The Hydrofoil (foil) was invented in 1906 by Italian Enrico Forlanini and placed on a wooden boat; that wooden boat powered by a 60hp engine was able to reach speeds of 75km per hour. Foils were then attached to steel boats, fiberglass boats, war boats, passenger boats etc....
Then in the 1960’s the first recreational foils made their debut behind boats attached to water skis, followed by knee boards in the 1970’s, then seated foil chairs a.k.a. “The Air Chair” in the 1980’s. Rock on the 90’s, Hawaii watermen and big wave riders Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama tired of the choppy conditions off the north shore figured out by attaching a set of snowboard bindings to the deck of surfboard and a foil to the base it would take them above the chop and smooth sailing; Laird described the feeling of foil surfing as being “connected to the oceans energy”.
In early 2000’s fellow Hawaiian Mango Carafino developed kite foiling and was the first to go bindingless / strapless. Jump forward to 2010 and we now have surf, kite and windsurf board’s all sporting foils, 2015 yet another Hawaiian waterman Kai Lenny gives the world Stand up paddle foiling and was in many ways the modern-day pioneer of all things foil thanks to online followings and social media. Now it’s today and your turn to experience it!
IN THE COMMUNITY
The arrival of foiling in the lineup as a new developing sport has resulted in some pushback from the Surfer and SUP community with a common assumption that foiling is dangerous, leading to frustration, tension, and aggression on the water.
You must have basic knowledge as a beginner of the social and environmental impact of the sport with basic rules to avoid causing conflict in the water.
TOLERANCE AND RESPECT IN THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT
Nobody owns the waves and all water users have the right to participate in water sports, regardless, always try to have discipline, making sure your ability and fitness level are suited to the area and not endangering yourself or others.
As foilers, we try to avoid crowded areas, which avoids big incidents or aggressivity in the water. If you are sharing an area with other waterusers make sure you have plenty of space. Use appropriate language and be cooperative with others on site. Visually check the area for a few minutes before going so that you can gauge the wind and current effects on the other waterway users.
REDUCE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Small waves, high tides, or less powerful waves are wonderful resources and foilers have a vested interest in ensuring that waterways and the environments are clean. As major stakeholders foilers have a role to protect these environments and to educate the public about the importance of the waterways.
• Contact your local government if your local foiling venue has a pollution problem and would benefit from a cleanup
• Ask your local government for a grant to plant and re-vegetate the dune area
• Always take your rubbish home or place it in bins if provided.
• Always use the designated walkways, parking, and staging areas
• Do not stray into fragile areas.
EQUIPMENT
Impact Vests
A kite, wake and/or water ski impact vest designed to protect the rider from high speed falls must be worn by all beginner flat water foil students. These vests are designed to provide some buoyancy essential for wake or kite style starts but also allow the student to penetrate the water when falling avoiding foil board impacts.
N.B. PFD’s / life jackets are not recommended as they are designed to float a person on their back and often do not provide impact protections on the sides of the chest or the back. PFD’s and life jackets will also minimize water penetrations critical during the first moment of falling when the foil and foil board will follow the student into the water.
Helmets
Helmets such designed for wake boarding, water-skiing and surfing are ideal for beginner foilers; providing head and some face protection from the foil and foil board impacts, as well as water impact at hight speed.
Booties
Booties are ideal to provide foil students protections from the sharp edges of the foil and mast which beginner foilers may kick or come into contact with when first learning to be around the equipment.
It is very important that you know everything about your safety equipment and how to use it. You can start going into session without it when you are 100% competent foiler, some advance foiler keep using the safety equipment even after mastering everything.
BASIC EQUIPMENT
Leash
It can be a waist, knee or ankle attachment and should be long enough to allow you to fall away from you board.
BOARD
SURF BOARD STYLE:
Surf-style boards perform best in waves, specialized for riding, heavy turns and big drops on waves! You should consider using one when you”re ready to ride in waves. This board is best ridden without bindings and with a leg rope so you don’t lose it in wipe outs. The downside of this board is that you need to change stance (move your feet around the board) whenever you change direction, you can also find this board style in kiting, it’s called a “directional kite board”.
Impact vest
Ankle leash Belt leash
BootiesH elmet
SUP BOARD STYLE:
A high-performance directional board with large volume, built for stability, control and time to fix your mistake or learn new skills! Basically it’s just like a normal SUP board where you add a foil, very used on your beginning as a foiler.
