This Week in SUP Foil - Flat Water, Tiny boards and Rivers!
Austin Kalama, Dave Kalama's Son, made history on the 31st May 2017, with video footage showing him standing up on a short SUP, probably only 6-7ft, in pure flat water and no wind. He paddles, pumps, paddles some more, and then lifts up on the foil - flying, from his own power. He then continues pumping and hurtles off into the distance. Faster than anyone could have paddled on a 6ft SUP!
Watch that video on Instagram here
While it wasn't the prettiest form of paddling, it's just the first attempt and shows that with the right technology, and paddlers like Austin Kalama improving their skills, we might see flat water stand up paddle racing take to the skies.
Speaking of technology, Go Foil have a new hydrofoil that's been spotted in both the video above, and a couple of others. It's their downwind specific foil, and it's made for slooooooooow speeds and big boards, so naturally it's a big one! Coloured blue, with a huge rear stabilizer that's bigger than most kite hydrofoils main wings, this SUP Foil could be the first of some really big foils coming out this year, allowing larger riders to get into it!
Not a large rider, but Hydrofoiling's most famous, is Kai Lenny. This week he was out somewhere in the cold, where rivers are running fast and the cows were wondering what on earth he was doing. Of course he had a SUP and a foil with him, and showed that foiling on a stationary wave in a river is possible.
"What a blast it was doing Hydrofoil River surfing! interestingly, it feels as though you're going so fast but when you look to both side of the river everything is stationary." Told Kai on social media this week, "Never felt that much speed in my life without actually moving forward! Can't wait to do more of it."
Back in Hawaii, he was spotted paddling a new Naish board into a wave. Not remarkable in itself, but that board was only 3'8" long! That's smaller than most cutting boards, and he PADDLED IN!
It's been an exciting week in SUP - what could next week bring? Stay tuned to the stand up paddling forums right here on Seabreeze.com.au to find out.
Cromer, NSW
