Swim Missiles

[Admin]

I wonder if a windsurf fuselage would work better for this. My thought is more pitch stable, so easier gliding. Anyway, worth remembering if pitch control is difficult

That is a great suggestion.  I am not sure what to expect but I am open to an XL fuse if need be.

[Beasho]

I wonder if a windsurf fuselage would work better for this. My thought is more pitch stable, so easier gliding. Anyway, worth remembering if pitch control is difficult.

I reached out to Sam Pae awhile back, asking about boogie foiling. He said it was the most difficult version of foiling. Sam would not be able to try a windsurf fuse because it would tear his legs up.

I just called Sam P'ae to ask about this.  He shared the following photographs. 

He said that the windsurf fuselage would move the front wing too far forward for his application.  He took a damaged standard fuselage and had someone weld an additional 4" section.  It took the standard 784mm / 31" fuselage to 35".  He has been playing with the Axis 999 lately and likes the 420 tail with flip tips.

He liked it but still wants more length.  He said that his system has worked on a Boogie Foil for waves up to 15 foot faces, but that it gets dicey at that size.

[Beasho]

I made another post because I have a different application, and think that longer fuselages could help the rest of the SUP foil world, but Sam also shared this Dead-Sexy Mutant.

The idea was to raise the tail, to breach before the main wing, and keep flying rather than face-planting at high speeds - which apparently is horrible on a boogie foil rig.

Sam said this T-Tail configuration worked well on small waves but NOT on bigger waves (I assume bigger means 6 foot faces or more). 

[Beasho]

We talked about ways to extend the fuselage in a more modular fashion.  Example use a hot-glue Kenalu shaft.   Put a male end on the fuselage and then add 4" or 6" or 8" midsections to extend the length, have the other male end with an Axis tail attachment. 

IF the tail is smaller, because you would not need as much leverage, the system would not have to be bombproof. 

He then sent me these pictures of another way to extend the tail.  A homemade G10 set up that he put together.  Pretty creative stuff from the guy who invented the first Tail Handle for SUP's and was the first to recommend a long front foot strap, to me, for big waves e.g. heavy front foot pressure for takeoff and then being able to slide the foot back for efficient glide.

[PonoBill]

Sam is endlessly creative.

I have a standard red fuselage I'm not using. It would be easy for me to weld in an extension, though you'll want me to do it after I've been doing a bunch of aluminum fabrication--after every spell away from the shop, my aluminum welding deteriorates to the birdshit level. After a week of practice I'm pretty good for a hack. But before...

[Beasho]

Sam is endlessly creative.

I have a standard red fuselage I'm not using. It would be easy for me to weld in an extension, though you'll want me to do it after I've been doing a bunch of aluminum fabrication--after every spell away from the shop, my aluminum welding deteriorates to the birdshit level. After a week of practice I'm pretty good for a hack. But before...

I am not in need of this but Sam might be interested.  The T-Tail looks like a RED fuselage.  I know that he said he was moving towards ART 999 and the like so he has migrated to the Black series (as shown in the first photos).  I ping you with his number if you don't have it. 

[Admin]

Thanks Beasho and send Sam a big thanks.  That is super interesting.  I have two Red standard fuselages coming from Axis (just guessing at this point) but something like this may be needed. 

[Admin]

So stoked with how this is turning out!

[PonoBill]

Clinton Yap (Steamroller) is having something similar built. His is more like a prone paddle board with a foil.

[jkseattle]

Admin- your boards are looking good!  One question for you... how are you planning to hold on to the board when getting up on foil?  My (limited) experience w/ boogie foiling is that it's essential to be able to grab onto something, either a rail or a handle like on Sam's yellow board.  With the thicker rails similar to a prone paddleboard, might be easy to have something... a indention handhold, handle or to grab.  For me, getting up on foil happens with weight transfer towards the back of the board & both hands grabbing the rail to help "lift up" the nose as the foil rises.  Steering and turning can be done by shifting weight but it's nice to be able to hold a rail & lean into turns.  Here's a few pics of Sam doing what he does on a short (less than 4' long) boogie foil.  (pics D Nakamaru).

[Admin]

Clinton Yap (Steamroller) is having something similar built. His is more like a prone paddle board with a foil.

Hi Bill,

That is what this is.  From my first post: The basic idea is a reduced prone paddleboard with foil tracks. 

Dave Daum downsized his open ocean prone board for this use and we made our modifications to that. 

[Admin]

Admin- your boards are looking good!  One question for you... how are you planning to hold on to the board when getting up on foil?  My (limited) experience w/ boogie foiling is that it's essential to be able to grab onto something, either a rail or a handle like on Sam's yellow board.  With the thicker rails similar to a prone paddleboard, might be easy to have something... a indention handhold, handle or to grab.  For me, getting up on foil happens with weight transfer towards the back of the board & both hands grabbing the rail to help "lift up" the nose as the foil rises.  Steering and turning can be done by shifting weight but it's nice to be able to hold a rail & lean into turns.

Hi JK,

We had initially talked about putting grips into the rails but ended up abandoning that.  I agree with everything you are saying and it will be necessary.  I am thinking glue on rail grips once we get an idea of how everything lines up.  We are pretty narrow on these, so deck mounting may be awkward (and painful for that inevitable nose stuff wipeout : ).

[PonoBill]

If it was me, I’d be prone surfing the Lift e-foil and ripping up the hatchery. You could have a glass shop make a leg extension to the stock board.

I’ve got a buddy who bought one. He’s at my surf spot all the time, making it look way more fun than it should be. He’s ripping waves off throttle, prop folded. He’s obsessed. Multiple small batteries for performance. I’m jealous of him. I see myself owning one someday, probably.

I accidentally dropped into page one of this thread and noticed this. Yes indeed, I'm thinking a motor setup is a natural for this and I agree with Califoilia (spell check turned that into cauliflower) that the foil drive mounting position probably would work better than just a folding prop. Given the leg and body position, an unshrouded prop seems hazardous and the usual battery box strapped to the tail would get in the way. Now that I have my Prusa printer working again here in Maui I'll step up the experimentation. I'm thinking a backpack or waist pack small battery and motor controller would suit. My el cheapo home made fat tire bike here in Maui uses a backpack battery with RC Model batteries. It will run on just one pack of two 22V 3.3Ah batteries in series, but you really have to plan where you're going and pedal a lot. And at the slightest hint of warmth from the pack I shed it in a nanosecond.  The Foil Drive systems are probably a bit too weenie and don't include any kind of shroud. I'll probably step up the motor power a bit with the Faux Drive systems I've built and print a guard that attaches directly to the motor. I think we could bypass the whole wireless throttle system folderol (though it's not hard to accommodate) in favor of a simple on-off button. I just made a gesture control system for one of the projects I'm working on. That approach would be fine if we're paying attention to it, but random hand-waving would produce interesting results.

Now that I think about it Dave already has a male mold for a sunken battery pack. Hmmm.

[Hdip]

Slight detour. But have you looked at "jets" yet PonoBill? The shroud seems safer, but it also seems to be the way that people lose fingers in efoil accidents. The jet seems much safer.

[Admin]

Oooh!