Author Topic: Kai Lenny Downwind SUP Foil  (Read 114733 times)

808sup

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Re: Kai Lenny Downwind SUP Foil
« Reply #15 on: April 30, 2016, 08:17:57 PM »
I'm glad to finally see someone do it! As a longtime kiter and  I've recently taken to foil boarding. The glide from a foil is so smooth and effortless as it has minimal drag once you are up on it. Picture riding a hover board over water. I still remember when laird introduced the  foil board to surf waves years ago. I recall an interview in which he stated that he thought it would one day be possible to ride open ocean swells without assistance. Well maybe that day is getting closer. Hell, none of us here on Maui want to paddle. We just want to glide glide glide. Imagine a maliko where all you did was surf.  Makes me want to slap a foil on my M-14!  I look forward to seeing where this goes.

zachhandler

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Re: Kai Lenny Downwind SUP Foil
« Reply #16 on: April 30, 2016, 08:45:57 PM »
I'd love to see how much effort, or how big of a bump it took to get flying.  Is this something that normal humans could get flying in someplace like the Gorge?  Or are we still a few iterations away from that?

Some Scandinavian Olympic kayakers a few years back made a foil sprint kayak called the flayak. Insanely fast. Like 16mph on the flat. But it took an Olympian to get it up and then they could only keep that effort (with a really long paddle of course) for a minute or so. So I imagine it takes a big bump and a stiff tailwind to make a sup fly. Just a guess though.

zachhandler

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Re: Downwind Foil
« Reply #17 on: April 30, 2016, 08:47:59 PM »
Someone please help me out here because I am suffering from a severe lack of imagination. What the hell is the point of that thing?

My imagination must be different than yours. I saw that video and immediately thought "that looks better than sex"!

Zooport

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Re: Kai Lenny Downwind SUP Foil
« Reply #18 on: April 30, 2016, 09:01:26 PM »
That looks freaking amazing.  It's probably just be editing, but it seems like the board is almost all glide and no paddling. 
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greatdane

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Re: Kai Lenny Downwind SUP Foil
« Reply #19 on: April 30, 2016, 09:12:45 PM »
For those who don't "get it;" this is my take… The biggest smile on my face when I'm downwinding are those moments when I'm hitting 8-12mph on a SUP or over 15mph in the outrigger… Speed equals fun.  Kai says he's hitting 20mph.  Enough said.  Then ad being able to slice through the waves in front of you like a razor vs. slamming into them with your standard dw board and dang...

However, it is Kai, & anything he can do will take me another 20 years to do even half-ass.
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TallDude

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Re: Downwind Foil
« Reply #20 on: April 30, 2016, 10:14:33 PM »
Someone please help me out here because I am suffering from a severe lack of imagination. What the hell is the point of that thing?

My imagination must be different than yours. I saw that video and immediately thought "that looks better than sex"!
No. Sex is better.
It's not overhead to me!
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exiled

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Re: Kai Lenny Downwind SUP Foil
« Reply #21 on: April 30, 2016, 10:32:08 PM »
If they build one with enough lift for my 230 lbs ass then I'm sold. That looks like so much fun.

peterp

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Re: Kai Lenny Downwind SUP Foil
« Reply #22 on: April 30, 2016, 10:56:14 PM »
I've been dabbling with kitefoiling and have been considering this for years but have also patiently been waiting for someone to guinea-pig it.

Kite foiling is initially hard, really hard - I'm not sure how the difficulty factor weighs in on a SUP, my first thought is that it would make the board more stable but it would also add a lot of drag so not sure how easy it would be to get it up on a run.

Unfortunately the video does not show him getting up on a run so one wonders if he was perhaps getting towed in by a boat???

Looks amazing and may fulfill the dream of endless glides.....just a bitch to get it off the beach and they won't stack to well on the roof  :D.

Glowmaster

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Re: Kai Lenny Downwind SUP Foil
« Reply #23 on: May 01, 2016, 05:01:05 AM »
Wow.  Foil freaking everything.

sailboats
windsurfers
kites
SUP

You need deep water for all of them. 

I have just seen the future.   How can we make it work in shallow water with less distance between the bottom of the board and water surface.?


ed

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Re: Kai Lenny Downwind SUP Foil
« Reply #24 on: May 01, 2016, 05:30:10 AM »
It looks cool but it seems like this needs very specific conditions.
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balance_fit

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Re: Kai Lenny Downwind SUP Foil
« Reply #25 on: May 01, 2016, 05:40:43 AM »
Very interesting and idyllic looking. Not against it, but, some questions arise:

How much foil area needed to lift up a paddler of, say, 200 lbs?

Kiters are a different story altogether, I feel. Can the kite itself be used to exert a lifting effect of sorts, helping the foil onto a plane?

How much wind and bump to make the foil work on a real, 14' + board? Why is he using such a short board?

And what if the wind dies, or shifts mid run?  Is the whole contraption paddleable to get back to shore, without wind / bump on the back?

Anyway, thumbs up for the innovators.

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Re: Kai Lenny Downwind SUP Foil
« Reply #26 on: May 01, 2016, 05:41:30 AM »
This older video of a guy with more modest skills in mushy waves gives an idea of how little it takes to get one flying.  When these early vids came out the eyes of downwinders everywhere opened wide, "wait, these things will easily fly on an average downwinder".  Keep in mind that we are seeing the very first efforts in this and the designs are only marginally adapted from kite / tow / windsurf.  No trial and error yet.  I am sure there has already been a lot of, "that was awesome...but we need to..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvBddeogeSE
« Last Edit: May 01, 2016, 07:10:59 AM by Admin »

Dwight (DW)

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Re: Kai Lenny Downwind SUP Foil
« Reply #27 on: May 01, 2016, 05:49:09 AM »
I'm foiling a windsurfer. It's basically an oversized wing version of the kite foils. It will lift a race board no problem, I'm sure.

Mine lifts with any forward motion at all. It goes through phases of lift. With initial movement, you feel the board trying to plane, way sooner than it should. The foil is actually partially lifting. A little more forward motion and it starts to feel like seriously fast planing in practically no wind.  At this point, a push from the rear foot brings lift off. After that, it's frictionless speed and pure fun.

It looks like they chopped the tail off a 12'6 to facilitate the rear foot push for lift off.

If I had a race board, I'd go chop the tail right now and add a tuttle box. Instead, I'll try down winding my foil windsurfer next time in nukes.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2016, 06:18:05 AM by DW »

SpaceCoastPaul

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Re: Kai Lenny Downwind SUP Foil
« Reply #28 on: May 01, 2016, 05:58:09 AM »
This looks fun, but not for me. Paddle, leash and board are enough equipment.

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Dwight (DW)

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Re: Downwind Foil
« Reply #29 on: May 01, 2016, 06:07:19 AM »
C) Bummer no leash.

So true. Foils are hard to catch swimming. They drift crazy fast.

 


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