Getting out in low tide rocks with shore break

[surfcowboy]

Admin, can you edit this thread to be named "Winging Is Fun!" ?

[wingdingjoe]

THIS is an excellent thread and one I have toyed with starting with you guys for over 8 months now...but being a LURKER and never actually having a keyboard in front of me has kept me silent...but yall are in trouble cause got the laptop up and running again and we have NO WIND today!

Great points by MTN and others about getting out through the waves in rocky places. I spent ALL of august also in a pacific Baja location with great longboard/SUP waves in the morning and I finally got the confidence to start winging it in 100% offshore gusts winds in the afternoon. I was amazed to watch the Prone foilers flipping their boards (ONE GUY NEVER USED A LEASH...which I just cant grasp the WHY of it...as he ended up having to swim for his board multiple times after the white water tore it from his grasp) and paddling with their exposed Clavicles pressed tightly up against the sharp masts! Just seems like a recipe for disaster or, at the least, a very SLOW healing bone bruise on the collar bone if a wave was to smack the board hard enough...you guys are really doing this while dragging a wing behind you?

Ive tried a few times in flat water...to maneuver my 95 liter board under me so the mast is upright between my LEGS and I can paddle it upside down like that very well...seems it SHOULD be a better option than having the mast against your clavicle...although if a wave was able to throw you BACKwards youd likely castrate yourself...i found it was extra easy to SLIDE off the front of the board quickly and get my nuts away from the mast but again...that was just playing in flat water and without a wing attached to my wrist.

As mentioned by the other offshore wave winger here...this whole process becomes THAT much more complicated when you CANNOT just tow your wing behind you as the wind wants to flip it OVER you and the foil and right into the oncoming wave that you are trying to carefully to pass through/over/under..whatever..

add to that a strong current and SHARP barnacle covered rocks all over the place..wow...mucho stress.
THEN,..you finally get a moment when you are tits deep and CLIMB onto the board onyour knees and GET the wing into your hands..but the wind is 100 percent at your back so the stability on the board SUCKS plus you cant really engage the foil or lean against it cause youre just trying desperateloy to advance to get OVER the next smooth face that is peaking up in front of you...at that moment its SUPER importatnt to really lean FORWARD and make one strong deperate pump with the wing JUST as the tip of the board gets lifted...otherwise youre going over backwards....uuuff...but the REWARDS of then riding for 2 hours on the glassiest of playgrounds and being able to almost just SIT your wing in neutral flying on the cushion of wind / ridgelift as youre pumping and carving wave after wave back towards shore.....seem to make it all worthwhile! Just be careful NOT to get too cocky and try to ride the glorious breaking face TOO far in....mayhem and sadness are just ONE fall away!

Which brings me back to where I would like to pick your brains on this subject of a GOOD fast quick release for the board leash. Im in total agreement that in these situations we absoluetly MUST have a reliable way to quickly release the BOARD..not so much the wing...because a leash tangle in shore pound is probably what i fear the most. Ever since watching the Blue Planet guys talk about REpurposing the Reel Leash Ive been hooked and convinced and oh so happy to be using it. Almost NEVER get any leash/mast tangle and wiht all the seagrass we have to deal with in the Caribbean I cant imagine dragging around even MORE anchor catching grass and plastic etc etc....So ive been using a  basic Pull TUbe/PIN release between my board leash connector dyneema rope and the end of the reel leash on the BIGGER days when I feel like I could end up in punishing shorebreak or the impact zone of the wave spot. Problem I see is that I couuld conceivably accidently activate teh release as im pulling the board back towards me after a fall.

Has anyone dreamed up a DIFFERENT type of lightweight release system that could be easily installed between the board and the harness they might like to share? Some kind of "three ring circus" pin pull like the skydivers use maybe?

