enjoy the vid:


does anyone have a hydrofoil board in Sydney area... I would love to try it one day...

ewan kite said...

there is no way that was 3-4 knots because there was white caps.

sorry to say but what your seeing is the wake off the boats there are no white caps caused by the wind in this movie

Guy from Red Baron Kiteboarding School has one in Adelaide. I've never seen it used though. He hires gear out so I might give it a go this summer if he'll let me...

Anyone on here used one?

In their defense, I've been at St Kilda when its almost glass in 6-8 knots and you can see whitecaps back in the middle of the bay so its quite feasible.

Someone was using one at Dolls Point last year at one of Kitepower's demo days. Not sure who it belonged to and didnt manage to get a go myself. Looks like its v different to a normal board, as most people trying it for the first time couldn't get it up. But one bloke (prob the owner) was cruising around like on the vid and it looked awesome.

Maybe ask steve at Kitepower- he should know who it belongs to.

KS

thanks for the info, hopefully we can arrange for a demo!

Regarding the wind range of this type of boards: it seems to start way earlier than a conventional twin type, however, the top end would probably be way lower too...
- so: how big is the usable wind range compared to a normal TT, let's say on a 10m kite?
- how does it behave when heavily powered or overpowered??
- can you land jumps with such board?

cheers
Jacques

wonder if it would be possible to have a removeable foil that you could fit to a kiteboard, surfboard. So if the winds were low you could clip/screw it on and remove it when wind was stronger?

Hi guys,

The Foilboard in Sydney is privately owned and is a Carafino Foilboard. I haven't used it but know the owner. He says i is quite difficult to get the hang of itbut once you get up and going it is quite a unique experience, very quiet, no bumps, high out of the water and smooth.
From memory you could take the foil off the board, but I remember thinking it wouldn't be something you would do to get the best of both worlds.

They get going in fairly light winds and ride upwind with ease in the light stuff. I would imagine with a lot of experience you could ride in next to nothing after you break the board itself out of the water and up onto the foil, resistance is minimal.

Top end would be severely reduced as you dont seem to edge against them as such. In strong winds you would just have to use smaller kites.

They do look like a fun challenge and a nice break from the norm, but are pretty expensive as a toy for when you are bored with traditional kiting. I'd like one, but wouldn't part with the cash required.

Just my 2 bobs worth

Good winds,

The 19m Flysurfer SilverArrow also has a lot to do with it

perfect way to break your ankles

Marty from Delta @ Margaret River was making some hydrofoils - don't know how he went with them?

... It does say 6 - 8 kts on the video which is believable.... youv'e got to be desperate though! especially if you need a 19.5 meter kite to get you up!

expensive way to do business.... 19.5 meter kite + carbon foiling kiteboard = $$$$$$

in this (BTW nice) video, at 5'38'' and 6'57'' a guy is riding a hydrofoil strapless:
www.dailymotion.com/video/x65314

nickloop said...

Saffer said...

nickloop said...

If anyone has a detailed picture/ plans of size shape etc my mate recons he could make one(being a metal worker) and fit it to my old board. So if anyone has these or could get hold of, we would be greatful. would be worth the crack to try it.

The carafino one is carbon fibre. If you make it from metal you'll need to wear two lifejackets just to keep it afloat and then you'll probably need bindings. The reason you get away with straps on the carafino is because of the light weight.

was thinking more of ally than steel, but sure have seen one made of stainless steel, which would be bloody hard to make.

aluminium is the go - then you can shape with a bog file! - works amazingly well. The board that it is attatched to will float it. I was wrong in my earlier post you can still by the skyski stand up ones but I think they are still a bit of a novelty. You could make your own if you were real keen but there is a fair bit to it though, with slight variations making a big difference. The waterskiing ones have a large front foil on a t-bar with a much smaller rear foil. The front foil is on a horizontal plane with a flat underside and rounded edges on the top to give it a diving bias and the rear foil is much smaler, positioned behind the front foil and is angled to give you an up bias. What you are chasing is a balance point so that you can ride along (I always thought it felt like balancing on the rear 2 legs of your chair at school) and then when you want to go up or down you lean forward or back. The front foil is much bigger - i gues like a plane wing - for stability, and you can just shim the rear foil more or less for the amount of lift or kick you want. There are heaps of factors though like the distance between the two foils obviously and the height of the T-bar. Being water it is so dense and really a different kettle of fish when you are running things throught it rather than just on it. The origional air-chair foils came powdercoated and it was common to strip the paint and remove a lot of the excess meat with a bog file. Then you could sharpen the leading edge of the t-bar and shim the rear foil etc. You could have two chairs that looked the same but one could ride terribly just because of the tuning. Unless you were used to riding them before you tried to make one, and had one to copy I would say that it would be a fair effort to build one yourself. BTW if you do have a go just be carefull because if the aluminium foil hits you on a stack (not possible with the sit down ones but possible with the standing type) it could cause one hell of an injury.

there is some info and some exploded parts diagrams on the two websites. Skski.com and and airchair.com