Marlon and I hit the dawn patrol this morning. We drove separately as Marlon had volunteered to help guide students in an activity one of his previous professors was working on, There was a little texture on the water, the swell was decent (waist - mostly, to chest - occasionally), and the tide was coming down from a high of 1.1'. As you can see below, Marlon brought his longboard. Once he paddled out, I didn't see him.
I brought both of the recently chopped foils out. I started out with the HS1532CS. The foil has settled in - no more groans from rough spots holding water, no more slipping from the wax coat, and it glides and pumps with zero issues. I caught a bunch of waves, then figured I'd paddle in. If it was early enough still (I had to be back home by 9 so I could take Noe to sailing) I'd paddled back out with the chopped 1550.
Well - it was early enough so back out I went. Riding this foil is a completely different experience - has some of the glide, some of the pump, but how it moves on a wave... perfection!!! I caught three really good waves - pulling off some really hard turns and being able to go top to bottom on a wave face. This front foil makes prone foiling just like shortboard surfing. My search for the perfect surf foil is over - at least for waves chest high and under. Above that, I think the CF1200 will be the go to (come on south swells!!!).
So the front foils are starting to get stratified - the HS1850, HS1532CS, HS1250 (and maybe eventually the CF800 - oddball) are better for winging. With their flatter, wider shape, they seem to be better for getting up faster with the wing. The HS1550, HS1475 (what I'm calling it for now until I can measure the surface area), CF1200 (and again the oddball CF800) are the surf foils. Primarily the shorter width, more swept back tips all carve up a wave face. These don't need the same efficiency to stay on foil since they get all the power they need from the wave. Now I can stop fidgeting with all this stuff (not likely).
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