FO LED no more <strong>SB</strong> / #55 / 80
Assumedly, no one in their right mind wants to surf where everyone else is. Uncrowded waves, isn’t that what we all dream of? So, why is it that we all congregate on top of one another in the same spot? Partly, it is due to the simple fact that is where the waves are breaking. It is possibly also due to the fact that many humans have similar traits to those of sheep. But what if there was an alternative where you didn’t have to surf where everyone else is? Where you didn’t have to surf where particular waves were breaking and instead you could surf completely unridden waves all by yourself away from the hordes? Well, dream no more. It is a reality. It is called foiling. Jack Field talks with us about the true spirit of foiling. As Jack passionately explained throughout our conversation, foiling was never intended to be something you take to crowded lineups, potentially slicing through unsuspecting souls like a giant knife through butter. Its original invention was to capitalise on wind-generated swell that, until now, remained unridden due to the fact that missing from the essential ingredient in the mix to create surfable waves was a complementary sea floor. If the wave doesn’t break, you can’t ride it with a surfboard, but you can with a foilboard. First things first, for those who might have missed edition 51, what is a foil, or specifically, foiling? As we firmly tongue-in-cheek described it, foiling is where you attach what resembles a huge butcher’s cleaver with wings to a platform resembling a surfboard. Technically it is about engaging hydrofoil technology. A hydrofoil is a lifting surface that operates in water, and are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. The hydrofoil has a flat or curved winglike surface that is designed to lift the board by means of the reaction upon its surface from the water through which it moves. A hydrofoil works on the principle of Newton’s third law — “For every action in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” As the surfboard begins to gain speed, the wings push the water down, creating an upward force lifting the board out of the water and, as the board gathers speed, there is less friction, creating less drag and assisting with an acceleration of speed. So basically, once you have the speed to engage the foil and lift the board out of the water, you have the kind of acceleration you cannot achieve on a normal surfboard without riding a breaking wave. If the wave doesn’t break, a traditional surfboard will drop back off the face of the wave because the wave is moving faster than the surfboard, but with a hydrofoil you are engaging the energy in the water below the wave, rather than on the surface, to generate speed and hence you can more easily maintain your momentum on the wave. In short, you can catch unbroken waves with a foil that you cannot on a normal surfboard, thus opening Pandora’s box and unridden swell galore right along the Australian coast. Jack elaborates on the potential breaks all within our grasp. “Look out the window on nearly any given day and what you see is wind. The resulting effect of wind travelling across a body of water is that it generates swell, whether that be in the ocean or on a river or a lake. “Well, my focus for many years has been on getting in sync and harnessing this energy, the energy that is transferred from wind to water. From my own esoteric point of view, I find it calming – to endeavour to be in sync with nature and ride that energy. What we have to do as surfers however, is wait until all that energy hits something (an elevated ocean floor) and throws it up in the air, whether it’s 30 to 40 foot waves at the Eddie (Eddie Aikau Memorial Big Wave Contest in Hawaii) or a two foot swell here in Mooloolaba. We all congregate around that transition from swell into waves. “Some of us get carried away with the fact that ‘it’s mine’ and we will snake and carry on and get all worked up about our ‘ownership’ of those said waves, when in actual fact, if you look around at the some 3000km of eastern seaboard, there are thousands of rideable swells that are coming into beaches, or not even to beaches, it can be just the shoreline that is unridden and totally there. We simply don’t go there because it’s not breaking. But there is a way we can capitalise on wind generated swell, and that is through foiling. And to be able to ride a wind generated swell with no one around, it gives you such a sense of serenity through feeling the connection to the energy source. It is hard to describe. Ask anyone who has foiled downwind offshore.” 81 / #55 / <strong>SB</strong>