Wake foil in a beautiful sunset in the posh bay of La Baule. Beryl Bisseau shows that he is not contrained by the wake itself...

Beasho said..

Piros said..
Hey JB where and how do you carry your phone .

Yes - Curious Minds want to know. How do you rig up the iPhone?

I have loved my TRACE but have been having 'issues' lately. 1st one: Battery dies in 45 minutes. Missed the best ride ever on a foil (I estimate 650 meters). 2nd Trace: Gifted by PonoBill. I strip all the data down and find it SKIPS 3 Minutes for every 10 it records - WTF! Who does this type of thing. I literally had to tear open all the data and put a filter line by line to see the missed records. Where it stopped and started. Total BS. This iPhone thing could be a game changer. Especially if it works with the watch. Then it may become my new best piece of surfing equipment.

PS: I know that the ride was > 600 meters because it was far longer than the ride below, which was my "Best Ever" having taken off on the inside of Mavericks. Call it the 3rd bowl. Slingshot in on a 9 - 10 foot face and then fly between the rocks into the inner lagoon. Impossible on any other type of surf craft. This was the short ride. The longer ride I had to cut deeper through the rocks but extended nearly to the beach.

The summary below is from the 1st TRACE, with better data, before the battery died and it missed the longest ride. Then I put on the 2nd TRACE, tuck the 1st in my wetsuit, and take my chances missing 40% of the waves.

Hey Beasho,

I use an iPhone 8 Plus. It is supposed to be waterproof, but I don't 100% trust that. So I carry a box of zip-lock bags in my van and use a fresh inner bag every time. I double bag my phone using the old inside bag from last session on the outside and a new fresh bag on the inside, then I put it into a "splashproof/waterproof" armband unit I got from K-Mart for $7. I get great signal, heaps of battery and very accurate and in depth reports back on my rides.

www.kmart.com.au/product/splashproof-smartphone-pouch/2023830

Hasn't let me down yet, and all the data is ready to go. If you set it up well, you can actually see your ride reports straight after your ride.

Worth a look at for a cheap alternative that is very accurate, plus I guess a great emergency option too JIC.

Ride safe foilers,

JB

BigSeppo said..
Nice Colas. I'm tired from just watching. That was impressive.

It is also very interesting to compare how Beryl performs on a longer board in the same conditions and foil: here a 6'4" instead of the smaller previous one (I guess around 5')

The difference in performance is quite obvious...
Also the recovery at the end is insane!

But the longer boards are a mandatory step to learn. I have a friend that tried to learn surf foiling on too small a board and he said it is too hard (even paddling back to the peak is hell), so he is looking for a longer board to put a foil box in.

www.facebook.com/patrice.guenole/videos/10216412792774723/

PS: the foil is the new 399 euro foil by Gong. It is a more lift but slower version of the previous Gong foil, easier to learn on and pump, but with a limited top end speed, a bit like JB explained when he detailed the difference between his L and XL wing sizes. I guess all foil brands will have these different kind of wings in their offering now.

Piros said..
Yeah good video Colas that guy can pump like a Mofo. Great price on that foil $625 Aus but couldn't find any specs on the weight on the web site , I'm guessing about 6kg like the Slingshot or Takuma ?

it is 3.9kg, as said on the web page: https://gongsupshop.com/epages/box1707.sf/en_GB/?ViewObjectPath=%2FShops%2Fbox1707%2FProducts%2FGON8SFOILALLCPT

"Aluminium mast and fuselage. Fiber wing and stab (50% Glass, 50% 3K Carbon). This foil setting weight 3,9kg. ". So it sinks, but it is not too heavy.

This is a totally modular foil: it will come with different wings for SUP/surf, kite, windfoiling (later), plate or tuttle, alu or carbon mast+fuz.
The SUP/surf wings come in 2 sizes: L (70cm width, 1257cm2 projected area, 1450cm2 developped) and XL (80cm, not yet available). It can also accept the carbon masts of the previous foil model that I have ("Hellvator", the new one is the "Allvator"). Production has started (~ 3 foils/day), so I should have mine I guess in July. I have ordered the 80cm wide wing, to be able to experience two very different foil setups. They can ship direct to the world, just email them for conditions: [email protected]

This a foil again totally designed by Gong (hence the time taken to develop it). Be wary of most chinese generic offerings that are just copies of existing foils... but for instance mixing wings from a brand with stabs from another to avoid being sued... with weird results on the water.

Beryl has insane physical strength and endurance... no foil in the world will make you magically pump like him :-) Also Beryl is the one who actually shapes and glass the foil prototypes at the Gong headquarters in France, so he was able to refine a lot these designs by intense testing on the water with a fast turnover of prototypes. He now even doesnt paddle to the peak anymore: he just get in the water, take any close by mushburger/reform, lift off, and get out to the peak pumping. He nearly never paddle his board anymore outside of talkeoffs and repositioning... But he is the only one in the Gong team that can do this.

There are a lot more info on this foil in the Gong forum, some in English but most of it in French: www.gongsup.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=9417

Disclaimer: I am a Gong ambassador.

Gashed said..
Couple of months ago....crosschop, backwash, jet skis !
Looking forward to seeing all the new gear starting to surface....

I was watching the vid going where the **** is that, then I worked it out...you are a ****ing lunatic riding a foil out there!

Fun session last week in Lombok on my 5'10 Jimmy Lewis Surfboard foil with GoFoil Kai....

www.facebook.com/nicolas.caillou.3/posts/10216775699413732

Flying around the Roy on the Ke Nalu 775 Iwa foil and Sunova 7'8" Foil SUP...

Beasho and I had a fun session in total wonk yesterday.
His daughter and I were on SUP, Beasho was on his foil.

After the session I grabbed my point and shoot, to take vids of his last waves.

Not many foilers in New England yet, so it was fun to watch Beasho carve through the chop.

Already posted elsewhere, I just add it here to help centralize all foil videos on the site: fun foil (+SUP) session by the Gong staff offshore of its offices in La Baulke, France:



Note that Beryl weights 66kg and is on the biggest Gong foil wing (the 80cm wide one). But he uses a smaller kite stab (45cm) to still be manoeuverable, and fast. On the Gong foil (at least) the stab is what can limit the speed: you can go very fast even with big wings by using a faster stab, and Gong modular system provides a lot of stab sizes. This is the new modular "Allvator" Gong foil, alu mast and carbon+glass wings at 399 euros.

www.facebook.com/DrivenByElements/videos/1694323510637277/

This is the new Slingshot Infinity Surf/Sup Foil. Tested it out towing today , it had amazing stability at speed and incredible glide . Our runs went forever .

The Horue Boyz (n Girlz) in their latest visual feast:



It is striking how foiling is evolving: this video now appears dated, as it was visibly made before the beach/dock foil start breakthrough...