Chapter 3: Gear

Alright, there's many ways to go about this but here's how I would approach it.

First and foremost - if you live in a community with foilers already and they tend to gravitate toward one brand, I recommend buying used gear off of them. This was my strategy when I started with old Armstrong gear and worked great!

The beauty of buying what everyone else has is:

1. They already have it dialed - if you have questions about setting it up or tweaking it, who is better to ask than the person you bought it from?

2. If you need to change out a piece or damage something, you'll have plenty of options to buy whatever you need locally.

3. When you are ready to upgrade to something new, it's much easier to sell your used stuff locally when it's the brand everyone is on.

So there you have it - if you have a local foil community, your choice is easy!

If you don't have this as an option, I reccomend hopping on the interwebs and scoping out some deals. To find great deals on used gear, I recommend joining facebook groups for used gear, specific brand facebook pages, or one of my favorite resources: https://forum.progressionproject.com/. If you need help finding the right gear for you, shoot me an email at Alex@thefoilkook.com. I am happy to help!

Now, I won't lie - shopping online can get overwhelming. But the good news is there is a beginner foil for everyone - and almost any budget. My friend learned on an ancient aluminum slingshot setup that looked like it was stolen from a surf museum. The guy who owned it before couldn't even sell it so he just gave it to him - it's basically the local beginner foil now that we just pass around to new foilers. And guess what? He ripped on it! In fact, he progressed faster than anyone I knew.

To make it easy, I'm not going to walk you through all the various shapes and styles of foils because I personally found that overwhelming when starting.

If you are on a budget, buy whatever you can find for under $1,000 - likely an aluminum setup which is totally fine if it's a good deal. Here's an example of a killer deal to get you in the water and up on foil:

If you aren't on a budget, I recommend buying one of the newer high aspect wings that has come out in 2023 or later. I'm currently riding the Uni-foil Progression series and absolutely love it. They aren't the highest performance wings on the market but they do everything well - you can turn, glide, and pump for days. They are also super forgiving with a low stall speed (they can handle going slow which is ideal for learning).

At 150 pounds, I found the Progression 140 was the perfect size for me. For a larger rider, you can go with the 170 or 200. I would not recommend the 125 to learn on as it's not quite as forgiving (although it rips in bigger surf once you progress!).

Here's the Uni-foil size chart if you are interested - you can ignore most of the numbers below and just focus on the green circle:

I do not work for Uni-Foil and am only recommending this specific foil because I have been riding it for several months now. You really can't go wrong with any of the new gear these days but I love that Uni is primarily focused on prone/surf foiling while some of the other brands are more focused on wind sports (kite/wing foiling).

Overall, if you have the money to spend - go with a new high aspect. It's the perfect first foil to learn how to do everything and if you change your mind or want something else after a few months, there is a ton of demand for them right now. Selling it will be super easy.

Alright, on to the board!

I've ridden four boards ranging from 4'6 to 5'6 (34L to 55L) and of those, without a doubt, my Amundson 5'0 Nubby felt like the perfect board to learn on. At 5'0 and 44L it had incredible paddling power for someone coming from a longboard and I was able to get into waves early without a problem. John Amundson was very helpful on the phone when picking out the right board and he threw in a free bag and board pad - I'd definitely recommend checking out his selection (which is on sale right now!).

New board + new pup in the same month - stoke was high!

To wrap up the board selection, I personally recommend anyone who is not a super fit / strong paddler to go with a board that has at least 40 liters. If you are coming from a shortboard background, you could definitely get away with less. I probably wouldn't recommend anything longer than 5'0 just because it starts to add a lot of swing weight once you are up and flying.

Last thing - don't try to be cool and learn without a helmet. You are going to get launched over and over. Just buy one, borrow one, whatever - wear one. And get a coil leash - way better than a standard one for foiling - you don't want your leash getting tangled around your mast. I love Kaohi double coil leashes - 6 feet long.