We live next to a large bay so wind swell is our only option. Upwind/downwind in anything up to 15knots, 5’4 Kruzer type board on a 877sqcm wing. Parawing above 15knots, virtually never wing or kitefoil anymore. Typically get 35-40mins out of a battery, generally have a 2 battery session, fairly tired after that.
In winter when the wind dies it’s flat water pump session, like dock start but without the need for a dock.
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IMO having done both if you can already wing I’d choose that over FD (if you can’t FD is an amazing learn to foil tool).
Modern wings flag really well, your board should be substantially lighter/more responsive and without the worry of pod drag or charging batteries/remotes all the time.
I personally also find it way more satisfying and peaceful silently winging around powered by nature with essentially unlimited run time than buzzing around sounding like a bucket of farts. I also enjoy the fitness aspect of analogue.
I think parawing will soon fill the gap of people who want their hands free without having to worry about sitting in a car for the upwind shuttle.
For the times you get offshore breeze and waves I’d be sup foiling (which I prefer over prone most times these days) again with current boards/foils with the slightest bit of effort wave count is near limitless
I think anyone learning to foil should try to get their hands on an assist of some variety, but once the basics are ingrained I still feel the other disciplines offer more if you are willing to put a little work in to get there.
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I live right next to a large Harbour (no surf though surf is a short drive away) and having a ball almost out my front door on FD chasing wind bumps, tidal swell (won’t apply to you??) and boat wake. Gives you the ability to go hunting in FD for where the bumps are. Downwinders are awesome doing loops back up to rinse repeat.
Yes it’s a lot of $$$ but I am on the water so much more now rather than waiting for the right surf days or just flat water cardio SUP. Been worth the investment for me.
Edit. Per DRC13 above….. I am admittedly early in the foil journey (and completely totally obsessed). FD no question has totally accelerated my learning. Whether I continue to use it as my skill develops in the other disciplines of foil, maybe you are right and it drops off. But here the wind or waves often don’t work for wing or sup foil and FD gives me another option to get out more often which is the goal.
Each to their own choice, but for swell riding with nothing more than the controller in your hand on a small 25lts board it beats winging easily. Go where ever the swell takes you, no swapping the wing between your hands. Many days the wingers are on the beach waiting while we are out carving swells.
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Enjoy this early stage it’s one of the best bits of foiling where you come in each session feeling like you’ve learnt or achieved something new!
I’m not anti e-foil, but I am anti e-foil within earshot of any surf lineup
I’m very thankful I got to spend my first 9 months of foiling on a foil drive it really expedited my learning process and allowed me to catch up with guys that had 4 years more experience on me.
I do believe you hit a performance/fun ceiling fairly early on especially if you are the type that is driven, enjoys a challenge and practices intentional learning. The good news is the other disciplines that once seemed out of reach are much easier to pickup with the skills you have learnt on the e-foil.
If I could offer advice at least from how my learning timeline went.
Practice and ingrain skills that transfer over to analogue foiling. It’s lost on me why people are choosing to not paddle with their arms and then doing a slow and clumsy popup via knees/elbows. That simply won’t work without the motor so why not use a more efficient method (paddle like a surfer and pop straight to your feet) that will.
Also be sure not to build an overreliance on the throttle. I believe the FD is at it’s best when the pod is in the air and the throttle is 0%. Surf the wave, maintain speed and glide via good mast height control and turning, staying in the energy source. Don’t grab for the throttle at the slightest drop in speed, your foil has way better low end and glide than you probably think and can be saved with a turn or slight pump. Once done with the wave do your best to pump and link that wave again don’t reach straight for the throttle. It’s a fun and efficient way to learn the basic mechanics of pumping which again will transfer over to all the other forms of foiling as well as conserving your battery.
Using my FD as a tool to get better each day but always with the goal of ditching it when I was ready worked out really well for me. Each session both easy and terribly hard I’ve had since has been rewarding. I have multiple gen2’s I could be on with a text message but I’ve yet to need one in over a year since I sold mine.
Foiling is awesome, every discipline is different and fun (including efoiling) don’t sell yourself short and miss out on the variety and challenges it offers!
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All good points thanks. Definitely enjoying the ride, I’m frothing like a teenager.
I am picking up skills for sup foiling in the surf and dw. But at this stage - with the ceiling well above me still (one of the benefits of being short….) I see the FD also having a place in the quiver for quick sessions after work chasing bumps, as I have been (walk out the front door, done before dark).
It’s one of the great things about foiling…lots of different disciplines. All suited for different conditions.
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Obviously there is no RIGHT OR WRONG when it comes to how you like to have fun, unless it interferes with other people in a negative way.
That’s why Efoils are so controversial, as people have stated here, they allow fools to screw up the surf lineup and make us all look like kooks and get foils all banned.
