Posting a last video on this winDfoiling channel

Feb 2024 - The purpose of this entry is to give some background as to how I got into winDfoiling & why I'm not posting videos any more. Why I like winDfoiling is to be found in my replies to questions I've answered against the videos. I wrote too much here and so had to post this under an uploaded video as opposed to the about channel section. For details of the board under construction see the end of this section.
Born 1960
Before WinDfoiling I first tried windsurfing on a Superstar in the early 80s. 1998 hired some gear at Mission Bay Auckland & took some lessons there
~1990 Started buying windsurf gear - various including a Star-board Carve, the first SB Formula board, then F2, Naish, Fanatic etc. Finished up with: SB big speed board 49w 64l; Exocet 70l wave board, Jason Polakow (2001) 72l Fanatic wave board; Fanatic 86L Freewave & Falcons 89 & 113 (all 2012)
2018 and onwards
After WinDfoiling I bought one of the first NP Pinkie foils and an old school Carbon Art Slalom (290x70) Deep Tuttle board. Then got a JP135 dedicated foil board (A big improvement over the CA). Then upgraded the foil to The NP full carbon racing version The foil I found difficult to use but there were no shims for the stab (& I wouldn't have known what to do with them) Like the Pinkie the fuse was too short IMO.
I saw that video of Balz on the 790 (1550cm²) Moses Vento 85cm mast . I cut 90 cm off the front of the CA slalom board, repositioned the mast track & the foot straps & tried it with the 790. It worked!
Bought the 679 (~1100Cm²) front wing for use wIth the JP135 with 5.5 & 7m² Superfly Hot Sails Maui. Started experimenting over 2 years with small sails and the CA board & the 790 4.7 & 4.2m² & then bought a SB Foil X 105 board (182 x63) and smaller & smaller sails 3.7,3.1 & 2.7 goya Guru X Pro.
Also upgraded foils along the way with the Balz Pro 799 which I've been using in most of my videos with the 425 stab. Also got the 95cm mast which gave a noticeable sucess rate in gybing in swells over the 85cm It's a super controllable combo (excellent in 30kns and rolling swells at Tokerau Beach) but I haven't tried it with the 399 stab which needs a shim of 2° and is recommended by some.
At the same time I bought some slalom gear:
Patrik Airinside Hybrid 91 160l, Phantom Iris X mkII 8m², Sabfoil 800 (840cm²), 107 mast, 115 fuse, 399 stab.
Flying Camel 145 - 208x81cm, Phantom Iris X MkII 6.0m², Sabfoil - 671 wing (570cm²), 107 mast, 105 fuse, 376 stab (179cm²) with the Adaptor for Small Chord Stabilizers 0°
I also have the 1m wide race front wing great for getting going in light winds but it soon overpowers me, plus for very strong winds 670 (440cm²), a full set of stab shims
Sails - Iris x MkII 7 & 5m² to make up the quiver.
2023
All that came to a halt in May 2023 when I had a seizure. Debaulkation operation followed to remove the tumour from my brain - Diagnosis grade 4 Glioblastoma I.E. incurable (& icing on the cake it's unmethylated - it doesn't respond to chemo as it would if it was methylated which gives less survival time). Symptoms - Loss of balance & coordination stamina & strength. Plus it comes with the occasional seizure - so foilings out!
Regrets, apart from the obvious:
Not getting to use a 2.0m² adult sail I got from Jeffrey Henderson from Hot sails Maui (sail was used in the Gorge apparently for light riders windsurfing in 60kns, but he refurbished it for me). I think it would be perfect for WinDfoil 35-40kns+. I'm way overpowered on 2.7 in those condts.
Not getting to use the Balz Pro 769 I bought as part of foil therapy post operation!
Not getting to use the new foil board I've been making (148x64x13). It's a shortened Foil X 105 & could be about the same volume. I've taken lessons from earlier attempts at small board construction, including vacuum bagging this latest board as shown in the video. Construction - Extruded poly and carbon weight at the stage shown ~5kg
Not convincing my windsurfing, winDfoilng friends that small board, high wind, WinDfoiling is just the best. Slalom is fun (23kns 1m above the water feels like 33knots on a windsurfer to me) but swell riding is where its at!