We have another great spot in the hotel zone of Cancun that develops lovely swell with strong SE winds but the SHOREPOUND is just gnarly. There we have definately found that swimming the board out to a bouy first can be much safer...then you can put 100 percent attention on keeping your wing alive as you swim out to the board...coming in, we disconnect the board leash out in the deep FIRST...then try to wing in on the BACK of the last wave of the set until the foil almost touches the sand..then TRY to hop off and chase the board in the white water hip deep while keeping the wing HIGH in the air trying not to get hammered by the following waves...usually a mildy successful dismount...At least on this spot in particular not too many rocks so prefer to let the board go for a second (if necesarry) to the possibility of a leash tangle and the board getting behind you, on top of you, on top of the wing...in the washing machine...yikes.

With on or side on winds...seems like eventually we could engineer some kind of harness (velcro flaps like the handles on the OR Glide?) to connect the wing STRUT to our backs?? the leading edge over our heads or just over the shoulders..with the dihedral should still be able to paddle maybe? This would be preferrable to DRAGGING the wing behind where it can totally slow you down as it gets MUNCHED by errant waves...anyone else toyed with this thought?

Good winds!!

[VB_Foil]

Great post WingdingJoe!  It actually gave me a great idea, or idea to repurpose someone else's ingenuity.  I'm not sure if you all are aware of James Casey's Deflate/Inflate Downwinger antics, but that same principle could be applied to problematic paddle outs.  Imagine the wing packed down neatly into a good fitting backpack.  Paddle out past the shorepound/hazards with just the board to worry about.  Once past the shorebreak, take out the wing and attached the inflate CO2 cartridge and all set.  Reverse could be done for the re-entry potentially. 

I'm talking about using this method for specific scenarios where dealing with both wing and board is a dealbreaker. 



Just need someone to come up with a clean interface option and sell it!

[PonoBill]

I never use the leash attachment point. I think they are fine for attaching a pump leash to, but wing leash, in surf or high wind? No thanks. The stout front handle is right there.

[surfcowboy]

Wingding, with the mast between your legs the board will be stripped immediately back intomyour wing by the first wave I'll bet.

The mast in front is done by pretty much everyone for a few years now, try it. I'm bad at it but it'd be really hard for the wave to get enough force to hurt you as your body is also being pushed backwards. A clavicle break really needs you to be pushed forward while the mast is pushed back mthat doesn't happen.

But, paddling without traction on the bottom is nearly impossible too so do that or was to test temporarily.

Quick release, cheap, is the Velcro belt like from Kaohi leash. Once released it'll strip out of the buckle and pull away easily. It's cheap too and works with any leash.

I'd have to get more info on your strapping the wing to your back idea. It seems counter intuitive if you want a quick release for the board as it could be deadly to have a float on your back if it got stuck. Face down with a 10 foot bouyant thing on my back sounds like a drowning waiting to happen. Just my thoughts.

Put some wax on and try to paddle and see but yeah this is a weird problem.

In lighter news, I had a ball in Cancun and want to go back. I'll buzz you before I do. I foiled "the island" but didn't get to that hotel zone break you're talking about. Could you launch away from the break and wing up? Also I'll bet that reef South of there is full of passes you could have a ball on. Hope to join you sometime. I agree this thread is full of good info.

I'm building a bouy and float out of a dumbell weight and line for sure.

[wingdingjoe]

Cowboy.. Did you get over to the south side of the island Mujeres to wing the GARAFON area? With southeast winds we get some sweet rollers in there.. The north side is always pretty flat.

The entire coast of hotel zone from "Punta cancun" down to the Club Med gets pretty good swell with a few days of wind on it.. The very southern area just before Club Med is where a buddy lives and its SOMEWHAT protected from the dreaded Sargassum site to the Rocky point that sticks out to the north from the Med.... Let me know next time you're coming down.. Really want to explore the coasts of Cozumel this year also...

Will have to try a little wax on the board bottom for the "clavicle paddle" and have faith I guess... If they're doing it in Hawaii.. It's gotta be do-able.. Lol

[surfcowboy]

Oh man, you know the spot now don't you? I proned the South of Mujeres and you know the spot. Didn't get to wing there but yes, that island is ripe.

I was down south of Club Med and that point up there looks like a great spot to launch a downwinder too. It's really a great town for foiling. 

