SB_issue55_Digital

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 / SB