utcminusfour forum posts in last 60 days

+1 for Gwarn's comments. A large part of the fun for me is building and riding my own creations.
I researched the same thing recently (USA custom windsurf boards) and came up with Tillo as the best bet. I emailed him and he said "maybe". You have that connection.
As I drilled down deeper, I found some surfboard CNC shops just north of you. Try Liquid Gold Glassworks in Daytona, if your shape fits in their cut window they might build it for you or at least cut it. I can help with the 3D model if you like and can give some guidance on the laminate. I would offer to build it for you, but I can only handle so much epoxy, and my dance card is full of my projects. If no one wants to build it, have the blank milled and finish it yourself.

I will say this about building boards; it makes you understand why they cost so much!

azymuth said..
I'm keen - the wing looks awesome 😎
Are there plans for a titanium windfoil fuse - I'm never sure whether the Axis 90cm fuse is still available, can't see it in their catalogue.
Are you using the the One Ocean 90cm UHM mast?

Axis has a V3 windsurf fuse available now, just got mine. I had to email Axis to get one it's not updated online. Same length overall as V1 but the front wing is 2" closer to the mast. The cross sections of the fuse are bigger in way of the mast going forward and slimmer aft of the mast. It has inserts for the M6 wing bolts and has a zinc.

Enjoyed it all. You were holding your own with the slalom guy! You were gaining whenever he could not keep it on the water, that so interesting. The upwind 360s are getting there! I could watch ya reach for back loops all day and the wave riding at your local looks epic!
Are you gps enabled? I would be curious to know what your top speeds are on the 3 different foils you ride.

Gurra said..
Thanks. It seems like a short time, but I have around 70 windfoil days since April 2025 and I've been wave windsurfing in Varberg, Sweden, since 2006. So the step to windfoiling was pretty easy for me. But I understand why people struggle. The balance, timing and gear can be difficult ( if you even find something to buy nowadays). No wonder many choose the easier path and go wingfoiling instead. I'm not a quitter though. Windfoiling is a hidden gem, an unpolished diamond. We just need to keep exploring the possibilities together and inspire each other.

This is what inspired me.

One of my favorites! I love the lack of editing; you get to see the water starts and basic sailing skills that I need to improve. It fascinating to watch how he links everything together on the fly!
I agree, Windfoiling is a hidden gem!

Thanks Paducah!
It interesting. I can't argue the good points of Tuttle, only 2 bolts, lighter and less drag when the board is in the water. Those are just facts. Are they most important details for all of us, that's grayer.
PWA is still Tuttle.
Patrick talks about stiffness a lot with his Aeon set ups but chooses Tuttle. I think with the ever-smaller wings they ride the stiffness is good enough and drag is the priority.
Adrian at Axis is also focused on stiffness and says Tuttle is not the answer because the foil wants to be thicker at the board connection than the Tuttle is. Makes sense right the biggest loads are at the connection to the board.
Intuitively from a structural point of view, I like a tapered composite mast with a thicker top and molded in plate. With my ever-increasing front wing size, I need all the stiffness I can get, and I am considering a used Axis fatty mast to gain the added stiffness of a monocoque plate and tapered thickness.
I have thought about recessing the track, because as a garage shaper I can. I typically don't move the mast once I have things dialed in. Just make the top of the plate flush with the bottom of the board.
The other thought I have is for the foil builders. Keep the Tuttle conceptually, just make it thicker so the top of the mast can be thicker.

The slingshot rake adjustment shims are puzzling, for it to work it has to ignore the importance of the full contact wedging at the front and back walls. Perhaps they are just for fore and aft location, such that if you are not full forward or full aft you use two shims one each side of the mast. We all just associate shims with rake, maybe they should call them spacers.

Nice one JJ! Are those monkeys making those noises? Man, that looks like a bitchin place to call your back yard! Looks like the ocean's energy is available just around the point! You are a lucky dog!

thedoor said..

utcminusfour said..

thedoor said..
Still no stones for loops, but I have been able to clear the foil a few times without breaking an ankle

You are getting really close with the sail ducking! Great riding mate! Progression!

Cheers bro. For the new school duck tack the sail keeps going way down to the water. If I could figure that out there's a chance

All you need to do is add the come here motion with your front hand and it will fly back into your hands!😂

thedoor said..
Still no stones for loops, but I have been able to clear the foil a few times without breaking an ankle

You are getting really close with the sail ducking! Great riding mate! Progression!

Grantmac said..
I know someone using XPS who purposefully doesn't fill all the pinholes and just lets the board breathe. That's for wingfoil boards though with less force on them.

That was my plan, it makes some sense to me. I was not able to do it; I have spent to many years focusing on a perfect finish that by the end of the project there were no more pinholes! I used Poorman's vacuum method and that basically fills the weave perfectly then getting full coverage of white rattle can filled the rest.

Thanks JJ!
I love how you experiment with stuff that’s already built. Way easier and faster to learn the lessons!
I guess... no, I know... that I’m a glutton for punishment!
So, the downwind board was not all that much longer. The big difference was the cross-section shape with the deep beveled rails.
So here are my last three boards, in order of their build. All in the 145–150 liter range.

Red = Funky Dory, the downwind board. It sucked! Hard to uphaul, hard to slog straight, and it refused to release. I chalk it all up to the bevels. Note how far forward the bottom handle is, it balanced the weight nicely but would knock me over when it was windy because the handle was too close to the aero pivot point.

Blue = Folly Boat. After the DW disaster, I went brutally flat-bottomed. This board uphauled well and was easy to slog. It was still a bit squirrely in yaw when on the water, I think that is from the round tail outline. Predictable and nimble in the air though. I loved this board and was not planning to build another until the tracks ripped out!
I glued the tracks to the side of a Tuttle box. The ends of the tracks cantilevered fore and aft of the Tuttle. With my SAB foils, the foil was placed from middle to full forward. I had zero issues using this track design across three boards and six years. Then I switched to Axis and needed to move the foil full aft.
The load from the aft bolts pulling downward is the big design load that has to be handled. When that big load pulled in the middle, in way of the Tuttle, it was fine. When it pulled on the unsupported aft end of the track, it failed slowly over about 10 sessions.

White = Pearl, my current whip. I needed a board, and fast. I did not find anything I could buy or wanted to buy.
The big change here is the foam. I switched from 1# EPS to 2# XPS. I built it from 2" thick sheet foam in slices parallel to where a stringer would go, then hole-sawed a bunch of foam out from each slice.
I went a touch shorter to keep the nose off the ground when carrying it with the foil mast on my shoulder and the board on my back. It’s also a touch narrower.
I’m sneaking some arc back into the bottom shape, lowered the rocker forward, and made the deck mostly flat fore and aft, partly for aero drag.
The other big change is in the laminate. I had always used Innegra, and I skipped it this time and went with less carbon because the foam is waterproof. It made the build a LOT easier, but the board is already full of small punctures and if it were EPS would probably be in the bin by now. I’ll bring the Innegra back when I get the strength to build again, I have the foam staring at me in the garage. This board tracks straighter and takes off early. The arc in the bottom maybe helping the release. The really low rocker forward allows for aggressive pumping and the straighter outline and square tail seem to help slow speed tracking. The low nose is fine until it's not and is easy to pearl but I have adjusted,
This one is going good for now and has taught me a lot, and the learning is part of the fun for me.

I hope I’m not derailing this thread. With the conversation being about uphauling and light wind, I figured this was a good place to share this info.