VANCOUVER ISLAND WINDTALK

I'm in the market for a foil around 1000 bucks. Looks like the LF foil fish is the one to go

http://kiteboardbc.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12240

Right? Any better ideas?

Here is Grant on his foil he made ~ 10 years ago

There's a reason it's cheap, and materials are only the half of it. You'll see now that LF has a new foils in the $2000 range with completely different shapes.

Look at the shape of the new LF happy foil and slingshots hoverglide/silencer for 2016. Wait another year and stuff like that will be on sale.

One thing I didn't realize when I said I don't need to go fast is that top speed for high performance foils is only around 30 knots. Your average freeride foil is more like 20 and even less for the foil fish.

If it's the only thing you can get your hands on, then I would say buy it and immediately post a for sale ad. By the time it's sold, you'll have taught yourself the basics and want something faster and more stable.

I should say that I have zero foiling experience, but in shopping for foils and considering building one I've watched way too many vids on them.

I bought the LF foil fish. Without having ridding it, here are more thoughts

The board isn't that great. But honestly who cares, its not about the board.

The aluminum mast is what you want at cook st. It could handle a couple logs. The board might be worth keeping for that reason alone

The foil is HUGE. I'll be surprised if I don't get this on my first day with this thing.

I don't think Ill get rid of this thing right away. to really foil you have to nail your roll tacks foiling, and this thing might help me do that.

LF Fish board: was around before the foil, known as a cheapie....aimed at wake boarding I think. "Good enough".

LF wing: big surface area means up onto a plane quick, in low wind. I think a benefit of that is you can be nearly stopped and kind of pivot turn vs smaller surface area foils will lose the plane. But also means a lot more drag ... so speed is capped out.

Good for learning, and also good enough if you are only going to use it for playing around in light wind. I suspect you'll want more glide and end up moving up.

It will be interesting to see if you regret your "first day" bold statements young skywalker. For me, I found it incredibly foreign and weird, took a half dozen sessions to get a feel for it, then another half dozen to get it controlled. But if there's any wing you'd get it first day, it's probably this one.

Raceboards schooled me pretty well but by the end I was riding them and almost landing roll tacks.

Point is I *think* I can turn off twin tip mentality and start carte blanche.

We shall see. the force is strong with me.

skywalker wrote:carte blanche.

... and here again we have Luke's phrase of the month for July.

My report on the foil fish. It doesn’t suck at all.

In fact I have a hard time imagining selling it right away. It performs well in almost no wind. Sure its heavy, but I like having the durability of metal at Cook st.

Plus, I was foiling the FIRST DAY out.

All this after only two sessions. I think I’ll rent it out next year.

It seems like they could refine the shape a bit so it gets tangled in your control bar less though. .

Steve Rueben had the same issue on a different foil. Not a lot you can do about that unless you put a spar between the nose and the bottom of the mast.

skywalker wrote:My report on the foil fish. It doesn’t suck at all.

In fact I have a hard time imagining selling it right away. It performs well in almost no wind. Sure its heavy, but I like having the durability of metal at Cook st.

Right on. As I understand it, that LF is designed to be easy to learn. Quick to get up on foil and slow. The sacrifice is its upside on efficiency and potential speed.

Beyond beginner stage, I figure this would still be good enough if all you're after is a novelty to play around with in light wind, when twin tipping is boring anyway.

But where foilers seem to want to upgrade is if they want to fast, or if want more glide and efficiency....eg want to be able to use a kite half the size of everyone else. Then a higher aspect foil is desirable.

For me, I am upgrading to a middle aspect freeride foil. I don't want to go fast, but I'd like a little more glide. I also want high maneuverability and get up on foil going slow....so I don't want twitchy high aspect. [ancient carafino for sale soon]

https://youtu.be/97etWbsibhc

Well John the Carafino was a blast! I swore most of the time trying to get the board in position but once up and riding close to surface of the water (no lift) it felt just like a race board in the footstance and the rigid line the board takes in the water, except there was an anchor keeping me from going too fast. Once any back foot pressure applied then up the elevator goes. This is when the swearing stops and the giggling starts.