Surf skates for 100% no wind/waves fun!

Posted on December 29, 2024 by Tez Plavenieks

Surf skates are fun. Regardless of whether you consider surf skating to be a surf trainer or just a way to enjoy hyper manoeuvrable skateboarding. I’ve been a fan for a while now. In fact, so much so I part own an online e-commerce website dedicated to all things surf skate, transition skating, mini ramp riding, park shredding and pool sliding. Check it out - surfskateboard.shop

My customised Heroin Skateboards Mutator 13″ shred stick.

Surf skates for winter windless and wave less shenanigans.

Winter 2024 (so far) has been pretty lacklustre on the wave and wind front. Don’t get me wrong: I’m well aware the south coast UK is fickle for surf. Being up the English Channel and all. But we usually do better than you’d think. Although not this year…

A little bit of this but not as much as is usual in winter.

And wind… That’s pretty much a guaranteed on da sarf coast. Yet it’s been pretty much missing in action. The end of Oct and whole of November saw a very unusual wind drought. In between it’s been all or nothing. A couple of short lived named storms mixed with flukey weather hasn’t seen much on water action. And I’m missing regular windsurf and wing foil session! I’ve still been getting out as often as possible but it’s been tricky. Fortunately, I’ve had my surf skates to keep me entertained!

Surf skates - who knew?

When I embarked on my surf skating journey (two years ago ish) it was more for shizzle and giggles than anything. I stumped for a very reasonably priced ChargerX surf skate - which I still have and love. Albeit in modified form.

Sending it!

Fast forward a while and I’m now well and truly down the rabbit hole with 15 setups! Excessive maybe, to the layman. But having chosen to start a business based around surf skates I’ve been on a mission to discover all I can with relation to the equipment and how tinkering with component parts can alter the feel when riding. Just as I’ve done over the years with windsurfing, paddle boarding, surfing and foiling.

Moving forwards.

Surf skates are a great way to get some board sliding in the bag and be outdoors moving. It’s also a great activity I can do with my kids - who also love it.

Child’s play - my kids love surf skates too!

I’m hopeful the second half of winter 2024/2025 delivers some better conditions for brine time. But as we all know you can’t control Mother Nature’s moods. In the meantime, I’ll be playing down the skate park, keeping loose for that next blow or wave sesh. Stay tuned…

Check out the following for more good stuff related to surf skates -

Surf Skateboard Shop

https://www.northcoastwetsuits.co.uk/category/skateboarding-skateboards-surfskates/

https://foilshop.co.uk/product-category/wing-skating/

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Foil boards - the longer and narrower design trend for all foiling disciplines.

Posted on November 14, 2023 by Tez Plavenieks

Foil boards are constantly being tweaked by designers and shapers. The emergence of hyper efficient downwind foil boards, with their uber narrow widths and pronounced pin tails has seen an about turn within foil board shape trends. Longer, for extra glide, with narrow width efficiency and all round early take off hulls are now set to dominate all foiling disciplines. Not just the downwind market.

Anybody from a watersports background will be aware of how length, width and volume (plus other features) affect board performance. Whilst foil boards are created to fly above the water the start (take off) is something brands keep (and will keep) tinkering with.

I’ve favoured a slightly longer wing board for a while.

Back a few seasons the industry realised flat hulls with hard water release edges induced much earlier lift. With (Dave) Kalama’s Barracuda emergence length was back on the agenda. And so it’s played out during 2023 as most foiling brands have brought their own downwind board to market.

Whilst a few have already been well aware of this (including myself) just how much of a difference a longer foil board makes to your early take offs is tangible. I’ve used, tested and demo’d so much kit. In all instances where boards are concerned additional glide helps massively as you aim to rise. Short, compact foil boards are great to throw around. But with something longer you can still do the same moves and not lose out. Swing weight isn’t even in the equation after a while.

Longer and narrower yes, but the AK Noamd is also very accessible at 24″ wide.

