Iʻve been riding Code for a while now (mostly S series) for prone and pump foiling. It was the brand I bought into after learning on borrowed Lift gear, which I feel rides somewhat similarly. I have almost no experience on other foil brands. I find myself wanting to try other feels, but know itʻs probably not worth the time/money.
One thing thatʻs really been bothering me is that Code rides pretty back footed (from what Iʻm told), and my turns have gotten more aggressive for prone. My pump endurance has improved a lot from all the dock starts, but because Iʻm continuing to reduce tail size, I find my back leg starting to get cooked due to counteracting the lack of front foot pressure through turns. Iʻd like to continue reducing tail size as I get more comfortable, but I see this getting even worse. Itʻs not like Iʻm ever hurting for lift either. Iʻm more likely to push my mast back a bit or shim for less lift, but it still nose dives in turns and doesnʻt give me much front foot on the pump.
Code always seemed like a universally liked brand, so if somethingʻs off, itʻs always gotta be me, but Iʻve been eyeing Axisʻs new offerings because it sounds like theyʻre the opposite, prioritizing front footed riding with tiny loose tails. Iʻm probably just crazy and wanting to spend money because Iʻm frustrated.
Interesting topic to me as was also thinking about trying the Axis (Surge). This will be my third year riding Code. 980S in the summer river swell, 860R in winter ocean swell. There’s already so many $$ to dump into parawings this season I’d rather not change everything below the water too.
Isn’t riding swell a back footed discipline regardless of brand? (that’s a serious question btw ) I’d love to use my legs more evenly but, so many other things need work.
I just tried axis surge 1010, 950 and 830. They’re slow compared to fireball 1070, but lifty and surfy and fun. They’re odd. They lift super easily, they carve great, but don’t feel super loose - as if they’re a bigger wing. I want to try the 740 and 780, which may be more my style.
You can try the rest of my axis stuff if your in central Florida - or try a tiny stab.
I often always wing with a 56cm fuse with the 358/35 tail which is 105cm2, but I just got axis new 95sqcm “surf” tail. It’s so slippery and fast dock starting vs the 150cm2 tail I used to hit 1 minute. The 110R is 110cm2 - What are you using?
I donʻt think this is a matter of mast position. Iʻve played with mast position before and it seems to affect overall lift while riding. Iʻm talking about accelerating through a turn and the foil gaining no lift from the acceleration and therefore nosediving. I noticed this behavior when I started pump foiling without a stab. I flew the board with my hands and noticed that, with no stab, thereʻs zero positive lift. It just glides in the direction you point it. So in my head, as your stab reduces, youʻre relying only on the characteristics of the front wing. I could be wrong about this, but it seems that if a front wing doesnʻt want to lift much through acceleration, itʻs going to just fly in the direction you point int (down in a turn) and I need to put a lot of extra work in with my back foot all the time correcting for that.
Yes, but I remember Erik talking about this in several podcasts years ago how certain setups will be more or less front footed as they accelerate through a turn. I guess what Iʻm asking is if Axisʻs front wings have a natural positive lift while accelerating that, when tail size is reduced, would allow them to maintain some front foot lift instead of just diving when you shrink your tail.
Iʻve been dock starting a lot recently and pumping the 1725s has damaged my pump on my 850s, so Iʻve been easing my way back in with the 1130s with short fuse. Iʻve been experimenting by using my pump tail which is 120r chopped down to 320mm, so itʻs probably around 100cm2 at this point. I like the looseness. Itʻs really livened up the 1130S.
If I move my mast any more forward I have to deal with way too much lift at take-off and while riding. I donʻt need all the positive lift while just cruising. I guess I could shim more angle of attack into my tail, then the increased lift would happen the more water is flowing over it. I also have a surplus of speed right now with this small tail.
This has helped in the past to reduce nose down riding in the turns. I think I stopped doing it because I didnʻt like the angle of the board during pump because of the shim. It was a little nose up. Worth a try though.
If you can shim for an increase of angle in attack in the stab I think that will probably solve a lot of what you are feeling. As you are going faster you are getting increased drag from the mast/wing and that pulls the nose of the board down. A little more lift from the stab should help a lot.
No. I have a 3m floating dock thatʻs very close to the water line, but I can get a bit of a run going. I learned on the 1300s fairly quickly. Iʻve been focusing on the 1725 because I want to log the exercise time and learn stabless, but it might be a good idea to mix in some smaller wing work. I took my 850s out a couple weeks back and was shocked. Every time I tried to pump it I was pushing through the floor. The 1725 ruined my pump on small wings.
Iʻve noticed a lot of improvement in pump endurance for prone, but cooking my back leg while turning has kind of dampened the benefits. I just want to pump to the horizon, catch outside bombs, and go tips out on every turn. Is that too much to ask?
Iʻm going to try this. Iʻm thinking the same thing. I donʻt need the extra lift, except when accelerating through turns, but I want to keep the looseness of the smaller stab.
what board are you using? many boards have too little angle at the box (ie. flat). you can see it with most riders if you’re looking (upright-and-back stance, back leg bent, yaw turns instead of banking roll turns, twitchy pitching), and feel it (back leg pressure, having to micro-manage for pitch, tricky to manage variable lift with changing speed).
If you want to improve specifically your turning as you say, especially powerful banked carving turns, try adding a mast plate shim to rake you mast backwards a bit (ie. fat part of shim at front). You should also feel more comfortable with speed, and it will balance out your front/back leg pressure without messing around with the efficiency and performance/feel of the foil (like tail shimming), or the turning weight balance of the board (like moving fore-aft).
This will be at the expense of a bit of pumping performance. It might feel a bit nose-up at first when you’re going slow, but should equalize with speed and/or when you get used to it.
basically… a drivey step-up vs a skatey groveller.
hope that helps. It’s worth a try, and a very low $ for a potential big improvement.
I disagree on this. I agree itʻs not one-to-one or Iʻd be improving everywhere, but Iʻve learned a lot. My pitch control has gotten much better, comfort riding near the water surface. I can pump into heavy headwinds now confidently. The larger wing just buys me a lot of time to think about things while Iʻm pumping around. Somehow I picked up a heavy foot along the way, but Iʻm gonna take your advice and try to mix in dock starts with my smaller foils.
Last season I’d used a .5° baseplate shim fat end forward and liked the difference. This spring I’ve been running without it as one side broke off (not enough infill when 3d printed). I’ve been struggling with pitch control through higher speed carves… I still have a 1° and will try it. Maybe it’ll be too much but worth a try.
When your back leg starts to burn out, move your stance further back. This will reduce stress on your back foot and force more stress on your front foot. Similar results to moving your mast forward without affecting your takeoff.
) I’d love to use my legs more evenly but, so many other things need work.