if you can pump, you can ride flat water. (i can't pump).

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.

I am curious about this topic too. We only have ****ty wind swell where I live. 4-5ft max.

For the wind swell riders, in your experience what kind of foil is best suited for these conditions? 10AR ish and turns well or 12+AR that glides well?

windwaterfoil said..
I am curious about this topic too. We only have ****ty wind swell where I live. 4-5ft max.

For the wind swell riders, in your experience what kind of foil is best suited for these conditions? 10AR ish and turns well or 12+AR that glides well?

Its a very controversial question but for me i like my 12 aspect but i am only 66kg so in lighter conditions i only have the span of an 800 to deal with at 98cm and it surfs amazing. I like the glide that a 12 aspect foil allows you to finish a turn with. for 20 knots 685 12 aspect is great. I have two friends much heavier than me going in the same conditions. One will always be on one size bigger 12 aspect than me and the other loves his fairly large 10 aspect surf foils. they both work for different reasons.
I think for learning 12 aspect provides more time to make decisions to learn and will pump you out of trouble easier. 10 aspect might not project so well on the pump but it might provide a more manageable wingspan for those heavier riders.
Its almost like 12 to learn then 10 when better for a while and then smaller foils with 12 aspect again when pushing tight fluid turns.
Its hard to predict what particular bumps you might encounter until your try. Plenty of cheaper fun foils to learn on second hand if you want to change it up to see.