WindyBear forum posts in last 60 days

Kusot said..

WindyBear said..

UisceBeatha said..

Kusot said..

TuberiderG said..
Yeah, that's really disappointing. A big marketing campaign on social media for weeks — and now just a refreshed Mode Pro...
There was a video on Instagram by Mike Raper from January 6 where he's testing the SFv2 - and now: nothing again. They're very slow!
Have they even introduced a new foil designer since Uli Sommerlatt left?

They are late to the party so they need to make a confident entrance with stock on hand to prove it. My journey on North is from R1850, A600, 320(ish) to now using the dw820,C650,S142 on UHM85. I used the SF1080 and SF830 with S215/C700 on the way. The waves we get here are always wind driven and the power is often in the lower range for SF. The dw820 turns very well and suits our conditions better in that sense. What I do miss, and this might be just my skill holding back, is the more surf stile powerful bottom turn from the back foot that I can do with the SF830 (imagining its a bigger wave than it is :-). I come from Kiting on surfboard. Opinions shared are usually linked to their home conditions and riding stile. If North comes with a breed of SF and DW I think they will be on the money for me, but I don't think DW is outdated. It is underestimated!

Anyone still on this thread is a North rider, and we probably all agree, they are great foils. Even at their peak the foil updates were slow but was willing to let that go for good product out the end, which they have a great reputation for. We want more and that is not unreasonable. You buy into a foil system with the expectation that it grows with you too, otherwise why drop all that hard earned fun cash. There isn't any comms on what might or could be coming whereas every other foil company is looking to what is next and selling that innovation and investment. I agree, DW, SF and MA all underestimated foils, all the ingredients there for v2's, just gotta hope they invest.

To put it politely, the DW1400 was ‘special’ 😂 so special it was hard to ride. Still, North did a decent job with the Rover parawing, which rides great. The bar isn’t anything special and has a design flaw around the holes (abrasion of the pigtails) but otherwise it’s decent.

I think the DW1400,C700,S142,UHM80 is an absolute perfect low end machine in the 8-10kn days. UHM80 is a bit faster than UHM85 and nice for a bit of pump. I take my time in the turns so width of the foil to length of the mast is not a problem. You can get "locked in" on a turn and feel you are not getting out of it. I think that is because you are not one with the mast and instead are trying to drive it. I low it.

Fair enough. I agree the UHM masts made a massive difference, and actually improved my foiling loads. It is a great mast. Maybe the DW1400 was just not for me, but I haven't seen that many people or videos sing its praises. And when you get volumes of feedback and stoke from people in the forums about a particular foil, I think that sends a signal that something is working. Haven't seen that enthusiasm for the DW series, but I have seen it for the SF and MAs.

MProject04 said..
Tell us about the sounds the mast makes

Were you expecting some Frankenstein-ish sounds coming from the setup? 😂

It’s alive, it’s alive !!

BWalnut said..
When I first started out I never tried the ride til you fall method. There's value in that for sure, and there are other ways to progress. I always thought getting dialed on fully stowing, and then successfully redeploying my parawing every single time was more important to me. This taught me to lock that skill in while also learning to read the bumps for when I should redeploy. I think my longest was 3 hours 55 minutes and 50 miles with no falls. No way would I have had the energy to keep going if I was fighting with restarts at the end of every single one of my runs. Plus, I kinda feel like I normally would fall in the worst locations which means the restart would take even longer. I just did my little 3 mile downwind run, then 3 miles back upwind, over and over again.

As parawings have gotten better and my gear choices have changed I settle in with a different style on different days. Most recently I ride more like a winger. I'm using smaller foils and sessioning on a very tight zone of bumps. I often times go bananas letting my LTX canopy swing wild and free while I challenge my turns for a 60-120 second leg scorcher and then redeploy and repeat. It's like doing a HIIT workout and I definitely get my best turns doing this because I make zero effort to stow. The LTX is like a dance partner that I want to interact with. Other sails are not fun to have out and do best in a full stow. With those, ride til you drop or focusing on longer DW runs is definitely more of the vibe for the day.

All that to say, there's no wrong way to go about this. If you're having fun, then you're having fun.

Nice to hear of different strategies! Such a diversity of different approaches which is cool. I think as autumn and winter come and the conditions get bigger and more gnarly and my tolerance for going ‘offshore’ is reduced it will be my go-to strategy to do shorter laps.

