I’m looking to piece together a good starter setup to get into shore running and down winding. i’m looking for the $600-800 range for the foil. I dont know if anyone is willing to ship boards, but there’s practically no used market for boards or foils where I live in SE NC. I’m open to a used downwindining/sup boad as well.
**Thanks for all of the comments/suggestions and gear offers. I’ve got a board, mast, wing, and tail on the way. Just looking for a fuselage now.
Wilmington guy. Any advice? @wingNC @NCWaterman @tgaunce @Tadpole @Jsonnett @sbdawf1981
Are you starting from zero? Or do you know how to foil? Board skills? Weight? Only those two disciplines for now?
I would skip downwind sup and learn to parawing. Much easier and you won’t need a massive foil to learn paddle-ups. Learn PW downwind and go back to sup if you want once you master reading/riding bumps.
If you’re 180-205lbs and learning to downwind in Florida (similar conditions) I would advise someone to target either used Code 1300s & 1130s …and a 980s down the road
or a Unifoil evolution 205, 175 and the 155 down the road.
Extremely similar setups, both great brands, and user friendly for downwind. Also easy to find on the used market. I use that uni kit for prone, shorerunners and DW @ 200pounds. It’s perfect.
If it’s above chest high, that 155 will be maxed out so I would probably just grab my shortboard at that point and surf. I was downwinding Florida with a 40mph wind and the 175 or 155 was great as a beginner (at my weight). Nothing smaller is needed imo
It is a buyers market on used gear these days and amazing deals can be found or good foils. That said $600-$800 might be a stretch for a complete foil setup. You’d need to invest more to get a setup with a decent mast.
Lots of good used options depending on your specific needs. Definitely a used marketplace in OBX between individual sellers and tshops (HISS & Real).
Check FB marketplace and then FB foil sales groups, there’s 3-4 groups on FB that have a ton of daily turnover. Probably difficult to get a board shipped P2P, but a lot shops will ship used boards for $100. Checkout Bigwinds, Real, Mackite, Greenhat, etc. in their used gear section.
I’m in Chapel Hill, and in Wilmington a lot. I’m looking to get rid of my blue AFS prone board - 38liter 4’8" - $450. and a 130liter 7’8" AFS whitebird downwind - $750. If you are smaller i think there’s a 103 liter baracuda for sale. Another guy is looking to get rid of his Code setup at the beginning of august, but maybe outside of your range. There is probably some old Uni gear sitting around someone would sell for cheap. Send me a pm and I can send you photos and more info.
Thanks for the input! Much appreciated.
I’ve surfed most of my life. Downwind just looks super appealing to me. And I was thinking if i get the setup and get going with it, I could add on a parawing down the road.
Yeah, i’m just outside of wilmington.
To DW, you need to learn how to pump. Are you brand new to foiling?
yes. i’ve surfed and skated my whole life. i know not exactly the same but the pumping motion sure does look the same as pumping on a surfboard.
So you are new to foiling. Pumping a foil is not the same as pumping a surfboard - it’s much harder.
If I had to do it over again, I’d get a foil scoot package like the new one WakeThief/Indiana have created and a multi-function ladder to make a portable dock and try that. I haven’t tried this myself, but everyone tells me learning flatwater starts on a DW board is the most-difficult thing in foiling which is why others suggested parawing.
i’ve been told that a couple times now. that’d be cool if I had plenty of money to spend on it. i’ll keep an eye out for a second hand parawing. Sounds like using a parawing to get more foil time might be a good start. Also the pump action that I was referring to was the initial forward pump motion of the board. complete newb here but, yeah definitely looks like the following foil pump is different.
Here’s a good DIY option for a DW board which can be used for parawing.
I have a complete Unifoil Progression kit I could part with: 75cm mast, med fuse (I think off the top of my head), 140/170/200. I have a post up with photos of the foil, but I can come down on my original asking price. I have a few prone boards as well. Located on the eastern shore of Maryland so shipping is probably a better bet for the foil set.
Alex