Sorry Dom I thought my first message didn’t get through so sent twice! I really appreciate your detailed explanation and it’s a lot clearer now! All your advises have really been such a gem for so many of us lesser mortals , Have you considered signing up with Patreon and get some sponsors for all the amazing videos you are making - I will be your first sponsor 🙏🙏🙏
Damien . Try kneestarts with 30% power. Gets you moving and very stable for getting to your feet. Weight and feet position more forward than usual as you have worked out. Much easier to accelerate to lift off with a pump. Avoids some of the cartwheel tendency with that twitchy throttle. I alsohave two batteries which doubles the fun. Try further down the mast to give you more height for just zipping around on foil on flat water. Allows you to turn tighter without the rail grabbing. . Limited by cable length. Try with throttle on a paddle for added recovery ability with things go awry.
Thanks for your suggestions, it sounds like you're an experienced Foil Drive user :-) I've just been using it with my 75ltr board so had to do a prone/knee start on that one. Unfortunately that was the lowest position my cable length would allow me to put it on the mast - I've asked for a longer cable already. BTW I'm Dominic not Damien ;-)
An amazing video as always - so informative. One question - I am seriously thinking about getting the foil drive - would it be suitable for my Naish Hover 125L SUP Foil board or do I need to go to a 110 L . I weigh 148lbs. Many thanks
It'll work for sure but you weigh less than me (180 lbs) so you could go smaller if you want. I don't think the extra drag from a bigger board will be a problem, I found I got way more drag from the 75ltr board as it wouldn't support my weight, therefore it was pushing more water.
A great video and so informative as always. Would my 125L Naish Hover SUP wing foil board work ok with foil drive or do I need a smaller 110L board . I weigh 148 lbs Thank you again for the great video 👍
It'll work for sure but you weigh less than me (180 lbs) so you could go smaller if you want. I don't think the extra drag from a bigger board will be a problem, I found I got way more drag from the 75ltr board as it wouldn't support my weight, therefore it was pushing more water.
@@dominichoskyns9091 I have the same Naish 125L board, weigh 185 lbs. using my biggest foil, Lift surf 250 v2, went through 2 batteries trying to get it up on foil briefly to work on my pump game, no luck. Watched your video several times to make sure I was using your technique, any tips?
@@rocketmarket684 yeah I've had a few people ask this and my advice is to keep as much weight as possible over your front foot as you engage FoilDrive to keep the nose down. If you are even slightly back foot heavy you'll just be pushing your board through the water nose up like a wake boat. You need to get the board flat on the water as quick as possible by applying excessive front foot pressure (you can move your front foot a few inches forwards from your normal position to get used to it but you'll have to move it back as you get on foil) until the board is skimming across the water - literally planing. It seems counter intuitive to begin with but try it and you'll see what I mean. Please let me know if that helps
@@dominichoskyns9091 you think the foil size and board size are appropriate?Also tried it on a 115 L Armstrong, same results. Will try the technique you just described as well. How about mast placement? What's the distance from the bottom of your board to the center of the drive? Thanks a lot for your advice, really appreciate it!
@@rocketmarket684 the board sizes are fine. I've done paddle and no paddle starts on flat water on a 110ltr and even a 75ltr board. I'm 82kg and my 110ltr Jimmy Lewis board is perfect for me, but there's a big range of sizes either side of that which will work fine. I usually put the mast 1cm further back to balance out some of the weight of the battery, but tbh on big foils such as the Axis 1300 and even the GoFoil PNL185 it doesn't seem to matter (I've tried the mast in a variety of positions and I just move my feet to find the best position on the board but if you're using footstraps I suggest you try the mast in your usual position first then move it according to if you need more or less lift). I've noticed that when using FoilDrive with a really small foil (Axis ART999 and kujira 980) it's much more important to get the mast position right as the smaller foils are more sensitive to balance. I started with the center of the motor 9" below the mast plate, and still prefer this distance for flat water, but now I reduce that distance to 7" when sup foiling in waves.