CFL Foiler said..
If you’re having fun then you’re doing it right. Sounds like tough conditions honestly. Make sure you match your foil to the bumps. Short period lake swell generally needs a larger foil. But honestly you look pretty good in those clips


As for pw technique I would say mix it up. It’s ok to redeploy often, one the benefits of a pw really so use it. You can even keep it up as training wheels while you figure out the bumps. When things are clicking go back to challenging yourself again and ride until you fall off foil.


I think it’s an easy trap that we can all fall into trying to ace runs vs just having fun out there. It’s not a paddle up so there is no reason avoid starting with a pw as it’s so easy to do.

Yea I’m the only one parawinging here in these conditions so I don’t really have a good reference against more skilled people as to the conditions and how good they are. My feeling is they are quite marginal compared to say Maliko or Hood River by comparing the videos . Waiting for some autumn swell and wind which generally brings bigger conditions here.

i think I’ve become a bit fixated on staying on foil as long as possible but it’s a good reminder to keep things fun!! Will take this forward onto the next sessions.

hilly said..
Not sure why this is in Wingfoiling Forum. FD would not annoy wingfoilers.

Great tool to have in your kit if you are not young, dumb and full of…… and can pump for Australia. Elitist argument - I am young fit and can do anything so I am better than you.

Same as emtb issue which now is settled with most new sales being emtb rather than analogue.


FD has opened up so many areas it actually might have thinned out the crowd at established breaks. If used responsibly it is amazing 😀

Seen plenty of machismo prone foilers pumping around and around surfers so not sure the pests are just electric.


Not sure the OP was having a go at FD or just celebrating learning enough from FD to be able to do it without assistance. Great for him if that was his aim.

The OP author is back 😉 my aim was to share my experience and to show that FD is certainly not a good or best tool for every situation. As many subsequent posts said, it depends on the use case. And some use cases are very strong (surf foil or downwind with waves - no wind) while others are a lot weaker in my opinion especially as other tools have progressed and improved (eg parawing, pump scooter). . I just took a look at the FD website and yes it is marketing but it would have you believe that it is fabulous across all foiling disciplines. Just like you get parawing brand claiming their new v2 or v3 system is the best yet, people want to wait for real-world reviews because they know half of it is just marketing. My intention was just to try to add a tiny voice into the discussion by pointing out my experiences where I thought FD was not a great tool.


the comparison to eMTB is not a good one I think as they are totally different - eMTB are pretty silent, and they don’t pose an immediate additional danger to other participants, and they don’t fundamentally alter the access to spots because fitter non-eMTB riders can just as well ride all the same trails as eMTB riders can

Ok so after some deliberation I decided to sell my Foil Drive because it just wasn’t delivering for me. Living in Norway on a coast with wind-driven short period swell where the the swell dies when the wind dies, I just feel the parawing is such a better tool than a foil drive. With the original intention to learn downwinding with foil drive , I just felt it did not deliver the goods for me.

here’s what I learnt from my short 8-month stint with the Foil drive:

- it’s noisy as hell 😂
- maintenance is surprisingly easy and is not the main disadvantages
- integrated mast reduces drag but does not eliminate it completely
- the box underneath creates a lot of drag and IMO is a deal breaker when it comes to thinking of using FD only as a backup / safety tool for long offshore parawing or wing - powered sessions
- no matter what anyone says, you absolutely feel the weight underneath you and it is a significant disadvantage IMO
- batteries are a real fire risk as a post on Progression project forum demonstrated
- flat water pump foiling with foil drive is actually quite boring 😂

Add it all up and for my conditions it just ended up being a big expensive distraction. I recuperated 60% of purchasing value which I am very happy about.

If I were to advise someone now about foil drive I would say: it probably is a fantastic tool for windless but swell rich regions where you want to go wave riding or downwind foiling. For all other disciplines I am quite skeptical and actually I think Foil Drive oversells the benefits of the system for downwind foiling, learning to Sup foil, pump foiling etc . Maybe wake thieving on a lake too there is some benefit to it. But anywhere there is wind I would say: think very carefully before an expensive purchase like this.


not to bash foil drive which is a great tool for certain conditions but I see too little focus on the potential downsides in all the social media being pumped out by the shops and influencers out there.


Some free advice for anyone willing to listen 😉