Wakefoil - anybody have or tried
 

Looking at one of these to add to my arsenal of toys. Anybody have one or tried? My concern with getting one is my size 6'4" 230. Wondering if my biga$$ will even get it planing out of the water??


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNrsB3hXxXs

Thanks for sharing the video. It shows sometimes with bindings and sometimes without. Honestly, it looks boring. Why not just get a wakeskate? Much cheaper and people can just carve around or try tricks if they want.

I have done the slingshot wakefoil without bindings and thought it was a blast. It's fun for a bit but i'm not sure where the progression goes. Once you learn to ride it you pretty much just ride it around the lake. But the week that i had one on loaner was a blast. Not sure i could justify spending the coin on one though.

Since when is boring a criteria? Only thing more boring than surfing is pulling a 4 year old around on a monster tube at 8 MPH...yet people drop an extra $60-100k all the time to stand behind the boat and bore everyone to tears as they try to go "wireless". Or even worse as you have to go back 100 times to restart while they are trying to learn a 360 now that they are an advance intermediate wake surfer.

Anywho...wakefoil looks like great fun. Great vids of carving, jumps, surfing. Really...I'm just in favor of anything that isnt all surf, all the time.

Bakes have a really good point tho. hahaha so true.
But still wakefoil looks boring. That 90 years old guy do it at the lake every single day since like 25years, but his wakefoil is on a chair..
I guess if it’s boring he wouldn’t done that so much. Maybe at his age I will be in the same place, who knows.
Great introducing video instead.
If I had to try it a day or two yeah, why not looks fun for a bit. But maybe not spending a 1K for that..
it’s my own opinion, not a richy rich one so I guess someone who is not broke after spending 150k for a boat could easily spend one more on that.

Personally for diversity I have a slalom ski and a kneeboard. I love kneeboard, even more watching friends doing kneeboard
I have a wakeskate and I found it a bit dangerous lol. That skate grip scratch hard.
After that.. I think we just don’t have enough summer up here to make enough wakeboard, Wakesurf, kneeboard, slalom and a bit of tube to be bored lol.
It’s pretty much the opposite, I would take more wakeboard Wakesurf session In a year

Did someone force you to unwillingly surf as a child or something? You’re about is bitter as a person could possibly be toward surfing. It’s quite unbecoming, but I don’t imagine you really care.

I am currently building a Clearwater Wake Foil, for something to pass the winter time. Looking forward to trying to get working for me!

Did someone force you to unwillingly surf as a child or something? You’re about is bitter as a person could possibly be toward surfing. It’s quite unbecoming, but I don’t imagine you really care.

I am currently building a Clearwater Wake Foil, for something to pass the winter time. Looking forward to trying to get it out of the water.

I've tried a foil board and it was pretty fun. Hard learning curve though. I just don't see a lot of video of anyone riding them rope free.
Oh.. and Del Monte... I am one of those 90 year old guys that run around the lake of a sit down foil. You are right, its definitely not boring. At 62 I can still get some serious air on my inverts and not kill myself like when I was riding a wake board.

We are looking at some lake property that the weekends its just flat out too rough to board. I'm thinking of picking one up just for those days.

Same^^^

you should not knock the air chair until you've tried it. I only had one day with one and i never really got it down but you could not get me off of it. Was a blast.

Wakefoil - anybody have or tried
 

Did you feel safe or did you feel like you could bemaimed at any second?

in any sit down foil you are safer than most anything else on the water

That's how i felt about surfing at first. I suppose the air chair has it's niche, just seems like there is not too terribly much you can do with it.

You can do more on a foil ( sit down) than you can do on any surfboard. Most people that knock foils have never tried them or are too intimidated to try them. I occasionally surf but find it way too boring compared to the foil.

never felt unsafe on the sit down foil. the wakefoil i had more concerns about falling and having the foil hit me but it never happened.

I refuse to surf its boring and zero adrenaline. Mine as well get one of those large lounge tubes and ride around. When my knees ankles and back can't take boarding anymore it will be a foil of some sort. I tried it once and really want to get back out there.

I tried the chair one day and it was a blast! And super difficult! I got up on the slalom, surf, and wakeboard first try. Started jumping on a wakeboard on my very first run. The air chair was a different story! Took everything I had to stay upright for 30 seconds.

Is the surf foil even harder? I can’t imagine being able to stand up ropeless. That might be a lifetime of progression for me[emoji23]

In my opinion if you live on the water or going houseboating one can never have enough variety of water toys!

