I have been able to windfoil nearly every day this month.
Lots of fun and lots of wipe outs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGZysrvIJhY
Windfoiling Jericho
john m wrote:I have been able to windfoil nearly every day this month.
Lots of fun and lots of wipe outs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGZysrvIJhY
Nice work John, I need to start using my foil more. Today would have been a great day out a Point Roberts. I went out to pick up a package and walk the dog and it was 15 to 18 knots. I need to get a bigger board for the Okanagan lake though as I was unsuccessful last year getting my 106 L SUP to work with the foil. When my hand is better I'll join you down at Jericho sometime.
- Michael
- Posts: 2773
- Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 9:31 pm
Jericho has been good this month. Today it delivered again. I scored a smmooth 5.7/110litre session from 415-6pm. The low’ish tide provided waist deep FLAT water over the sandbar and only minor chop on the outside. Looked dismal when I arrived at 230; kiters were swimming in after the wind tanked. Patience paid off though; it came right back at 4pm and proved much better than it looks from the shore, since it was pure west.
Nice mellow time in the afternoon sun - a good recovery session after Saturday’s blast!
Nice mellow time in the afternoon sun - a good recovery session after Saturday’s blast!
- Brian C
- Posts: 743
- Joined: Fri Oct 25, 2013 7:21 pm
By the way, I was windsurfing not foiling. The kite foilers were complaining that it was too windy. I think they must have been beginners!
- Brian C
- Posts: 743
- Joined: Fri Oct 25, 2013 7:21 pm
It has been insane lately for windfoiling at Jericho. It seems like most days in the last two weeks were sailable or windfoilable at Jericho. With windfoiling I have kind of lost interest in leaving town to find wind. So often Jericho is perfect. A couple weeks ago i started a 5.8m session at 6:15pm, I foiled powered for an hour and it was still decent when i got off the water. I never would have bothered even trying to get on the water that late in the pre-windfoil past. Having the board volume to get in if it shuts off is also nice.
- adam2
- Posts: 368
- Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:01 pm
Hey Adam!
Would love to hear what gear you are using for windfoiling, specifically how large a front wing and length of fuselage you are running, as well as sail sizes you generally use. Do you find you even bother with a harness? As well as what size sails you generally run.
Do you prefer it over kitefoiling? I agree with you re the schoggability factor vs going for a swim with kite gear, but there is also the portability issue as well.
I've had a chance to do both, but have yet to be led down the garden path on either route in terms of purchasing gear.
Thanks for any all input
C
Would love to hear what gear you are using for windfoiling, specifically how large a front wing and length of fuselage you are running, as well as sail sizes you generally use. Do you find you even bother with a harness? As well as what size sails you generally run.
Do you prefer it over kitefoiling? I agree with you re the schoggability factor vs going for a swim with kite gear, but there is also the portability issue as well.
I've had a chance to do both, but have yet to be led down the garden path on either route in terms of purchasing gear.
Thanks for any all input
C
- Chuck
- Posts: 422
- Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2013 2:36 pm
Hi Chuck!
I started windfoiling last June on a friend's rig. Since then I picked up an old 122L 243x73 Starboard slalom board that I run with a Windance PowerPlate and Foil Works foil. It's a copy of the Slingshot Fwind1 windfoil. Earlier this year I upgraded the front wing to a Slingy 84cm Infinity and it keeps me on foil in the lulls, plus it's even more stable than the already stable H2 clone Slingy wing. This was not a necessary upgrade, but nice to have especially on the really light days. With a couple quick change outs of a wing and shorter fuselage I can use the foil for kitefoiling too.
I've put together a Craigslist sail quiver and have ridden everything from a 3.7 in HR to to a 6.5 locally. I have a 7.3 I'm likely going to be using in the summer when winds get lighter. It's nuts that a big board like this would be completely unsuitable with a 3.7 for fin sailing, but was just fine for foiling in 30mph winds.
My reasons for giving windfoiling a shot were as follows, many are specific to Jericho/Spanish Banks:
-I got tired of being tortured by 15mph SW/W wind in the evening during the summer that was just too sketchy to kite/kitefoil off Dog Beach after work with a high tide
-No hassles from lifeguards during the summer at Locarno with the windfoil vs. kitefoil
-The Locarno windsurf launch is always deep even at low tides, I don't care about tides when I go windfoiling.
