Room! I won’t have anyone besmirch my large inflatable pet.
Haha that’s a crack up rightly or wrongly I don’t throw boogies into that same group it tends to be a different level of rider. Your pet is safe mate 
To be honest, if foil assists weren’t so $$$, I think everyone should just go for it. Trust me, it’ll be really cheap if you can DIY.
I just sold my first foil assists DIY whole kits to my friend less than 200 US, it still can work well in freshwater.
I’ll have to disagree there. I actually learnt to foil with a FDA+ (one of those first guys to strap it to my waist) I think they are a brilliant device during the learning stages but you’re selling your foiling journey short there if that’s where you stop.
Since then I’ve “learnt” to sup foil, prone, wing, parawing, I won’t include dock starting as it wasn’t pretty.
Each and every one of these offered different challenges along the way but each of those learning experiences, victories and aha moments became part of the appeal to have those opportunities as an adult.
I now get more time in the water on foil than I know what to do with, I’m functionally fitter than I’ve ever been and the different disciplines have opened up a whole different set of conditions and locations which keeps it fresh. I can hit the water with nothing more than a board and foil, maybe add a paddle or parawing. No mucking around with batteries or draggy motors whilst keeping the annoyance level to other users of the water to a minimum.
Whilst I’m not rolling in money, an assist isn’t out of my budget but I can hand on heart say since selling mine after 6 months of learning, I’ve not once yearned for it again.
I’ve had plenty of demos since of all the latest gear, trenches, integrated masts, rainbow unicorn colours props, amp jets, duotone etc and yeah sure it made it easy to surf some waves, but I was left feeling kind of empty.
I don’t want this post to come across as too ranty, I’m glad people enjoy their assists (just please stay out of the lineup!) but for just a little bit more effort lies a whole world of reward.
Maybe you’re right—I’m still at the stage where I’m learning through FD… I can only go on weekends, and not every weekend.
Videos & photos of Chicama.
Stop posting them. At least until I can travel again.
I don’t want to drag the Room 101 too far off topic, but I hope my message above excites you at how much more good stuff there is to come.
I wish I could experience all my foiling first times again, the first time I paddled up, linked a wave, gybed with the wing, packed away the parawing and rode bumps in the gorge!!
Final bit of advice if I may or at least what worked for me… I only ever looked at my FD as a tool to expedite the learning process before transitioning to “real foiling”
Every single session I went out I did deliberate practice, sure it was fun but I went out with a goal on something I wanted to learn each time and most importantly targeted skills that would transfer over to the future non assisted disciplines.
I strongly believe the FD is at its best when you’re not using it. Use it to chip in/get on foil (even then I’d always paddle with my arms at the same time) and then pretend you don’t have it, release that trigger and don’t grab for it again, learn to stay high on the mast, find the energy in the ocean, control your pitch, pump as far as you can, all things you will use once you graduate off of it.
Anyways, hope that helps you or any other open minded assist users.
Buttttttttt I’m still chucking them in Room 101 
200$ for a whole kit? I wouldn’t hesitate. I thought DIY kits were closer to 1k or so.
Bruce might be in China closer to the source, but with taxes for an extremely basic starting point I’d suggest below as a viable parts list:
TOTAL $1000
And this is for the absolute cheapest stuff I can imagine working, easily add another $1000 for actually getting this working for the first time, and easily easily another $1000 to keep it working!
add coaching surf camps to Chicama wtf is it with people and going there how about a boat and a long wave somewhere with no other people lol