Hello Dominic I used my Foil Drive for the first time today on my NSP SUP foil pro and 87 L board which was too small for me just to stand on and paddle. So I tried efoiling on it which was much easier and I was able to get on foil - INITIALLY . But after the battery went down to around 50-60% I couldn’t get in foil anymore even with 100% power . Have you noticed this drop of power when the battery charge goes down ? Also would you recommend setting the motor slightly lower down for efoiling and SUP foiling ?
What you've described is completely to be expected. FoilDrive is designed to get you on foil when on a SUP board that has positive volume (more ltrs than your weight in kg) and as such you'll be able to get on foil even when the battery is at 10%, although at 10% you'll have to paddle much more than when it's over 50%, but it still helps even at 10%, just less. When you use a board with neutral or negative volume it has much more drag as more of the board is pushing through the water before it gets onto the plane, so it uses more power to get on foil, therefore the battery doesn't last as long as if you are using a bigger floaty board. When I use my FoilDrive with my 110 ltr SUP I can get 3 or sometimes even 4 hours from the battery and cab still get on foil at 10%, but on my 75ltr board I barely get 40 minutes of use, and when under 40% I can't get on foil any more. Yes, i would have the motor abiut 9" below the board when I'm efoiling out back to comment multiple waves. For downwinding I have it 6" below the board for more clearance
Hello Dom I have been trying this with my Axis 1150 and Tacuma 75 L TK carbon board and found the pumping bit quite challenging. I notice your pumping stance is quite narrow but are you getting up on foil with a much wider stance and then narrow your stance once you are up on foil and pumping ? I feel I need to put my front foot way forward to get up on foil ? Do I then move the foot back to start the pumping ?
Yes that's exactly right. Front for forwards for getting onto foil, then move it back for efoiling, then make stance when more when pumping by moving back foot forwards to make your pumping more efficient
Hello again Dominic I went on my Foil Drive for the first time today. I am 68 kg and was on my NSP SUP wing Pro which is a 87L board and eventually got up on foil like an e foil but couldn’t get the pumping going ! But I noticed when the battery power went down to around 50-60% even at 100% throttle I could not get up on foil. Have you noticed a reduction in throttle power when the battery level goes down ?
Sorry I haven't replied sooner. This is perfectly normal with the original foildrive assist - the power output reduces as the battery loses charge. This is not the same with the foildrive assist plus, where the higher voltage battery keeps the same power output regardless of the charge remaining in the battery. As you get more efficient with your technique you will probably find you can still get on foil when the battery is under 50%. To begin with this was the same for me, under 50% was a struggle, but after a lot of practice I found that I could get on foil (with a bit of paddling on a floaty board of course) even down to 10% charge on the original assist.
Dominic I have another question for you ! I find it quite difficult to coordinate the paddling and the foil drive throttle ( for the paddling to be useful ) in getting me up on foil. Is it really possible to paddle up onto foil using just 30% throttle from the foildrive ? Should I persevere with using the paddle or just practice efoil + flat water pumping ( without paddle) Can you give me some pointers on how to paddle with the foil drive 🙏
You should use 100% throttle to get onto foil. 30% is only for helping you to paddle out back. I set it on cruise control at 30-35% for paddling out and then wait for a wave then 100% for about the 5 seconds or so that's needed to get up on foil, paddling at the same time partly for balance (getting my weight forward to keep the nose of the board down) and partly to help with forward movement. It took me a few sessions to get it all coordinated. My first session was a disaster but by the end of the third of pretty much got it sussed. The most important thing is to move your weight forward as you pull the trigger. If you don't then the nose of the board will come up and either you'll be forcing the board to push too much water that you won't get up to take off speed or you'll fall off the back. Your need to get the board to be skimming over the top of the water, on the plane, so it's vital that you keep your weight forward as you accelerate. As you lift off you have to lean back to balance normally
Hello Dominic They just launched the Assist Plus which is 30-40% more powerful, 1.5 lbs heavier and an extra US$800. Do you recommend going for the extra power ( they say it can be used for e- foiling)
There's 2 main reasons you'd want the plus over the original model. Ifyou're over 90kg or if you want to do lots of efoiling, that includes efoiling back out to connect multiple waves without pumping or coming off foil. If you only want it to help you to catch waves then the original is fine.
