LQ foil seat configuration

splaterwin · Since 17 Nov 2005 165 Posts Vancouver Stoked

Let me say I aspire to be a foil rider but the time commitment to master this new way of riding is significant. This got me thinking that maybe the learning curve may be shortened by spending more time being pulled by a waverunner. I’ve tried it using the normal standup method and found it dangerous to say the least. That said I watched Stringy take a different approach to foiling when he was nursing a foot injury by using a seat mounted to his board. This seemed to work really well for him. This got me thinking and soon I was hacking out a design that I could put together with my limited amount of fabrication tools. We tried different variations but quickly discovered what all boat foil riders know, to ride safely both legs & feet need to be secured. In the process we seemed to come up with a design that worked but was not very robust. Recently I found out that Huston Kite Boarding was cutting Liquid Force foil mask in half for sale as a learning configuration. This got me thinking I could use it as a seat post or short mask for kiting by moving parts around. Walla, I think we have a configuration that is robust and will work in any boating or kiting configuration by removing and or moving parts around. Hope to get it out in water soon but weather still too cold for me.

stringy · Since 23 Jun 2006 1724 Posts vancouver XTreme Poster

wow that is innovative!
I've had a couple of months riding a sitdown. I first thought I needed to be strapped into the chair. probably much easier to accomplish this when sitting in the water behind a boat. much more challenging to try and strap in when trying to fly a kite. even more nerve wracking when you arer strapped in and get pulled by your kite.
after two session thinking I needed a strap I eliminated it and found it was easy enough to get going without one. my biggest concern was my feet. with a displaced bone in my foot, I was concerned with locking my walking boot into foot strap.
I started with a foot hook and eventually made a bulb like foam pillar which actually works great. I found that you only use the foot hook for keeping the nose of the board downwind. once up planing, you can move your feet around. By going strapless I could bail away from the foilboard pretty easily.

honestly if you want to learn the traditional style foiling (standup) with the fish, I would suiggest mounting your wings to that short mast and use that for your first couple of sessions. A short mast really helps with progression