I hand shaped and glassed a hydrofoil wing out of a piece of wood and mounted it to an Axis fuselage for $20. This is a beginner friendly foil wing shape, designed for someone who has never foiled. Cheap, simple, and hopefully durable. The only challenge was deciding how thick to make the profile wing shape, I started really thick and worked my way down to a shape that is very forgiving and user friendly. I am stoked and feeling very proud and empowered, I can now make my own foils and I have lots of ideas for future builds!
There are 11 videos in this tutorial series. Cutting the outline shape, cutting the fuselage hole, shaping the profile of the foil, laminating, vac bagging, drilling and fitting for the fuse bolt holes, more shaping, even more shaping, laminating and vac bagging again, sanding, showing the finished foil shape in detail, and a ride test video.
Foil - One Time Membership Required
You must be a Foil - One Time member to access this content.
How to control and manage a wing while wing foil surfing waves or riding bumps downwind. When only holding the wing with one hand it can drop and twirl and flip and spin, this video series focuses on why this happens and what to do about it. Five videos in this series: why the wing moves around, strategies to control the wing, what the best wing foilers do in waves at Fort Point, managing the wing on tanker waves, and managing the wing when riding bumps downwind.
Foil - One Time Membership Required
You must be a Foil - One Time member to access this content.
Go ahead ding my board, it's waterproof and will be fine. I used to be afraid of dinging a board and would never let anyone borrow my super fragile glass encased sponge. I have seen the proof that waterproof boards don't soak up water and last for years. I am sold on the concept so I made myself two boards. Did I mention these waterproof boards weigh less than any of my EPS boards? What's the catch? Well, I had to make it myself. Considering how much I have learned it seems like a good catch.
This page shows the process of making a wing foil board from start to finish. Almost nine hours of video edited down to about two hours of video showing the entire build process and me explaining every step including making the vacuum bag. Also a list of the parts and materials and where to get them. This is not meant to be a master shaper or perfect build tutorial, my intent is to simplify the build and make building a board more accessible to anyone. I left all the imperfections and some rough edges as a proof of concept that a wing foil board can work well with a less than perfect finish. I also used plant cloth and plant based resin, it is important to me to continue moving towards 100% non toxic materials.
First video is a 5 minute fast time lapse of the entire build. Then videos showing: making the blank, shaping the blank, installing the boxes handle and leash plugs, making and setting up the vacuum bag, laminating the top and bottom and vacuum bagging, opening the boxes, sanding, and installing the deck pad. Then a list of parts and materials. I also talk about possible delamination of waterproof foam and the solution we came up with. Here is shorter preview I uploaded to YouTube.
18 videos in this series.
Foil - One Time Membership Required
You must be a Foil - One Time member to access this content.
How to stand up paddle pump after kicking out of a wave and pumping to another wave further outside. Showing and explaining the technique with slow motion video of Derek Hamasaki, Mickey Murch, and Johnny Heineken. Side by side video break down of the technique with these masters and also people who have recently learned. Five videos.
Foil - One Time Membership Required
You must be a Foil - One Time member to access this content.
I often feel frustrated seeing the reports on the internet of popular foils, they seem biased or sponsored and leave out any problems. I am reluctant to say in public what I don't like about a foil, especially if a friend is making or selling that foil. So here in this post behind the paywall I will do my best to be completely honest and unbiased and say what I like and don't like about the foils I have ridden. In this post I give video and text reviews of these foils:
F-One Seven Seas 1100, SK8 850, Eagle 1090 and 990, Seven Seas 1200 and 1000, Strike V2 5.5m, Phantom 940, 1080 & 1280, 95cm HM mast.
Code 1300 S.
Cabrinha Mantis 4.5m wing, H Series 1200, Code Board 5'4" 98L
Takuma Kujira 980
Axis Black ART 999, BSC 810, PNG 1150, red 900, 1000, 910
Slow motion close detail video of foil surfers paddling for and catching waves. Both Prone board and SUP board foil surfers. This video series focuses on the sequence of hand and foot placement that foil surfers do to catch a wave and get up on foil, both real time and slow motion so we can see the detailed techniques. The first 3 videos are of SUP foil surfing, and the next 2 are prone foil surfing.
Foil - One Time Membership Required
You must be a Foil - One Time member to access this content.