Published on May 23rd, 2017 | by Matt Dumoulin

Foil Downwind Attempt – Blue Planet Surf

« We finally had enough wind to attempt downwind foiling and my friends Jeff Chang, Sam Pa’e, Edmund Pestana and I went for a Hawaii Kai to Kahala run with our various foil board setups. It was the first time I attempted to use the foil on a downwinder. I was using a 12’6 x 28 Blue Planet Bump Surfer board with a Tuttle box and the Go Foil Maliko Foil. It’s not as easy as it looks, that’s for sure. It took a lot out of me to get the board up to speed, position the feet correctly and try to pump the foil up. Keeping the foil balanced while chasing the bumps was a whole other story. I finally got the hang relaxing more and waiting for the right bump to get up to speed, getting into the right position- right on the center line and flying the foil. By the time I started to figure it out my gopro battery was empty, bummer. None of my rides lasted very long, I still need to learn better control and following the steep parts of the bumps to maintain enough speed and pumping to connect from one to the next bump. I felt pretty good though about my first day and I feel like I can figure it out with lots of practice. Aloha, Robert Stehlik »

Tags: blue planet surf, foil