....the foils from a few years ago. Its surprising what would work, & it didnt take much effort to make it work.
It usualy took a "surfer" about 1/2 hour or so to get the foil dialed. The driver would make the job of learning easer by being aware of the best speed to tow.
At the time, due to a lack of waves over a few consecutive years we lost interest. But they can be used with kites. The kites at the time had very
little depower & were not as suitable as todays kites so I might make a new foil for the light grovel days, foils are so efficient, once up & riding on the foil very little power is needed.
They need an initial power spike to break the board clear of the water, then its like flying a very small aircraft, that your standing on, & it cant be bought too close to the surface or it will ventilate, imediately loosing lift, a stall you might say, & quick face plant generaly follows
Great toys for bommies once wired
Hey Dean,
Looks like fun, I am up for it!
I was talking to a specialist about a brace to protect my ribs for when i get back into surfing for the first few months.
I intend to get back into flat water training in 2 weeks just paddling on the Barwon for excercise every day on the PSH12gun.
I spoke to Nesha and she is very keen to have a go a kiteboarding.
Thanks again for the tour of the Big Boys Shed.
Phill
Hey Lacey,
Dean (Yoda) makes the board the foil the lot he is very resourceful
Phill
Hi Lacey,
Foilboarding on the tow differs from water skiing in a few ways, on skis its 2 dimensional, on a foil there is a third dimension, the vertical, that is most important to learn how to control.
That's why I say it's like flying a low flying an aircraft, you haven't got much altitude to play with.
That's what is important in making the shaft hight, to short you have little "altitude" to fly, & too long.....well, havent realy made a long shaft, I think you could imagine how hard you'd crash from a hight ! It's not just a fall.... the foil can hook into the water bringing you to a very sudden halt from the feet, & the rest of the body tends to want to keep going....gives the neck a bit of a stretch A human controlled foil is not something you want to use to break a speed record on. Although the sailing speed record has recently been broken on foils, check out "Hydrotere" now thats what I call a wild ride!!!!
To ride a foil requires finesse, good ballance, & a good tow driver that knows what speed to go, I think we used to pop out of the water at quite low speed, 10 or 15 k's? At slow speed you get more time to adjust the angle of attack to start & then maintain "flight"
I keep refering to flight because that is the main sensation I would feel, the guys in the zodiac would be getting bounced around in the chop, the foil feels none.
I havent done any powder skiing but yes, I think the sensation could be similar
A human controlled foil is not something you want to use to break a speed record on. Although the sailing speed record has recently been broken on foils, check out "Hydrotere" now thats what I call a wild ride!!!!
I would be super keen to have a go. My mates jetski would be perfect. I can picture the crashes and you would hit the water really hard and fast.
I got 160cm+ of powder in Hakuba Japan a couple years ago and I would imagine it would feel very similar. As you slow down to a speed the foil or snowboard can't maintain lift and you would slowly start to sink.
I'd rather sink and be swimming in water rather than neck deep powder though (near impossible)!
This vid of Laird has been around a while but does explain some of the whys and wherefores:
I am working on powered support for our Bombie adventures right now.
The next time it breaks down here we will be ready to cut it up safely!
People under estimate what can go wrong and how badly, it only takes seconds.
I learned a lesson last week, but it was a great lesson.
As Laird says preparation is everything.
By winter next year we will have everything we need in place to have some serious FUN FUN FUN.
Phill.
