short n fat boards: ride engine escape pod

juandesooka

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Jan 12, 2009
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our crew foilsurf in 20lbs of rubber, we are (advancing) middle aged, and with the body conditioning to go with it. Long ago came to terms with that fact that board volume is my friend in surfing and is now more necessary than ever (even if foiling has brought me back to the best paddling condition in 20 years!)

I ride a 5'x20.75x2.75, maybe 40ishL. I made a 4.9x20x2.75, maybe 30Lish, and it's super fun once up and riding, but exhausting to push water while paddling.

Lately I have got into winging, I made a 5x24x5.5, 70L, and was pleasantly surprised by how buoyant it is, can comfortably knee start on it.

So, applying this to surf foiling ... what about shorter and fatter? EG a 4' x 20 x 4" or even 4.5" ... would that float me enough that my noodle arms can still handle 2-3 hour sessions? Would you still gain the performance benefits of a short board with that much thickness?

Doing some quick googling, the Ride Engine escape pod seems closest to this, at 4'4" x 19.5" x 3.375" Vol:38L
https://www.realwatersports.com/collections/foilboards/products/ride-engine-escape-pod-surf-foilboard
Designer's info:

Anyone have any real-world reviews of this board? Or experimented with the short/fat design for surf foiling, for good or bad?

[and yes, I know you 20-30 somethings on your 19L potato chip boards will also feel the need to brag about how you can paddle your 120lbs for 16 hours straight, etc ... please feel free to do so, I know millenials must have positive reinforcement ;-) ]
 
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ghostshaper

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Jan 22, 2005
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Wow! Is there any surface on that thing w/o some "design feature"?

Also interesting to see pulling screen on the rails w/ the machine ridges still on the blank in the intro. Guessing it was just for the camera b/c the finished blank looked really clean.
 
I just bought the 4-8, 45L version of this board as it was designed locally and wanted to support, even though the board is from China. I am new to foiling (i.e. just getting very short rides before I fall off in one direction or another) but have spent several hours paddling this thing around already. Juandesooka, I would fit right into your crew as I have been surfing for over 30 years so yes foam is my friend. I weigh about 170 without my 5-mil suit. It paddles pretty well considering how short it is, and wave catching doesn't seem to be an issue, but have only been at this for a couple of months. When I sit on it the waterline is about at my belly button. The build seems very solid and it is not heavy. I will update once I get some longer rides. This sport is even harder than kitefoiling, but yeah I am getting back in great paddle shape!
 
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juandesooka

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I just bought the 4-8, 45L version of this board as it was designed locally and wanted to support, even though the board is from China. I am new to foiling (i.e. just getting very short rides before I fall off in one direction or another) but have spent several hours paddling this thing around already. Juandesooka, I would fit right into your crew as I have been surfing for over 30 years so yes foam is my friend. I weigh about 170 without my 5-mil suit. It paddles pretty well considering how short it is, and wave catching doesn't seem to be an issue, but have only been at this for a couple of months. When I sit on it the waterline is about at my belly button. The build seems very solid and it is not heavy. I will update once I get some longer rides. This sport is even harder than kitefoiling, but yeah I am getting back in great paddle shape!
awesome! so you are santa cruz area? Big fan of RE/Coleman, since the early kite harness days. Everything he works on seems to be pretty good quality, so I am sure the board is good.
At that volume, assume it paddles pretty good, floating vs pushing water.
Have fun on the learning curve, one of the best things about a new sport, just about every day is BDE (best day ever)
 
I am in Sonoma County and frequent Dillon Beach and Salmon Creek. Just a couple guys on SUP foils but no proners. If anyone is around please ping me - it would be great to see someone do this in the flesh!
 

Hdip

Michael Peterson status
Apr 23, 2005
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I am in Sonoma County and frequent Dillon Beach and Salmon Creek. Just a couple guys on SUP foils but no proners. If anyone is around please ping me - it would be great to see someone do this in the flesh!

You might recognize this spot. I forgot the name of it. It's probably a bit South of you, but close. I can put you in touch with a couple guys in the area. One LA guy I know personally is up there currently, if you're on Whatsapp I can pass info along.

 
I actually went there today - about an hour and a half away but very sheltered and basically longboard-only waves so perfect for learning to foil. Also very crowded as it is one of the best learning spots close to SF. Saw a few of those guys in the vid minus the air guy! They are so good. I got my best ride yet, which was basically going straight until I lost the wave energy and landed - I didn't fall over:Dthen I came home, drank a beer and fell asleep on the couch(y)
 

Hdip

Michael Peterson status
Apr 23, 2005
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Sick. Sounds like you're earning your wings!