-I can't always get out on the good days, days that would be a swim home with the kitefoil are a comparatively pleasant slog home on the windfoil. I'm more inclined to sail long reaches when I don't have to worry about my kite falling out of the sky in a failed kitefoil jibe
-People are still literally giving away used windsurfing gear suitable for foiling, 90s era monofilm sails work really well for foiling in the bigger sizes. I would not have done it if I had to jump right in to dedicated foiling gear.
-Downwinders on the big Infinity wing are absolute magic, I find a windsurf sail depowers better than a kite downwind as I don't need to worry about line tension to keep a kite in the air. I just flag out the sail and go, it feels like a SUP downwinder.
-While kiting is easier than windsurfing, windfoiling is significantly easier than kitefoiling imho
Some of the best days I've had on the water in years have been on otherwise marginal 12-15mph wind days locally. These are now the days I hope for. I've been sailing with a harness from my second day onwards, it just extends my sessions. If anything, I come out of the harness on when overpowered or when pointing directly downwind.
Check out this run from Locarno to the East pilings, I did two of these runs in one session, I wouldn't ever have dreamed of doing it with a fin, I was kind of in shock of how easy it was:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oht_mkItNWI
I hope to see you out there this summer!
I started windfoiling last June on a friend's rig. Since then I picked up an old 122L 243x73 Starboard slalom board that I run with a Windance PowerPlate and Foil Works foil. It's a copy of the Slingshot Fwind1 windfoil. Earlier this year I upgraded the front wing to a Slingy 84cm Infinity and it keeps me on foil in the lulls, plus it's even more stable than the already stable H2 clone Slingy wing. This was not a necessary upgrade, but nice to have especially on the really light days. With a couple quick change outs of a wing and shorter fuselage I can use the foil for kitefoiling too.
I've put together a Craigslist sail quiver and have ridden everything from a 3.7 in HR to to a 6.5 locally. I have a 7.3 I'm likely going to be using in the summer when winds get lighter. It's nuts that a big board like this would be completely unsuitable with a 3.7 for fin sailing, but was just fine for foiling in 30mph winds.
My reasons for giving windfoiling a shot were as follows, many are specific to Jericho/Spanish Banks:
-I got tired of being tortured by 15mph SW/W wind in the evening during the summer that was just too sketchy to kite/kitefoil off Dog Beach after work with a high tide
-No hassles from lifeguards during the summer at Locarno with the windfoil vs. kitefoil
-The Locarno windsurf launch is always deep even at low tides, I don't care about tides when I go windfoiling.
-I can't always get out on the good days, days that would be a swim home with the kitefoil are a comparatively pleasant slog home on the windfoil. I'm more inclined to sail long reaches when I don't have to worry about my kite falling out of the sky in a failed kitefoil jibe
-People are still literally giving away used windsurfing gear suitable for foiling, 90s era monofilm sails work really well for foiling in the bigger sizes. I would not have done it if I had to jump right in to dedicated foiling gear.
-Downwinders on the big Infinity wing are absolute magic, I find a windsurf sail depowers better than a kite downwind as I don't need to worry about line tension to keep a kite in the air. I just flag out the sail and go, it feels like a SUP downwinder.
-While kiting is easier than windsurfing, windfoiling is significantly easier than kitefoiling imho
Some of the best days I've had on the water in years have been on otherwise marginal 12-15mph wind days locally. These are now the days I hope for. I've been sailing with a harness from my second day onwards, it just extends my sessions. If anything, I come out of the harness on when overpowered or when pointing directly downwind.
Check out this run from Locarno to the East pilings, I did two of these runs in one session, I wouldn't ever have dreamed of doing it with a fin, I was kind of in shock of how easy it was:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oht_mkItNWI
I hope to see you out there this summer!
- adam2
- Posts: 368
- Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:01 pm
Wow! Thanks for all the deets, some good information in there.
Do you find you still kitefoil? Or straight to dedicated kite/surfboard of windy enough
Do you find you still kitefoil? Or straight to dedicated kite/surfboard of windy enough
- Chuck
- Posts: 422
- Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2013 2:36 pm
Chuck wrote:Wow! Thanks for all the deets, some good information in there.
Do you find you still kitefoil? Or straight to dedicated kite/surfboard if windy enough
- Chuck
- Posts: 422
- Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2013 2:36 pm
Chuck, I've barely kitefoiled at all in the last year. I expect to do a bit this summer though. I have to put in a lot more time to get better at it. Because i suck i prefer kitefoiling in warm water which takes me into the lifeguard or seaaweed season in the Lower Mainland.
- adam2
- Posts: 368
- Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:01 pm