KITE BOARD STYLE:
The kite foil boards comes in many shapes and designs, some are designed for minimal board planing while others like the Airush core foil board are designed to asssit the kiter with the water start and when making heavy water re-entries; like bevelled rails and ample nose rocker. The deck space and foot straps assist riders with turns and the ability to move their feet around on the board and allowing them to change their feet position depending on the style of riding they prefer; fast, carving or learning. Thin, minimal volume or skate style boards which are better suited for speed and more experienced kiters. experienced kiters may even choice to use a skate board sized
WIND SURF BOARD:
Designed for wind foiling, a very large board which gives you plenty of movement just like windsurfing, So far due to the large volume of the board we have only seen some racing competition, barely a few are taking the risk of doing freestyle or big jump, hopefully in the future we will be able to see more.
FRONT WING:
Foils or wings come in all different sizes from 750 cm2 until 2500cm2. There are a few things to know though. If you are a heavier rider, you’ll want to get wings with a larger square area. If you’re riding surf or SUP with your wings, you’ll definitely want to get larger wings. Not only are larger wings much easier to learn on, but they also help to get you going fast at lower speeds. If you’re ready to take on some serious foil surfing, try out some wings that are less than surface area so your able to keep the foil in the water at higher speeds. You’ll be able to pick up serious speed that feels unlike anything else. That being said, the smaller the wings, the more energy you’ll need to get yourself going.
BACK WING:
Ranging from 300cm² to 195cm² the back wing or stabilizer is important in your foil setup, it undoubtedly influences the behavior of the entire foil. Simply changing it while keeping the same front wing can boost your ride and bring about completely different sensations and performances. A 300cm² will give you good stability and control rather than a 195cm² will give you good carving
MAST:
Masts If you are planning on foiling to ride waves (surf or SUP), you’ll want to start with a medium length mast and move up to a longer length mast once you are confident; somewhere around 60 – 70cm. The shorter the mast, the less height you have to fall from when you’re learning however shorter masts also mean less time/ room for adjustment. If you are just starting out and don’t want to push your luck with getting too much lift, we would recommend getting a mast that is 60cm. Mast can be made from alluminum or for high and
FUSELAGE
The fuselage connects the front the wings to the mast and may differ in length (the gap between the wings). The fuselage ranges in length of 50 cm – small 60 - medium to 70cm – large, the shorter the space between the front and back wing enables more immediate lift and more turning sped, the longer the fuselage the more control and stability. Fuselages can be made from alloy or for lighter and higher performance carbon fiber.
FOIL FRONT WING BACK WING
MAST FUSELAGE
FOIL SET UP
The place where you attach the foil to the board depends on your weight and height, and the wave you’re about to ride. If you’re a small surfer and need an extra lift, you’re going to position the wing forward in the box and the back leg will be over or slightly behind the mast. A larger rider should move it forward too and place the big foot over or slightly in front of the mast. However, when the waves get bigger and the foil is traveling faster, the plate system / mast should be moved farther back on the tracks to slow down the lift and allow the rider to manage the constant lift of the foil easier.
FOIL SCIENCE
The Basics of front WING Power – How Does a front WING Create its Power?
Front wing power is important – without it, we absolutely cannot ride!
Understanding why your wing make you fly and how it produces power is very helpful for beginner foiler. Learning becomes ten times easier and you progress even faster. This page introduces a very basic version of the reasons how your front wing make you fly and produce power.
LIFT:
It’s the force used in order for you to fly!!
Lift is created as water flows over both surfaces of the front wing . The water must flow over an area that has a shape like a wing. When this happens, the water flowing over the top of the wing flows faster than the water along the bottom – this creates a pressure difference. Because of this pressure difference the wing is pushed upwards, which is lift!
HOW DOES LIFT DEPEND ON SPEED?
To make it easy SPEED=LIFT.
Lift
As water flows over the surface of a wing, it sticks slightly to the surface it is flowing past and follows the shape. If the wing is angled correctly, the water is deflected downwards. The action of the wing on the water is to force the water downwards while the reaction is the water pushing the wing upwards. A wing’s trailing edge must be sharp, and it must be aimed diagonally downwards to create lift. Both the upper and lower surfaces of the wing act to deflect the water.
The amount of lift depends on the speed of the air around the wing and the density of the air. To produce more lift, the object must speed up and/or increase the angle of attack of the wing (by pushing the foil wings downwards).
Speeding up means the wings force more air downwards so lift is increased. Increasing the angle of attack means the air flowing over the top is turned downwards even more and the air meeting the lower surface is also deflected downwards more, increasing lift.
WHERE DOES THE FOIL HAVE TO BE TO PRODUCE LIFT?
Think of an airplane, to take off it needs a lot of speed in order to lift, other wise it will lift but come back straight on the ground, the speed in foiling is obtain by the waves, the wind, a boat or his own propellers like Electric foils.
Finally to create more lift you also need to apply a law called the angle of attack, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Based on this law, wings are forced upwards because they are tilted, pushing water downwards so the wings get pushed upwards. This is the angle of attack or the angle at which the wing meets the waterflow.