The guy in the video in the blue wetsuit is Evan, the US owner of AXIS. Real nice guy. Pretty sure he's in Florida right now though.
 

juandesooka

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Jan 12, 2009
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Following up this post, meet the Fugly McNugget. 4.4x19x4.5. EPS with dcell insert, 10oz carbon and 4oz glass both sides. The paint job is a disaster that I am not going to fix, just going with "distressed look supposedly on purpose"

The experiment here is to see if the extra volume from thickness will be sufficient to make it paddle well enough (for a middle aged mid-capable surfer with a 5mm wetsuit in cold low-saline water) and if the shorter length will work to help with swing weight, or if the thickness will cause any performance loss.

My initial ride: very pleased to see the board floats and paddles well, I think it actually has more volume than my regular board (5x21x2.75). It was able to catch waves well. But I couldn't nail the popup. However, it was a super marginal day where everything wasn't working for me and felt like I forgot how to foil, even on my tried and true gear. So my fail may be from the squirelly too-small board or from lack of mojo ... more testing required to be sure.

Buddy took it out yesterday. He's smaller than me, better surfer, but newer to foiling, just on the verge of becoming a ripper. Neither of us are pump monkeys yet. I convinced him to try it and after his session he was frothing stoked. Said it felt like surfing a shortboard in turns, could whip it around, super responsive. The little bit of pumping felt great. So, while the jury's still out, early indications look like it may be a winner! Best sign of all: he wants to buy it off me ... not for sale, but I'll make him one if he still likes it after a few more sessions. [testing note: he rode it on one of those perfect A+ days in our best spot, swell pumping .... the real test is the river mouth with the fresh water current raging, 8kt onshore bump, setty and section-y]

Anyways, stoked!
 

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Clamsmasher

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Following up this post, meet the Fugly McNugget. 4.4x19x4.5. EPS with dcell insert, 10oz carbon and 4oz glass both sides. The paint job is a disaster that I am not going to fix, just going with "distressed look supposedly on purpose"

The experiment here is to see if the extra volume from thickness will be sufficient to make it paddle well enough (for a middle aged mid-capable surfer with a 5mm wetsuit in cold low-saline water) and if the shorter length will work to help with swing weight, or if the thickness will cause any performance loss.

My initial ride: very pleased to see the board floats and paddles well, I think it actually has more volume than my regular board (5x21x2.75). It was able to catch waves well. But I couldn't nail the popup. However, it was a super marginal day where everything wasn't working for me and felt like I forgot how to foil, even on my tried and true gear. So my fail may be from the squirelly too-small board or from lack of mojo ... more testing required to be sure.

Buddy took it out yesterday. He's smaller than me, better surfer, but newer to foiling, just on the verge of becoming a ripper. Neither of us are pump monkeys yet. I convinced him to try it and after his session he was frothing stoked. Said it felt like surfing a shortboard in turns, could whip it around, super responsive. The little bit of pumping felt great. So, while the jury's still out, early indications look like it may be a winner! Best sign of all: he wants to buy it off me ... not for sale, but I'll make him one if he still likes it after a few more sessions. [testing note: he rode it on one of those perfect A+ days in our best spot, swell pumping .... the real test is the river mouth with the fresh water current raging, 8kt onshore bump, setty and section-y]

Anyways, stoked!
Love it.
 
The swell finally dropped so I was able to get a few Escape Pod sessions in - it was still chest high and I finally wised up and used my Armstrong 1050 instead of the 1550. Got a couple rides to the beach (I had to tell you guys cuz no else gives a sh!t!) and the board felt fine in the air. Finally getting the hang of it, a big thing was dropping wing sizes and not getting bucked off right away, and moving my left hand forward on the rail when popping up so I can get my front in the right spot (regular foot). Now if I can just figure out how to fix my middle back....:LOL:
 

juandesooka

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Jan 12, 2009
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New short n fat experiment completed ... 4.6x19x4. V-nose experiment along the lines of Appletree Pro model, but interrupted with chines. Made with EPS scraps glued to a end piece from a sup blank. Franken foil!

Tried it today and it works! Paddles easy. Maybe it was luck of the day, but first wave I nearly completed my first 3 for 1. I am going with the board. Maybe a little stiffer? And shorter. Took a little figuring on foot placement.

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Well gents I finally got the hang of foilsurfing so can give the Escape Pod an honest review - I just sold it! I ended up buying a 5' 8" Marlon Lewis on Craigslist to learn on, and made it much easier. I'm now learning to pump and the length of that board was a hindrance. I ended up on the 5'0" Nubby (yes I love foam and 44L is about my limit for now - 5 mil wettie, chop and current make it necessary!) which has been awesome and eye-opening. It paddles and pumps so easily.

The Escape Pod was very corky as most of the foam is in the middle due to the extreme chines on the rails. Along with the hard edges on the bottom it made takeoffs very unstable, the board would seem to track one way or another and I would often end up off the side during takeoffs. Oh well, live and learn - just a bit peeved at the early months lost that I spent flailing!