I need to post a trip report.

[Caribsurf]

Revisiting this thread after seeing this convenient anchor/buoy system on Amazon.

Not sure of the quality, but I like the idea...all in one package to help you get out past shore break.  Put in the anchor, walk your board or wing to the buoy past the break, attach and then go retrieve the board or wing..get flying!

[PonoBill]

I hate the clavicle paddle and yes, indeed, I've had the board shove mightily into my shoulder. I can't afford that, I've had FAR too many shoulder surgeries and broken collarbones. I'll try almost anything else to avoid that. I find the most important thing to have in shore break is a good bottom handle. the Flying Dutchman handle is a standout for that. Unfortunately only available on flying dutchman boards. But if you get a board from Mark make absolutely certain to have one of his EZ-Grab handles put on the bottom. It would be crazy not to. Trust me, you'll love it and start to hate any board you have that doesn't have one.

the buoy idea is a winner. I stopped winging at Swell City because bringing my board in all the way is a huge PITA. river grass, rocks, and a slippery exit make it too much trouble. I'm going to install a buoy at a good location for foils. there's already one in place for windsurfers, but the location allows potential wing scrapes.

It's probably worth practicing the "ride the leading edge" method of wing transport. I did it a few months ago, it's fairly easy as long as you're going more or less downwind. I can make a fair amount of angle just by positioning my body to one side, but still, you're going downwind. I can make more angle flying the wing and body dragging, but when you get hit by waves it's easy to have the wing flip, and hard to get it back in a short period slop. For those unfamiliar with the leading edge ride, if you don't have your board you hang onto or even sit on the leading edge and pull the strut up by a handle or boom. It works--sort of.

I recently had to belly crawl on my board across the width of Kahalui harbor to rescue my wing after I had transferred it to a foot to paddle in and then didn't get the leash properly on my wrist when the wind picked back up. Sucked. Scratching my way off a rocky lee shore left me with some interesting cuts on my toes.

[surfcowboy]

That body drag works really well but I can't use it to get out.

Carib, are you going to dive down and screw that anchor in every time you foil or are you installing that somewhere permanent?

Weirdly at one or two breaks here we probably could get away with the permanent anchor.

Three wings damaged this week among our crew but I think more from wind blowiythem around into foils than surf.

[surfcowboy]

Hmm.. sandbag anchor. Easier to transport for sure.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086PP63NM/ref=cm_sw_r_oth_api_i_N3EZKB6KVSYW1947RVWC

[Caribsurf]

That body drag works really well but I can't use it to get out.

Carib, are you going to dive down and screw that anchor in every time you foil or are you installing that somewhere permanent?

Actually Surf Cowboy, I have used island ingenuity..I am going to fill a paint can with sand and rocks, tie the line and buoy to the can and drop in the sea.  I could probably screw in that anchor using a mask and snorkel...

[MikeLima]

Since I don’t know his name, I’ll call him “grey hoodie guy on jd follow cam”, he seems to be into experimenting with wing flagging, and on one recent video he has his wing leash attached to the front handle so it hovered as far over his head as the leash allowed. Since the leash isn’t that affected by waves that could be an idea?

[surfcowboy]

Carib, got it and I agree at the price you can just give the screw to a dog owner. Since we can leave our I think the sandbag works.

Mike that guy is Eric Berg, @mauiwiing on Instagram. (Note the two "I"s I love his stuff too. And yeah as long as it flew high that'd work too. His board design is neat too. I wanna try one.

[Dontsink]

Since I don’t know his name, I’ll call him “grey hoodie guy on jd follow cam”, he seems to be into experimenting with wing flagging, and on one recent video he has his wing leash attached to the front handle so it hovered as far over his head as the leash allowed. Since the leash isn’t that affected by waves that could be an idea?

I recently saw an insta clip of a guy riding a wave just like that...

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbPRjXNuwOR/?utm_medium=copy_link

This could be a  good way to get through the impact zone,worth a try in flat water to see how it goes.