BRAIN DUMPS ON ALL THINGS FOILING
With all the changes, I’ve decided to have a place on this site for me to note my thoughts and ideas on the current trends in foiling and share my opinions on gear, technique or anything else that comes to mind!
Please note these are my opinions and there are no right or wrong answers really in foiling. The beauty of foiling is that in amongst all the gear on offer there truly is a solution for everyone!
Quiver Reflections – May 2024 (Code foils)
With my recent change to Code foils I thought I’d do a short quiver reflections blog (also wary of how long I haven’t posted for, something called work…). I’ll do a more detailed one in a few months when I’ve had some time to dial in more of the foils.
What makes for an easy paddle up?
With the recent releases of the 1401 and 1180 and the surge we are seeing in DW, naturally the following questions follow:
- Which foil paddles up the easiest?
- How do they compare to the 1300 / 1201 / 1050?
- Which one should I buy as my first DW foil?
I understand the questions, everyone wants to make the best choice to make the learning curve as easy as possible. So I’ll let you in on a secret, they are all great!
Quiver Reflections – March 2024
It’s been a while since my last quiver reflections. A few foils have been added to the Axis offerings and my focus has shifted a little bit (see my goals for 2024 post) so I thought it was best to write a blog about the foils I’ve been using the last few months. Also worth adding, I’ve got a new Appletree board (7’7″ x 20″ 110L same as the proto). It’s the production update of the proto that I had before, and safe to say the updates that have been made are great. An updated rocker line, displacement hull and updated outline too mean it glides way better making paddling up even easier.
So, which foils have I been using?
We are fully into the growth phase of the SUP foil scene and it’s amazing to see the buzz and positive energy that has been created around this sport. It’s even cooler to see the ‘hotspots’ being highlighted as more and more amazing content gets shared, and how welcoming and accommodating the locals are to visiting foilers (something I experienced myself in Hood River). As more and more beginners come into the fold, the number of foilers sharing their experience and knowledge has increased significantly being in local crews or on social media, which is exactly how it should be. So as you look to join a camp, or head to a downwind hotspot to boost your progression, here’s my thoughts on how to ensure maximum progression.
New Year means New Year’s resolutions… whilst I’m not particularly a fan of the resolutions, I am a fan of setting targets. One of my colleagues once said to me ‘what gets measured gets managed’ and thinking about it makes sense. At the start of our SUP DW journey, my buddy Sibren and I tracked all our runs (and still do) and it was satisfying to quantify and measure our progress
Focus areas when learning to DW
So the growth of the DW scene in The Netherlands is starting to pick up and as more and more beginners join the fold we tend to see the same questions crop up and repeat themselves. I’ve already alluded to most of the things in this blog in my personal progress reflections (here and here) but there’s a few key things on the skill front I wanted to summarise in a clearer way (I won’t address gear in this blog, as I think skill acquisition is much more important than gear optimisation)
Reflections on the DW de France Event
So its been a few weeks since the Open de France (recap video) in Morgat, France, where I placed 24th out of 53. First off, despite not being a racer (isn’t that what you’re meant to say when you don’t do well in races? Just kidding) I’m stoked to have met my target of the top 25 (just). The event was amazing, it was well organised and the vibe was great with foilers from all over the world stoked to share some bumps.
So I am by no means an early adopter of SUP foil downwinding, but over the last 1.5years I’ve seen and had a significant change in boards on the market and that I’m riding. I’ve also answered a lot of questions on board selection (tried to address some of that in the downwind board blog) but I thought it might be good to go through the boards I’ve had (excluding any boards I’ve briefly tested for reviews), the pros and the cons of each and the main learning I got from each board.
It’s good when it’s good, but when it’s bad it can get really bad.
I’m probably going to sound like a bit of a Boy Scout in this post but I think this is important to address given the potential risks (consider the what could go wrong scenario), the number of people getting into the discipline and really to keep the rescue services on our side.
Straying briefly from foil content (next blog will be my thoughts on safety when downwinding)….
Surfer’s ear is something that most cold water surfers are somewhat familiar with (in terms of the potential consequences) but maybe don’t fully understand. So as we come into the northern hemisphere autumn / winter transition, I thought it might be a good idea to write a blog about it.
The explosion of pump foiling has brought foiling to landlocked foilers who might not have access to waves or regular wind. Additionally the boom in downwinding and new longer boards that make flatwater paddle ups more accessible have meant that more and more people are seeing the potential in any body of water (pretty much) to go out and foil. I mean who doesn’t want to be able to foil, independent of conditions, whenever they want. So I figured I may as well put some thoughts down as to what I’ve found to be the key cues / aspects for me to successfully paddle up.
I’ve had a few questions about what my foil quiver is and what I use for various disciplines. With the release of the Spitfire and ART Pros, I figured I’d write a post about it. I’ll run through which front wings I’m using as well as fuse, mast and stabs. This will probably end up being a periodical blog post as I’m sure my tastes and priorities will change.
After writing about the start of my DW journey, I figured it was probably time to write an update. As I write this post I’m just over 1 year (I guess 6 months of foiling time as I work month on month off) into my sup foil downwind journey and have downwind foiled about 1200kms.
So what have been my biggest takeaways…
How do I shim my rear wing? What is the difference between base plate shimming and rear wing shimming? How do I shim for more lift? These are some of the many questions that crop up as riders seek to tune their foil set ups to their liking. The beauty of foiling is the ability to tune the equipment, though it is often very easy to dive into rabbit holes and get lost over thinking.
In this post I’ll try to give an overview of what the various ways are in which you can tune your foil and what to expect when you use different types of shims.
Disclaimer – I won’t say which foil is the best foil for pumping. Why? Because there is no one best foil for pumping. Pump is a foil characteristic as well as a discipline, easy to confuse so for clarity, in this post I’m going to address pumpability (is that a word?) / the characteristic.
Wherever I see this question come up, I feel it opens up a heap of other questions. The answers on forums have many people divided with opinions ranging on which foil pumps the best because yeh, everyone has an opinion, everyone has confirmation bias that the gear they have chosen is the best (after all its expensive), and I would probably urge people not to project their choices on others and remain open minded that there are other (equally as good for their own reasons) options out there.
High Aspect Foils, whats the hype?
What is a high aspect foil? Why should I (or shouldn’t I) get a high aspect foil? With people chasing the endless glide, especially with the rise in downwind foiling the term high aspect rears comes up a lot in all the marketing campaigns. But what does the term high aspect actually mean?
In this post I’ll try to explain what Aspect Ratio (AR) is, how it’s applicable in the foil world, and how do you choose what foil is best suited to you.
Downwinding, downwind boards and light wind winging
What is the hype all about? With the growth of SUP foil downwinding, there is a lot of buzz in the foil world around how versatile downwind boards are – defying all previously held theories and assumptions regarding swing weight and manoeuvrability.
In this post I am to give my thoughts on what I think makes a good downwind board, what makes a downwind board great for winging and considerations when choosing a DW board based on your own needs and requirements.
Many roads lead to Rome, and the same applies to learning to downwind sup foil. Depending on your water sports background, general athleticism and approach, your journey from zero to hero (or competence) will be unique to you and it is difficult to draw parallels to other people and how quickly they have learned. Nonetheless I’ll try and outline my approach and philosophy of how I learnt to SUP foil DW in order to help give an impression of progressions, useful things to do and also things you might want to do or might not want to do.