Have seen a lot of reviews of the electric foil assist (e.g. FoilDrive, Duotone Foil Assist, Stoke Foiling) for wing foiling, SUP foiling, prone, and downwind, but nothing for windfoil. Has anybody tried using any of the system for windfoiling?
The main challenge I see is mounting the controller on the boom, or accessing the controller on either side of the boom. The duotone electric foil assist seemed to be best suited for this with the thumb controller. The motor should have enough thrust to boost onto the foil even with the extra weight of the windfoiling gear. But wondering if anybody has real world experience with this?
Mainly looking for an electric foil assist to maximise on water time as I work full time and there are more days of marginal wind condition than none. Plus with young kids at home, time on the water is precious. If I can get out of wind shadow and up to the line quickly,or even get back to shore safely when the seabreeze dies, that would be well worth it...if it works
I haven’t tried it windfoiling but have with wing and parawing. Easiest with para as you can fly it with one hand, the other on the controller. You only need a tiny amount of power to get up to foiling speed so even a small battery lasts way longer than needed.
i use Foildrive, nothing attached to you and fits easily to any board or mast. My worry with the Duotone is if you fell forward on the other side of the mast in a catapult you might rip the cable out of the unit. My controller is mounted on my waist by a reel leash, once I’m foiling I just drop it and it disappears behind my back.
I use FoilDrive when I windfoil, gets me to the windline. I have long launch area that has a wind shadow.
It's an older unit (Assist Plus), but has plenty of thrust to get me out of the shadows or home when the wind dies.
I hold the remote in my one hand (via the wrist strap). Works OK. Gonna try hanging it from the impact vest in a bungee and maybe try hanging it above the boom.
Select to expand quotecheetos said..
Have seen a lot of reviews of the electric foil assist (e.g. FoilDrive, Duotone Foil Assist, Stoke Foiling) for wing foiling, SUP foiling, prone, and downwind, but nothing for windfoil. Has anybody tried using any of the system for windfoiling?
The main challenge I see is mounting the controller on the boom, or accessing the controller on either side of the boom. The duotone electric foil assist seemed to be best suited for this with the thumb controller. The motor should have enough thrust to boost onto the foil even with the extra weight of the windfoiling gear. But wondering if anybody has real world experience with this?
Mainly looking for an electric foil assist to maximise on water time as I work full time and there are more days of marginal wind condition than none. Plus with young kids at home, time on the water is precious. If I can get out of wind shadow and up to the line quickly,or even get back to shore safely when the seabreeze dies, that would be well worth it...if it works
I've thought about it for a few years, another benefit to those you mentioned is that you can use smaller sails and foils than you would otherwise, but still need a board big enough to uphaul.
I went the other way - bought a Fliteboard to froth in 12-0 knots, glassy conditions are magic 😀
Select to expand quoteallesad said..
I use FoilDrive when I windfoil, gets me to the windline. I have long launch area that has a wind shadow.
It's an older unit (Assist Plus), but has plenty of thrust to get me out of the shadows or home when the wind dies.
I hold the remote in my one hand (via the wrist strap). Works OK. Gonna try hanging it from the impact vest in a bungee and maybe try hanging it above the boom.
Thanks for the reply! That's exactly what I thought an electric assist for windfoil would be good for. Not so much to get on the foil, but to get to the wind line, out of the shadow and return to shore when the wind dies. Glad o hear that you've found it helpful. Might look into the Stoke Foil Drive then
Select to expand quoteairsail said..
I haven’t tried it windfoiling but have with wing and parawing. Easiest with para as you can fly it with one hand, the other on the controller. You only need a tiny amount of power to get up to foiling speed so even a small battery lasts way longer than needed.
i use Foildrive, nothing attached to you and fits easily to any board or mast. My worry with the Duotone is if you fell forward on the other side of the mast in a catapult you might rip the cable out of the unit. My controller is mounted on my waist by a reel leash, once I’m foiling I just drop it and it disappears behind my back.
That's a good point. The waist battery seem prone to getting ripped when falling off the board. I've had some high impact fall from winging as well. Not sure if that's a common problem with Duotone system. The Stoke Foil Drive seemed to be a good system for just getting to and from the windline