The Air chair / Sky Ski is a BLAST! HUUUUGE air, humongous flips, it's insane! Only did it 3 quick sets, but most fun I've had behind the boat in ages! Beats jetsurf and flyboard.
The new stand-up wakefoils do seem a bit boring, after the initial learning phase. Haven't tried it yet, though.
I'm definitely getting a Sky Ski as soon as budget allows.

Guy in the pic is the one who taught me. Think he was 68 at the time.

I love the cool guy thing where you’re too awesome for surfing. LOL ok big fellas!

Surfing may be boring if you just stand back there and do nothing. I know I don't do that, I am constantly crashing cause I surf to get better, learn new tricks and get better at the ones i can already do, tons of fun! So not sure what you are doing that makes it boring.
That said, I would also LOVE to try foiling. Just not had the opportunity to do it yet.

Watching people learn to foil for the first time can be the most entertainment you will see behind a boat. Watching people learn to surf can be the least entertaining thing to watch behind a boat.

I would imagine a foil surf board would also fall somewhere in the middle of the 2 in terms of fun.

What about this one??
 

looks like fun. Is that Rick Flair at the end of the video?:)

Gotta agree on the air chair/sky ski. I'm 46 and the days of big inverts and pushing the envelope on a wakeboard are FAR behind me. The air is WAY bigger on a foil and as someone mentioned above, you will laugh and have the time of your life the first couple of weeks on a chair. If you know someone that has one give it a try you'll be hooked.

How much do they go for $ wise?

Also, how does that thing not sink when you wipe out?

All the videos I have seen show the device floating. So that’s how it doesn’t sink. 🤣

Cheapest I have seen was someplace around $1200....not sure if that one is OK or what.

I am very interested in this!

Guys who have experience with the chairs:

Where does a guy start? Looks like AirChair has a 1600 dollar model and SkySki has a 1200 dollar model.

Any advice?

You can get a decent one for around 1000 used, I ACCIDENTALLY won one on ebay for 500 ( the original airchair ) would advise against that though. They are much harder to ride. Foilforum is a decent source to browse through. other than that just do the rounds on the wake forums and craigslist and you'll see some for sale.

So airchair is harder than a skyski?

No....the older ones with the smaller foils are harder because they are quite a bit more sensitive due to the lack of surface area. ( my opinion )

The hydrofoil community is pretty close. f you really wanted to get into it, would join Foilforum and see who foils in your area. Almost everyone I know that owns a foil would be more than happy to take out a newby. I learned on my own and it was a long learning curve without having anyone there to tell me what I was doing wrong. Pretty much trial and error.
I'm am probably considered a mid level rider. Nothing is better than getting pulled past a boatload of people with a surfer behind them and hitting a 10' wake roll next to them. They go nuts.

Current offerings by both companies are very good. The biggest reason to avoid the original air chair is that you'll outgrow it very fast, as it's not hard to find the upper end of its performance. There's also no uprgrades really possible to the originals, so you end up buying an entirely different foil.

The original Skyski on the other hand rides much better than the original air chair. Additionally, if you get a little further into Sky-skis (beyond original offerings) you can upgrade them considerably with different foils, longer t-bars, etc.

No matter how you slice it, it's an expensive sport to get into and the learning curve is pretty shallow without someone to teach you.

Fact: a VERY sweet foil can be had for $4k. But...it works for everyone, works just a well on a $10-$30k boat without ballast as it does on a pimped out G costing $120k more. Also, I guarantee that 85% of people who can do a legit 360 wakesurfing have more than $4k into all the boards they have bought over the past 2-4 yrs. Not even talking about gas pushing a 10,000 pound surf pig.

So yes...the skyski looks expensive and hard, but it's actually waaay cheaper and once you get it, you got it forever. Just google Pine Lake Hydrofoil or Parker Hydrofoil to get an idea of what can be done....and it you look, everyone huking huge air are old to middle age dudes.

Anyways...SkySki is fun, safe, pretty easy after the first 20 pulls, and you can ride forever. If I had to get rid of every toy on my boat except one thing..I'd keep the sky ski, really miss the slalom and fondly remember old man wakeboarding.

Foiling FTW

http://www.skyski.com/product-p/10-0914.htm

This is where I would start but I'd get it without the front wing and get an aftermarket one. Maybe a used Raptor front wing.

The other thing you have to remember is the storage of these beasts.....racks can be kind of expensive, and they will take one side of your tower to themselves. I guess you COULD take them apart for locker storage but that would suck to do each time. ( although it is fairly quick and easy )

Foiling is cool and I have done it a little. I've been wakeboarding for 25 seasons and a foil crash ranks in my top ten. My first wake to wake attempt involved me catching an edge with the foil and taking the fall straight to my ribs. Everyone says they are easier on the body, but not in my experience.

On the wakefoil front, buy a manufactured one. I built one last year and it was a death machine.

