Breakthrough!

[PonoBill]

So I got a 3.3 sail and a little 350 mast to sail my foilboard so I can get used to the foil. So, of course, there have been three decent surf foiling days at Guardrails and no opportunity to sail. Yesterday I did pretty well, today I did GREAT. Spending three hundred bucks on a sailing rig that I may not need is certainly the key. I can now pop the board up when I want, turn and stay in the power, riding the wave in both directions, turn down the face and reverse directions in the air, and turn out of the wave in the air. Cowabunga.

Some of my turns today were hard and tight banked turns that I not only recovered from but reversed out of. A video of that would be mistaken for competence unless you could see my facial expressions or hear the little monkey gibbering in terror in my head.

It's an amazing feeling. I'm a total kook again, but I'm getting it, and I'm sure I can do it decently. Good news for everyone that's interested in this crazy sport--if I can do it, just about anyone can.

Thanks to all the folks that have given me so many useful tips, and to my physical Therapist, Shantelle Pierce, who has me using my core to balance and changed the way my left foot works with just one session of excruciating pain. My right foot is trembling in fear--you're next.

[805StandUp]

That is awesome, Bill!  Thank you for sharing your learnings.  I have been making slower progress with the waves either breaking too close to the shore or the breaks being to crowded for me to feel comfortable foiling so I would just surf my 7'4 Hypernut.  Was thinking I needed to drive down to SanO one weekday.  Then today, my client meetings were cancelled so I drove up the coast and found it 2-3' and glassy with noone out.  I surfed the shorebreak for 1.5 hours then the tide rose and I did a second 1.5 hour session on the foil.  Slow progress, but my best foil session yet--on one wave where I turned down the face I was thinking "wow, this thing is fast!"

[sharksupper]

Go Bill!!!    freaking awesome sport!  Thanks for sharing the stoke!   

... now let's see some pumping back out to the lineup!   

[PonoBill]

Go Bill!!!    freaking awesome sport!  Thanks for sharing the stoke!   

... now let's see some pumping back out to the lineup!   

That might take a while. I still think I look like a moose doing some kind of air-humping.

[surfcowboy]

What's your session count Pono? I'll need that to keep my spirits up.

[PonoBill]

I'd have to guess, my memory sucks for stuff like that, but less than twenty, maybe fifteen.

[supuk]

good to hear you made another break through its really not that hard once you get the basics down and the foils are so easy to use now with the big wings. I have windsurf foiling is on the list for this summer along with perhaps some other wind powered foil stuff.

[stoneaxe]

Sweet...my brother the grom....

[PonoBill]

Sweet...my brother the grom....

Totally dude. I'm now running around taking selfies of me and my foilboard. Chicks dig it. A 71 year old grommet.

[Califoilia]

I'd have to guess, my memory sucks for stuff like that, but less than twenty, maybe fifteen.

Whoa, that's pretty darn good...congrats!

I'm on number 6 or 7, and every time I start getting up out of the water, that same "little monkey gibbering in terror in [your] head"...is screaming his brains out in mine.

Yesterday, I managed to get my feet, and weight in the right spot finally/accidentally, and actually got the dang thing outta the water fully (I think), and for a reasonable amount of time (might have only been 20', but felt like 200'...damn monkey was yelling too loud to really pay attention to the small shit like that)....and geezus, that's a long way up in the air there (all 20" to 24" worth...seemed more like 10').

Can't say that I was all that wild about the feeling quite honestly, but maybe that had something (a lot) to do with my feeling of being thoroughly out of control, and at the complete mercy of whatever that friggin' machete thing below my board wanted to do with it and/or me.

I'm sure you've posted it somewhere before Pono, but what are you riding foil, and board dims wise? I'm on the Slingshot Airstrike, and their Hoverglide FSURF/SUP foil...and several much better foilers than myself have suggested that the wing is too small for the board, and my size.

[PonoBill]

I'm using a GoFoil, generally the M200 wing. I have an Iwa180 also, but find the M200 better for learning. The board is a Jimmy Lewis Hovercraft, 8'5" which already feels a little big, but the paddling stability is a big help.

The first time you fly the foil and make some distance with a feeling of some control (however tenuous) the fun factor increases hugely. The monkey still gibbers, but the screams are delight mixed with terror.

Sounds like you're learning to drive with a Ferrari.

[Califoilia]

Thanks. Not sure that it's that much of it being a Ferrari...as much as it is a beach cruiser guy trying to enter the Tour de France. The paddling around, and catching the waves are no sweat, it's the starting to get up to race speeds, and the riding around in the heights of Pyrenees at a high speed wobble that has me a bit apprehensive at the moment.

Have everything up on craiglist at the moment, with the idea of a do-over...this time restarting the race with a GoFoil, and a little more normal looking/proven board to do with it. Seems to be a pattern of the Kings, Chuck Glynn, J. Lewis, and Kalama boards are the ones showing up most recently, and frequently in that order.

Might have a line on a 7'8" Jimmy Lewis coming up for sale, and have my eye on the IWA that you mention.

Thanks for sharing your story, and help...you, and the others here are the real reason(s) I've not just tossed my hands up in frustration, and gone back to my friendlier, familiar, comfortable surf SUPS, and open water 14-footer.

[PonoBill]

If you're going to get a GoFoil, try to find either a two-pack or a three pack. Alex isn't selling separate wings yet since the wings require some technical fiddling to fit. I got a two-pack (Iwa and M200). I want a M280 for downwinding, and Karla said she'd get me one since they know (or just believe me) that I can fit it properly. Lighter guys are going for a Kai, Iwa, M200 three pack. M200 is versatile and stable but slow. Those are three words that sound very good to me currently.

[Califoilia]

Thanks for that info, that sounds great...especially since I'm really satisfied with just "stable", and "slow" at the moment. I'll worry about dealing with "versatile" after getting just one aspect of it figured out enough to move onto whatever other one(s) I might find a need for it for.