PITCH
1. The first step to pitch controls is the correct foot position. Place your back foot on or slightly forward the foil mast. The front foot is placed no wider than your shoulder blades; The second step is controlling the lift by angling your back knee forward while keeping your front leg straight and constant pressure on the front foot to hold the foil angle of attack.
2. The second step is allowing the foil to lift. Slowly open your back knee and angle your knee towards the tail of the board, which every slightly increases the angle of attack, allowing the foil to lift. When you feel the foil lift, and the board begin to raise, repeat step two and slowly descend the foil. Repeat these steps until you confidently control the ascent and descent of the foil.
3. Maintaining a constant height is achieved by continuously moving the back knee back and forth, stabilizing your height with minor rear knee adjustments. The ideal position behind the boat during this exercise is at a 45-degree angle to the boat, which allows you to maintain a constant speed and pressure.
YAW
1. Yaw is a mast rotation that changes the direction the foil is pointing. Yaw turns are made by simlpy twisting the backfoot to the left or right. Right turn, look to the right and twist the backfoot to the right. Left turn, look to the left and twist the back foot to the left.
2. When confidently controlling pitch on the foil at a 45-degree angle to the boat, begin to focus on the wake (wave). Make small yaw turns in the wake (wave) while controlling the pitch.
ROLL
1. As you perform a greater yaw turn, there will be a change in the pressure on either side of the front wing, the lift on one side increases as the lift on the opposite side decreases. Because the pressure is unequal, there is a twist in the mast and fuselage, and the foiler begins to roll and turn.
2. When performing a roll turn, you must lean into the turn to maintain equal balance throughout the roll. A foiler leans into the turn to maintain balance in the same principle that a bicyclist needs to lean into a turn so as not to fall outside the arc.
3. Now, you can perform the roll turn exercise by increasing your turns back and forth on one of the wakes (waves) to e from one wake (wave) to the opposite wake (wave) behind the boat.
FOILING STUDY BOOK
GLIDING
1. The technique for generating lift and speed with your foil is called ‘pumping’; however, before learning to pump, you need to know how to glide. Gliding is a matter of maintaining the left relative to your travelling speed.
2. Start by maintaining height on the foil without breaching, then increase your speed by the angle from the boat with yaw, then release the tow rope and maintain your height with pitch.
3. Repeat the exercise and try to achieve further distance with pitch control each time. Increase your speed by descending the foil at full height, then increase your height again with the speed you’ve generated from the descent. Now you are pumping.
SLOWING, STOPPING, AND FALLING
1. Speed creates lift, so when we want to slow down, you push both your knees’ forwards to lower the foil, creating drag from the mast.
2. To stop yourself, continue to lower the foil until the board touches down on the water’s surface and the contact from the board on the surface of the water will bring you to a full stop.
3. If you are going to fall lean forward and tumble into the water left or right of the board. Diving of a foil will result in you likely connecting with the foil or board and should never be attempted.
4. Always cover up your face, head with your arms and curl up into a tight ball with your arms as much as possible to protect your body from any possible connection with the foil.
SAFETY
When foiling is taught correctly and you follow the procedures for slowing, stopping and falls foiling is safe. What can make foiling dangerous
TIPS & TRICK
“Less is best” - The slower and gentler the movement, the more control you have. “Do nothing” – often, we try to do too many things; focus on small movements for constant control.
“Paper aeroplane” - find your inner paper aeroplane; what happens if we throw a paper aeroplane hard? It dive bombs and crashes. What happens if we hold the paper aeroplane high and gently toss it? It glides slowly to the ground, be a paper aeroplane and glide.
“Back knee forward” - is the answer to all foiling questions. If you are in any doubt on what to do you first reaction should be to push your back knee forward. This will allow you to regain control, slow down and stop the foil. When you react quickly and push your back knee forward you should be able to recover control and continue.
KITE/WAKE STYLE:
1. Placing the nose of the board in the direction of you preferred riding side; goofy-right/regular-left. You can now practices holding the foil board with your back arm, hand gripping the top rail, fore arm running across the board, then place your front foot in the strap. The back foot needs to be positioned 10 to 15cm in front of the mast position. Make sure your body position is as compressed as possible to the board, bottom to the heels, chest to the knees and the arms out straight holding the tow handle over the rail of the board.
2. As the boat starts to increase speed, the foil will start to sink, you need to twist your body to lift the nose of the board out of the water while maintaining compressed your body position. The more compressed the body and the straighter the arms the easier it is for your center of gravity to lift out of the water and on to the board.
3. Once your body is out of the water you need to remain compressed and apply pressure to the nose of the board without nose diving. You can now start to raise your upper body into a perpendicular position to the water surface, while continuing to apply pressure to the nose of the board without nose diving. Now you can move your board direction to their heel side, away from turbulence of the engine.