I had to cut away a very small piece of deck pad at the back to have room for the dual lock tape. I didn't do that on my other board as I was about to sell it so i used some elastic rope to secure the box. It worked out fine
It totally depends on how many starts you have to do, how long you use the motor on full or part throttle, how long you flat water pump/ride swell or waves without the motor in between - I got at least half an hour out of it messing around like this, but for downwinding I haven't yet used more than 60%. SUP session it lasts anywhere between 1 - 2 hours depending on how much I use the motor to help me paddle out. I've heard some people say they get 3 hours if they stay below 30% throttle when using as a paddle assist. Also depends a lot on your weight and the size of your board. My friend is 10 kgs light than me and he could get up when the battery only had 10% left when there wasn't enough power for me to get up. According to the manual if you use the motor for full power continuously the battery should last about 20 minutes, but they don't recommend doing that as it wasn't designed for being used continuously for long periods of time
Sorry Dom I thought my first message didn’t get through so sent twice! I really appreciate your detailed explanation and it’s a lot clearer now!
All your advises have really been such a gem for so many of us lesser mortals , Have you considered signing up with Patreon and get some sponsors for all the amazing videos you are making - I will be your first sponsor 🙏🙏🙏
Thanks for the kind words. I don't know what Patreon is but from what you've said I'll look into it for sure, thanks
Alan Cadiz is a very accomplished wing foiler in Maui and made a lot of great instructional videos. He is with Patreon and I am one of his sponsors.
Damien . Try kneestarts with 30% power. Gets you moving and very stable for getting to your feet. Weight and feet position more forward than usual as you have worked out. Much easier to accelerate to lift off with a pump. Avoids some of the cartwheel tendency with that twitchy throttle. I alsohave two batteries which doubles the fun. Try further down the mast to give you more height for just zipping around on foil on flat water. Allows you to turn tighter without the rail grabbing. . Limited by cable length. Try with throttle on a paddle for added recovery ability with things go awry.
Thanks for your suggestions, it sounds like you're an experienced Foil Drive user :-)
I've just been using it with my 75ltr board so had to do a prone/knee start on that one. Unfortunately that was the lowest position my cable length would allow me to put it on the mast - I've asked for a longer cable already.
BTW I'm Dominic not Damien ;-)
I was second guessing myself that I ordered a second battery - but now glad I did! Thanks for the tips, keep ‘me coming
Dominic. That’s better! With the knee starts, use the cruise control function to get moving and stable
An amazing video as always - so informative. One question - I am seriously thinking about getting the foil drive - would it be suitable for my Naish Hover 125L SUP Foil board or do I need to go to a 110 L . I weigh 148lbs. Many thanks
It'll work for sure but you weigh less than me (180 lbs) so you could go smaller if you want. I don't think the extra drag from a bigger board will be a problem, I found I got way more drag from the 75ltr board as it wouldn't support my weight, therefore it was pushing more water.
A great video and so informative as always. Would my 125L Naish Hover SUP wing foil board work ok with foil drive or do I need a smaller 110L board . I weigh 148 lbs
Thank you again for the great video 👍
It'll work for sure but you weigh less than me (180 lbs) so you could go smaller if you want. I don't think the extra drag from a bigger board will be a problem, I found I got way more drag from the 75ltr board as it wouldn't support my weight, therefore it was pushing more water.
