Shopping for a Foil - Advice?

[spatty99]

I really like Slingshot foils. Super interchangeable, tons of options, and reasonable price and quality.

A foil specific board helps when you are learning, but after that the board isn't of huge consequence since it's rarely touching the water (although a smaller board reacts much better/faster). I'm not aware of a great surfing foilboard. The WF boards are probably a decent compromise, although they're not great for surfing. I have the WF-2 and it's meh, and the soft deck wrapping is nice but probably makes it surf even slower. You could just get the wakesurf board you want and then stick on a "foilmount". In that case it should surf great, but you'd have to get over the learning curve with a surf specific board.

As far as the foil, I highly recommend the Slingshot Infinity 84. It has a ton of lift, even at slow speeds, which helps for 200+ pounds, but it also tolerates higher speeds surprisingly well.

Straps can help with initial foot placement and water starts, but can become a hindrance after that (assuming you aren't jumping!). I like using foot hooks. They give you a good spot for initial foot placement when taking off, but after that they're out of the way (I have mine openings facing forward so I can shift feet forward if needed).