Beginner windfoiling using the Starboard Supercruiser foil - Grafham Water 3rd June 2023

Saturday 3rd June 2023 was a warm and breezy day, the afternoon warmth triggering the mythical Grafham thermals. Wanting to continue my foiling leanring curve and with the wind strength gusting an occasional F4 I decided rather than going for my trusty Tushingham Thunderbird 7.5 sail to instead rig up my Neil Pryde Hornet 6.7 sail. The dual cams providing better stability in any gusts.

This was foiling session number 5 for me, having started learning to windfoil at the end of April. This was my first foiling session for a couple of weeks and I spent a fair amount of time cautiously skimming the chop before remembering those early learnt lessons (height on the foil is not a bad thing so long as its not a uniformly upward trajectory!).

So having remebered to actually get airborne and with the basics of height control coming back to me I managed a number of decent length flights settled in the harness and front footstraps. I wasn't ready for the back strap just yet, but aiming to do that next time out on the basis if I don't soon I never will!

For all the early enjoyment of flight and learning new skills I'm constantly surprised at how many scary moments there can be in an afternoon's foiling. As soon as the speed picks up it's all too easy to panic and just aim to get the board back on the water ASAP! Having said that, today's flights only occasionally ended in a splash down and semi controlled eject in to the water.

Kit used:
Tabou Rocket Plus 123 (foil ready of course!)
Neil Pryde Hornet 6.7 twin cam sail
Starboard Super Cruiser foil (2021 model)

I used my GoPro Hero 7 Black on an extended harness mount in order to capture my progress with the aim of improving from what I can see is right or wrong!

Technical bits: filmed on the Go Pro Hero 7 Black in 4K and 60 fpps, super image stabilisation on.
Video edited in ShotCut version 20.10.31

Music Track:
'I had a feeling' by Track Tribe
available from YouTube Studio audio library

I hope you enjoy the video!

0:00 Intro
0:30 Defi-Dave!
0:40 flight - headcam
1:10 flight - harness mount
1:50 flight - funky groove!
2:40 Oops!
2:59 Oops 2!
3:10 Spitfire over Grafham
3:34 Outro