And breaking an ankle or blowing out a knee.
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Old clip from Ventura ca.
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I feel like that risk is super overblown. I think the ankle thing is an issue on 30” wide wing boards where the board has a lot more leverage side to side? Or maybe people riding too deep in the straps. I bail from the straps all the time and it’s super mellow, anytime I want to be out and I’m out. I’ve had half a dozen knee surgeries (a lifetime before foiling) and it’s not an issue for that at all.
When prone in the straps Most of the time what would be a yard sale you can pull back together and go down in a really controlled way. It turns falling off the board into coming off foil.
Again, not a DWer by any means and I’m not saying it’s a good Fit for regular conditions but it seems like a no-brainer for the top End of the wind range where your not working as much and there’s a bit more consequence to coming off the board.
He has got to be a rugby commentator surely?
20 knots creates a pretty crazy ocean state.
30 knots stops the ability to peel off and so increases the risk of very bad crash. 30 knot average can blow a sup into the air in ocean conditions.
40 knots with stinging horizontal spray. Downwind not likely happening.
Try just standing up on the shore in 40 knots with your board under your arm. One mans 40 knots is another mans 25knots. Get the wind meter out and see what you are actually experiencing.
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Of course, this is very spot dependent, depending on direction, and presence or not of actual swell, aside from wind swell, and the limits will vary accordingly. But those limits will get maxed out at some stage.
A case could be made however in terms of balancing for the boards. Note that I’m not a downwinder myself, but in wingfoil and kitefoil over the years, it became quite clear that some setups get easily airborne more than others. In my wingfoil gear, I alternate between GoFoils pretty much all the way back of the tracks, and Unifoils, pretty much all the way forward, all resulting in the same riding position on the board, and a comparable foiling experience. Similar overall weight but significant difference in weight distribution when carrying the board through the handle. In comparison, when I fall, the Uni rig tends to get airborne more easily, and flip over more onto my wing, whereas the unweighted GoFoil’ed board would be more tail heavy which makes it behave differently in wipeouts, and in the way strong winds affect it.
Taking an extreme example from my early kitefoiling years, I used a Zeeko Spitfire (wayyyy before Axis hijacked that name), a foil setup that wouldn’t lift by itself unless you’d be proactive about it. Kind of ollie onto foil and keep some back foot pressure behind the mast. When bailing out, the board would tend to gently nosedive whereas more conventional foils would send the board airborne, with a few sketchy situations of the board jumping in the lines and turning into an absolute shitshow, sending the kite down and/or sliding down the lines towards you. Whenever I taught friends to foil, I used the Spitfire until they had a good grasp of how to bail. It was inherently safer (and unlike its Axis namesake, the wing tips were extremely blunt, and the wingspan limited, which also contributed to that foil safety)
Long story short, my point is that the super weight balanced setup that possibly optimizes the pumping abilities maybe turns into a disadvantage once conditions get windier, (and when pumping isn’t as critical anyway). Nose heavy vs tail heavy, this will surely change how the wind throws it around. (of course, given sufficient wind, everything will fly and become a hazard)
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I conceptually agree with this. (Don’t have experience with two straps DW). In the higher wind ranges, (35+) my 105L DW board wants to catch wind when I peel off, and I’ve had a few taco’s as the wind catches the board sideways, blowing it downwind. Always thought straps could lend a lot more control, but been a little scared to try!!
Below freezing and gusting 50 knots seems like a good day to be comfortably at home! The conditions must be epic for you to go out haha
It really feels crazy that some people are “playing” on waters that any experienced sailor would find frightening, and almost deadly.
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Believe it or not, it’s not nearly asl cold as you’d imagine. Setting up / breaking down is way colder than actually being in the water
What’s the water temp there, and what wetsuits are you using?
Water temp varies a lot, for the most part stays above freezing, some days in the dead of winter the runs get shut down due to sections of the bay near shore getting frozen over but that period comes and goes quick. Conditions are similar to hood river, id argue steeper and tighter so you can pretty much paddle up at will and stay dry. We’re getting through the whole season with a 4/3, I wore a 5mm a couple times last season and regretted it each time, was sweating like crazy. Unless it’s a brutal cold day 3mm gloves were fine too but I know the parawing guys like thicker gloves. I’m not a hero either, I’m always cold lol
Great Lakes get blasted pretty good through the fall and winter. Not uncommon to see 40-50knot days. See 60kts here and there, kited those back in the day but not interested in foiling at that point.
It gets down to having somewhere to get in and out. The dump on the sand bars can make it sketchy but in and out from a harbour can solve that.
Temps range from 15c to -30c (59f to -22f)
I don’t send DW below zero but supfoil surf all year in any temp.
6mm suit and a good layer of ice on anything water touches. That’s what we get so you either tough it out or sit out 6 months of the year in our only consistent conditions.
Like Steve mentioned above when you working and moving it’s not bad but once you stop and are setting up or tearing down that suck.
And never forget the thermos of boiled water to melt the ice off all your hardware or you won’t be able to get anything apart 
.
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below freezing is one thing.. sub zero is a whole different animal 
might need a strike mission to he great lakes to experience some of that
Thanks both for your kind words,it makes me feel like I’m in tropical waters when the coldest of the coldest my water goes is 12ºC and air is extremely rarely under 5ºC, in the coldest days of the year.
It takes guts to go out on those conditions guys, I’m sure you’re getting loads of fun!
I had a prone surf x2 in the recent storm in the UK, gusting 50s into a bay
- In a bay, more manageable than expected, but pretty unruly. Didn’t feel dangerous, just unpleasant
- Doing turns is useless and this was on a 30L prone board
Think a scooter handle would help w staying on?
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Regardless…the look is totally worth it…I think Kane, Kai, and the Spencers are all moving toward scooter handles…so f’n rad…
it could be a lil windsurf sail kinda thing too. Or the grips could have twist throttle controls that vary the angle of attack and stab angle too. Hahaha!
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Ha yes it probably would have helped, little sail would have been rad too