541 posts
Tartine, it's great fun. You don't need massive swell. Sizable windchop will be fine. We mess around on waves half a metre face and bigger in the river and you can have a ball. The thing to try and figure out is wave speed, sweet spot on the wave and what your foil capability is. If you're learning, theres a good chance you may be on a bigger foil which may be pretty draggy and develop a lot of lift. If it's draggy and slow, you may struggle to stay on the chop depending on how fast the chop is moving. And as you progress from the top of the swell, to the trough, you'll notice a change in the lift that the foil produces. Bigger learner orientated foils tend to produce heaps of lift, which means when at the top of the wave, you'll be putting heaps of front foot pressure on to keep the foil from breaching. Then if you drop into the trough, that lift reduces a lot, so you may find you nose dive. The thinner profile (faster) foils tend not to produce as much lift so are easier to control on a wave. Get into it as it's great fun but it's got a steep learning curve.
541 posts
Yeah tartine. It's a tricky one. I think there's been so much gear come out with manufacturers doing updates on gear that then becomes not reverse compatible with previous versions, not to mention foil board track placement and how it works with some manufacturers and not with others. If you gave me that as a project, it would be a bit of a nightmare. I'd almost say the best way is to get on here and propose what you intend to buy and ask if others have experience with the combo you're thinking about getting. The other thing is some foilers will find combos great and others might not. It can be pretty subjective.
Post some combos up and ask the group what they think.