@@dominichoskyns9091 I have the same Naish 125L board, weigh 185 lbs. using my biggest foil, Lift surf 250 v2, went through 2 batteries trying to get it up on foil briefly to work on my pump game, no luck. Watched your video several times to make sure I was using your technique, any tips?
@@rocketmarket684 yeah I've had a few people ask this and my advice is to keep as much weight as possible over your front foot as you engage FoilDrive to keep the nose down. If you are even slightly back foot heavy you'll just be pushing your board through the water nose up like a wake boat. You need to get the board flat on the water as quick as possible by applying excessive front foot pressure (you can move your front foot a few inches forwards from your normal position to get used to it but you'll have to move it back as you get on foil) until the board is skimming across the water - literally planing. It seems counter intuitive to begin with but try it and you'll see what I mean. Please let me know if that helps
@@dominichoskyns9091 you think the foil size and board size are appropriate?Also tried it on a 115 L Armstrong, same results. Will try the technique you just described as well. How about mast placement? What's the distance from the bottom of your board to the center of the drive? Thanks a lot for your advice, really appreciate it!
@@rocketmarket684 the board sizes are fine. I've done paddle and no paddle starts on flat water on a 110ltr and even a 75ltr board. I'm 82kg and my 110ltr Jimmy Lewis board is perfect for me, but there's a big range of sizes either side of that which will work fine. I usually put the mast 1cm further back to balance out some of the weight of the battery, but tbh on big foils such as the Axis 1300 and even the GoFoil PNL185 it doesn't seem to matter (I've tried the mast in a variety of positions and I just move my feet to find the best position on the board but if you're using footstraps I suggest you try the mast in your usual position first then move it according to if you need more or less lift). I've noticed that when using FoilDrive with a really small foil (Axis ART999 and kujira 980) it's much more important to get the mast position right as the smaller foils are more sensitive to balance.
I started with the center of the motor 9" below the mast plate, and still prefer this distance for flat water, but now I reduce that distance to 7" when sup foiling in waves.
Hello Dominic I used my Foil Drive for the first time today on my NSP SUP foil pro and 87 L board which was too small for me just to stand on and paddle. So I tried efoiling on it which was much easier and I was able to get on foil - INITIALLY . But after the battery went down to around 50-60% I couldn’t get in foil anymore even with 100% power . Have you noticed this drop of power when the battery charge goes down ?
Also would you recommend setting the motor slightly lower down for efoiling and SUP foiling ?
What you've described is completely to be expected. FoilDrive is designed to get you on foil when on a SUP board that has positive volume (more ltrs than your weight in kg) and as such you'll be able to get on foil even when the battery is at 10%, although at 10% you'll have to paddle much more than when it's over 50%, but it still helps even at 10%, just less.
When you use a board with neutral or negative volume it has much more drag as more of the board is pushing through the water before it gets onto the plane, so it uses more power to get on foil, therefore the battery doesn't last as long as if you are using a bigger floaty board.
When I use my FoilDrive with my 110 ltr SUP I can get 3 or sometimes even 4 hours from the battery and cab still get on foil at 10%, but on my 75ltr board I barely get 40 minutes of use, and when under 40% I can't get on foil any more.
Yes, i would have the motor abiut 9" below the board when I'm efoiling out back to comment multiple waves. For downwinding I have it 6" below the board for more clearance
Hello Dom
I have been trying this with my Axis 1150 and Tacuma 75 L TK carbon board and found the pumping bit quite challenging. I notice your pumping stance is quite narrow but are you getting up on foil with a much wider stance and then narrow your stance once you are up on foil and pumping ? I feel I need to put my front foot way forward to get up on foil ? Do I then move the foot back to start the pumping ?
Yes that's exactly right. Front for forwards for getting onto foil, then move it back for efoiling, then make stance when more when pumping by moving back foot forwards to make your pumping more efficient
@@dominichoskyns9091 That’s great advise - thank you so much 🙏👍
Hello again Dominic
I went on my Foil Drive for the first time today. I am 68 kg and was on my NSP SUP wing Pro which is a 87L board and eventually got up on foil like an e foil but couldn’t get the pumping going !