Efoils/ebikes/eskateboards are just slightly closer on the spectrum to videogames.
Lots of people like to get their fun and flow-state from concentrating on an LCD screen in a dark room for hours (video games), this isn’t necessarily wrong but it’s not active and is a bit dystopian in my opinion.
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Ironically, I think Northern California might actually offer more potential for Foil Drive-style assist than most places — especially when it comes to avoiding crowd pressure. Between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, easily 95% of the coastline goes unridden. Not because it’s unfoilable, but because, as the saying goes, “the best surf spots always have parking.”
As my downwind skills — along with the gear — have improved, I’ve been able to foil daily in open ocean conditions around Half Moon Bay. Winter regularly brings 6–10 ft @ 10+ seconds — plenty of energy. The coast is a mix of beach breaks and point breaks, the latter offering not just classic surf setups but also ideal access to offshore energy. For me, the biggest challenge is simply getting on foil. Foil assist solves that — no jet ski, no endless paddle-outs, just smart access.
The issue isn’t terrain — it’s mindset. Most assist users aren’t creative or willing to leave the parking lot or the known takeoff zones. They gravitate to the same crowded peaks, even though just a few hundred yards farther out, the entire ocean becomes a playground.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but assist — when used thoughtfully — might be the best tool we have to decentralize pressure in the lineup. All it takes is a bit of imagination.
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The more time I spend in this sport the more I realize geography, coastal topography, and infrastructure radically define how we ride and the equipment we use. Even at my local the goofy vs regular foot dynamic results in radically different techniques, approaches, and equipment between two rides with the same skill set riding the same conditions.
I think that’s part of the negative when I travel I’m so dialed for what I have on tap I don’t like to adapt to those new conditions. Also, on a personal note, my home geography is so boring and SAFE and mellow I find places with real geography to be kind of intimidating. At home I’m almost never more than 200 yards from a mellow hard sandy beach (with another few miles of beach downwind and upwind) and wind perfectly sideshore.
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Side question: Do you ever see any of the big fish with teeth out at HMB?
Only when you look down.
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Only indirect evidence of Teeth.
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This little guy was hopping on everyones Jet Ski outside the lineup at Mavericks
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I was getting in the water 3/4’s of a mile North of Mavericks. It was a big day so I needed to go in the water ‘to the left’ but there was a big Sea Lion on the beach. I never ever see Sea Lions on this beach. I approached him and thought he would just go in the water. Nope. He started barking at me. Then he turned and didn’t want me to go behind him either. So I eventually just had to jump in. He rushed into the water and I thought he was coming for me. Later I learned that a Shark had buzzed the lineup at Mavericks. This guy was trying to tel me NOT TO GO IN THE WATER!!! When I did he probably figured I was the slowest of the options and HE was safe.
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I drive the coastal route every couple of weeks, but years ago I was doing it a few days per week. what you say is a wild exaggeration … gotta be more like 99.9% goes unridden. And so much of it has completely foil-able breaks, some arguably better than the popular surfing breaks. I’ve ridden many of them alone. But they are all pretty spooky, for one the man in the grey suit it always somewhere close, but also just being out in a somewhat remote location where the ocean is fairly raw reminds you that if something goes wrong, you’re on your own. I think it isn’t just the parking lot, but the fact there there are always people there with you to some extent.
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You’re drawing a long bow equating efoils with being in a dark room on a video game.
FD appeals for the same reason I SUP surf (apart from love of the ocean, and the buzz from catching natures rolling energy….). Sunday I was SUP surfing and there were a handful of people on one bank. With a paddle no issue just head to the next empty bank (until they see you catching waves there and paddle out from the beach to join you….).
If FD is used in this way (as a few people have highlighted above) it’s for the good of all.
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Heard behavior.
People stick together for some reasons.
I live on an endless beach with hundreds of surf breaks.
All surfers are always packed together at the very same peak.
They don’t care that there is an empty peak 2 minutes paddling away.
They stick together.
And accidents are very common due to the density.
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I think you nail it. Deep water energy isn’t really a good match for most foiling setups. I think electric chip in setups are the future.
great advice
I think for many, the easier this is, the sooner the bug loses it’s grip, and you go back to “the search”. Hard is more rewarding than easy.
Surfers as a pack animal are small-minded morons, the local beach with the cam is 10x more crowded despite having worse waves. Wait until the industry deems foiling “an OK thing”, be glad you were early
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Oh my god - this keeps happening to me too. I pick out a spot on the beach where nobody is and go there. I start having a ball on wave after wave and all of a sudden I have a pack around me. The funniest part is usually they can’t catch much of anything. Sup Foiling has gotten so good now that I don’t need a breaking wave at all anymore. Nice thing is its pretty easy to just pump over to the next empty slot
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