SUP & WING START:
1. Start by laying stomach down on the board with your toes touching the back of the boards tail, as the boat slowly starts to move forwards the board and foil will stabilize. Now pull your hands back next to your shoulders while only holding the tow rope handle with your front hand. Slowly and well always. Looking at the boat bring both your knees forward just in front of the foil mast, sit up with our weight back and then while in the sitting position take the tow rope with both hands, arms out straight and continue riding and familiarize yourself with the feeling of the board and foil.
2. Once you are feeling comfortable and confident take the tow rope handle in your back hand and place your other hand (front hand) on the deck of the board next to its closest rail. While using your front hand to stabilize the board lift up your front foot into the middle of the board (next to the SUP handle if it has one), continue to always look up and now take the tow rope with both hands while you twist your front foot and rise up on to your back foot. As you do tis you will start to move outside of the boats wake to your heel-side.
3. Immediately start to push your knees forward and continue riding the SUP board while keeping it planning on the surface of the water. Look to your heel side of the boat while taking the rope with one hand and you will turn away from the boat’s engine wake to your heel-side outside of the boats bow wake wave. While always looking up at the boat begin to move your feet slowly back in toes then heel slide to find your back foot position just in front of or perhaps directly on the mast depending on your weight. Now you’re ready to continue to the PITCH CONTROL exercises of rising and lowering the foil.
SURF START:
1. Get comfortable sitting on the board with the board perfectly balanced level to the waters surface with the board under the water. You may need to slide your weight back and fourth until you are able to control the board under the water with no hands.
2. Once the your comfortably balancing on the board you then need to hold the board by the rails directly next to your thighs and push the board down in a level position well keeping your eyes forward for stability and then in a controlled manner place your back foot above the mast and then your front foot on the center line of the board shoulder width apart.
3. The lower the your bottom is to the board and the closer the board is to the surface the easier it is to control the board under the water. Once the you are able to push the board down to the appropriate level and balance yourself standing on the board, practice these 3 steps several times on your own until this maneuver becomes controlled and stable each time.
4. Once you are able to balance yourself on the board with the board at a horizontal level to the water, under the water and then be able to lift your arms to the surface and perform slow movements left, right and even circles with the board stable and controlled under your body. Its time for the rope!!
MAKE A PLAN
Your plan can include: Conditions, Equipment selection, Safe zone or last solution zone, Self-rescue, Getting help, Emergency call.
Conditions: Before doing anything, it is highly recommended that you check every details especially if you don’t know the spot. Tide height, wind direction, wind strength, today you have many forecasts to check your local spot conditions, it should still be double-checked on land before entering the water. Tidal effects in channels and lagoons should not be avoided.
Equipment: knowing and selecting good equipment is always going to benefit you, if the conditions are hard do not go with unknown equipment. Taking care of the Board size, foil mast length, and foil front wing can reduce the chance of incident or hard session.
Starting and stopping point: Always choose a safe starting and exit point, if you don’t know the spot it is always better to ask the local for some advice, this/these point(s) should always be in your mind in case of boat lost, weather changing or big incident.
Self-rescue: Knowing all the techniques to self-rescue yourself is very important, you should know what to do in case of losing your boat or water depth change.
Getting help: In case of a big injury or bad situation, you should have a first aid kit in your boat, you should know where is the nearest hospital and the quickest way to get there.
SELF-RESCUE: The foiling board you use can also be used to paddle, if anything happens and you are on your own just lay on the board with the foil in the water and paddle to your safe point like any surfer would do. In case you end up in a spot too shallow to paddle with the foil in the water, you can still find a solution, flip the board, put the mast in front of you and lay on the board, this way your can start to paddle towards your goal.
SURFING
SURFING IS EVERYTHING, ride a wave in 30 minutes, long board riding rolling reef breaks, learn to generate speed, maximize wave power and move on to mini mals & fishes, 3 level, 15 courses, this is a life changer.
FOILING
THE NEXT LEVEL. Our foiling program covers tow, prone, SUP, wing and kite foiling. Let your instructor know which foil sport you want to master and we will have you flying in your first session.
WING SURF
SAIL, SURF & FLY. Our level 1 Wing surf course will have you sailing and turning, move into level 2 to try your new skills out on the foil board & level 3 you will be flying high above the water.
KITE SURFING
HARNESS THE WIND to rip across the water. Begin with the *I.K.O. level 1 -introductory course to learn the basics, Level 2 is in water kite & board skills. Level 3 teaches riding up wind & making turns. Surf kite gets you in the waves.
STAND UP PADDLE
CRUISE, SURF or RACE. The SUP program will give you a taste of flat water, waves & downwind, Level 2 - 3 wave riding. For ultimate speed our 12’6 - 14ft race board program will take you far quickly in fitness and speed.