But I noticed when the battery power went down to around 50-60% even at 100% throttle I could not get up on foil. Have you noticed a reduction in throttle power when the battery level goes down ?
Sorry I haven't replied sooner. This is perfectly normal with the original foildrive assist - the power output reduces as the battery loses charge. This is not the same with the foildrive assist plus, where the higher voltage battery keeps the same power output regardless of the charge remaining in the battery. As you get more efficient with your technique you will probably find you can still get on foil when the battery is under 50%. To begin with this was the same for me, under 50% was a struggle, but after a lot of practice I found that I could get on foil (with a bit of paddling on a floaty board of course) even down to 10% charge on the original assist.
Dominic I have another question for you !
I find it quite difficult to coordinate the paddling and the foil drive throttle ( for the paddling to be useful ) in getting me up on foil. Is it really possible to paddle up onto foil using just 30% throttle from the foildrive ? Should I persevere with using the paddle or just practice efoil + flat water pumping ( without paddle)
Can you give me some pointers on how to paddle with the foil drive 🙏
You should use 100% throttle to get onto foil. 30% is only for helping you to paddle out back. I set it on cruise control at 30-35% for paddling out and then wait for a wave then 100% for about the 5 seconds or so that's needed to get up on foil, paddling at the same time partly for balance (getting my weight forward to keep the nose of the board down) and partly to help with forward movement. It took me a few sessions to get it all coordinated. My first session was a disaster but by the end of the third of pretty much got it sussed. The most important thing is to move your weight forward as you pull the trigger. If you don't then the nose of the board will come up and either you'll be forcing the board to push too much water that you won't get up to take off speed or you'll fall off the back. Your need to get the board to be skimming over the top of the water, on the plane, so it's vital that you keep your weight forward as you accelerate. As you lift off you have to lean back to balance normally
@@dominichoskyns9091 Thank you so much for the advise 🙏🙏
Hello Dominic They just launched the Assist Plus which is 30-40% more powerful, 1.5 lbs heavier and an extra US$800. Do you recommend going for the extra power ( they say it can be used for e- foiling)
There's 2 main reasons you'd want the plus over the original model. Ifyou're over 90kg or if you want to do lots of efoiling, that includes efoiling back out to connect multiple waves without pumping or coming off foil. If you only want it to help you to catch waves then the original is fine.
@@dominichoskyns9091 🙏🙏🙏👍
Did you cut away the deck to attach the box?
Thanks sir.
Tony
I had to cut away a very small piece of deck pad at the back to have room for the dual lock tape. I didn't do that on my other board as I was about to sell it so i used some elastic rope to secure the box. It worked out fine
What’s the battery life doing it without a paddle?
It totally depends on how many starts you have to do, how long you use the motor on full or part throttle, how long you flat water pump/ride swell or waves without the motor in between - I got at least half an hour out of it messing around like this, but for downwinding I haven't yet used more than 60%. SUP session it lasts anywhere between 1 - 2 hours depending on how much I use the motor to help me paddle out. I've heard some people say they get 3 hours if they stay below 30% throttle when using as a paddle assist. Also depends a lot on your weight and the size of your board. My friend is 10 kgs light than me and he could get up when the battery only had 10% left when there wasn't enough power for me to get up.
According to the manual if you use the motor for full power continuously the battery should last about 20 minutes, but they don't recommend doing that as it wasn't designed for being used continuously for long periods of time
Someone needs to lengthen that cable to get the motor lower like an efoil. If spliced properly shouldn’t be a problem. ??
It can be ordered with a longer cable but it's not really designed to be used like this - prolonged use like an efoil might damage it
Apparently, when its lower down, it cases es too much drag and instability,
@@anthonycraig274 what were you trying to say? "It cases es too much drag and instability"?