What one did you build? 🤣

Yeah...the sky ski can definitely thump you a bit if you land wrong trying something you shouldn't. Steady progression is the name of the game. I will say this...anyone who has "done it a little" has no business trying a wake to wake jump unless looking for a nice thumping. Once you have several hundred solid, consistent jumps out in the flats with good body control and decent ability to adjust in the air, then you can try wake to wake jumps that involve a lot more timing and have a pretty sweet boost from the wake. The impact is more of a thump than a twisting/wrenching joint killing thing. When you know your about to fall weird, give yourself a hug and brace for impact.

You will need a dedicated rack for the boat for sure. They are a little spendy but selling your old rack takes some of the sting out of it.

Regarding Sky Ski vs Air Chair....Most of the rigs out there are a combination of manufacturers. I would stay away from anything less than $3000 as you will soon have a $1200 foil with beginner wings and a short T bar that isn't as fun as the longer T-bar with sweet wings. . Name of the game is a nice 38-40" T-bar and aftermarket wings. I still have the old 2 piece T-bar but have nice aftermarket wings and the difference is amazing.

Foilforum.com has everything and more you could hope to ask and learn

I built a clearwater foil.

Bakes, who has time for that? I could air it out in the flats no problem and the only backflip I ever tried, I barely looped out on. The wake to wakes were fine until it wasn't.

LOL I am making a Clearwater right now 🤣.

This should be fun.

Foilboarding 101 Your First day on a Foilboard
 

just found this link under the video & photography

http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=808460

The Pine Lake guys were involved in our wakeboard tour for last few years. All of the guys are super friendly, helpful and just all around great dudes.

But make no mistake, on the water these guys are bananas. They chuck flips 20 feet up like its nothing. To me, it looks so dangerous compared to anything else on the water but they claim its easier on the body than wakeboarding. Also almost every rider is in their 30's or 40's. Its definitely entertaining to watch.

A few years ago I was in my 50’s and doing pretty good on my wakeboard. I was trying to land inverts and ended up blowing out my knee.
The next summer I borrowed an original Air Chair from someone I knew when we went on vacation . We went in blind, not having ever ridden one and not having anyone to show us what we were doing wrong. It took almost a full day of carnage before I could actually ride it and control where I was going. By the third day I was getting some limited air. By the fourth day I decided I was going to try a dismount gainer (invert) . I almost landed it on my first attempt. I was hooked. It took almost 100 crashes before I was able to ride away from my first wake roll. The good thing about riding a foil is that its really hard to hyperextend anything because you are strapped in. The bad thing is, with the huge air you can get , the chance of a blown out eardrum, concussion, getting the wind knocked out of you, and bruises are much greater… and I’ve done them all. Over the years I have learned how to crash better, which helps a lot. I haven’t been back on a wakeboard for 10 years now that I ride a foil.

I don't know how to post pics here, but check out this dudes face from a hydrofoil

https://www.theinertia.com/surf/here...u-in-the-face/

buy a used foil, not original models, something with 39-40" tbar and all parts are upgradeable over time.
Wings = upgradeable
tbar = upgradeable
board = upgradeable
seat tower = upgradeable
bindings, seat belt = upgradeable

get in for less than $2k, upgrade as you progress. Space out the $3-$4k you ultimately will spend.

^^^That's the route I'm taking.

^^^definitely space it out. If your wife hears you want a $5000 foill you will never have one. Cheaper initial purchase price, then upgrade front wing. Just make sure your initial tbar is 38-39 inches or you will be upgrading that quickly and those are spendy.

I'm 6'4" and 230. The foil don't care. It is so smooth and, if anything, your problem will be that it pops out of the water too much. I bet it could carry 400 lbs.

http://wakeworld.com/news/feature/fi...-wakefoil.html

I bought a first generation Air Chair for $125 on Craig's List a few years ago. From what I know it's a total piece of junk compared to the newer ones but everyone is laughing (crew and rider) every time we use it. I only get it out a few times a year because it takes so much space on the boat it is fun.

you can always get your money back unless you get taken on a first gen. Foils and their parts hold their resale value nicely.

i thought it looked super boring trying to surf a hydrofoil... surfing is already borderline for me- as the bones ache more and more I really wish it was as fun to me as it is for everyone who loves it, i get done riding and it just isn't the same feeling as wakeboarding for me.... i saw a clip on instagram of a guy doing a 360 riding ia foil strapped in like a wakeboard and that looked pretty cool to carve and ride on. I don't see it taking the place of surfing for surfers or wakeboarding but more like an additional option to have. like the roam was to wakeboarding. It wasn't meant to displace your other boards just something else to have fun on.