Narrower widths I’m a little on the fence about. Too narrow and the roll stability is impacted negatively - particularly if you’re not used to this. Some downwind wind foil boards are so narrow that they’re actually prohibitive to any real world rider using them efficiently. Wing boards are a bit different as you do have the wing itself you can lean on whilst getting ready to stand and fly. In SUP foiling mode, if there’s any side chop, current or flotsam, again, too narrow and the board becomes a nightmare to handle. But I do get why a longer board should be, in general, narrower.

I’m sure as we move forward the foiling industry will start to bring more usable products to market, rather than just the extreme end of the performance sled arena. Dimenisons will at some point equal themselves out and everyday riders will find a super efficient foil board that fits their circumstances. I’m certainly watching this with interest.

If you want even more foiling goodness check out my other site Foilshop UK here.

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Wing foiling - the wing thing continues, and then some!

Posted on July 4, 2023 by Tez Plavenieks

Wing foiling is an addiction. Foiling in general is. But specifically wing foiling - considering this being summer when waves in my neck of the woods are rare - is the be all and end all watersport - for me at least. And I’d never thought I’d say this.

The fact remains, when your skills get to a certain level with winging it becomes so easy to make use of ALL conditions. So naturally it becomes THE discipline of choice when there’s wind. Add wind AND waves and winging gets even more interesting. There really are no bad points IMO.

For sure, learning to wing foil and spending time developing those skills is a pain. And it does take time, I’m afraid. And perseverance. But if you stick it you too will get there. Promise! If you want to see more wing foiling good stuff then head over to foilshop.co.uk where you’ll find plenty.

Thanks to Murrray Maunder and James Dunstone for the non-POV pics.

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Windsurfing UK test the Hyde Sails Blast 5m wing foiling wing.

Posted on January 24, 2022 by Tez Plavenieks

Hyde Sails Blast wings are going from strength to strength in terms of popularity for wing foiling. I’ve used Hyde Blast wings for a while and love the bottom end grunt yet easy drift handling. As part of my ongoing work with Windsurfing UK a review of the Hyde Blast 5m wing was published not so long ago.

You can read the Hyde Blast 5m wing test here.

The Hyde Blast wing 5m wing in action.

For anyone interested in finding out more about the Hyde Blast wing range then hit this link.

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Indiana Surf & Foil foil board test - first run: SUP foil mode (Jan 10, 2022).

Posted on January 10, 2022 by Tez Plavenieks

This morning I managed to get out for a first run on the Indiana foil board I currently have on test. Indiana is a new brand Foilshop UK is about to start working with via Lyon Watersports. Stay tuned for more from Indiana foiling products moving forwards.

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Wing foil is all the rage - wing foil content links.

Posted on January 5, 2022 by Tez Plavenieks

Wing foil is all the rage within watersports. If you’re not doing it then you’re probably thinking about doing it. And in my case writing/creating wing foil content. Of which some examples can be found below. Check out the links below if wingin’ pricks your interest.

Vayu VVing 6.4m wingfoiling wing test (video).
6 months of wingin’ - wing foil kit testing and focus.
F4 Foils Lightwind carbon/alloy wing/SUP foil review.
FusionX X-Wing 4m and 6m wingsurfing wing review.
Wingsurfing foil wing handles: comfort and efficiency is key to performance and wing foiling progression!
Strong wind wing depower - the ‘other’ beauty of wing foiling.
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Foilshop UK is go! (Well, it has been for a year already…).

Posted on January 5, 2022 by Tez Plavenieks

At the tail end of 2020 Foilshop UK was launched. With my ongoing work in and around hydrofoiling (wing foil, windfoil, SUP foil, eFoil, foil surfing, foil pumping and so on) I hit upon the idea of creating ‘something’ around the topic. I didn’t want to strat a new printed magazine - for various reasons. SO playing to my strengths of content creation/strategy, SEO/tech SEO and writing/editing I thought a content led eCommerce website would be better. And so it came to be…

12 months on Foilshop UK‘s doing well. We’ve just strated working with a unchof new brands with more coming soon. I’m super enthusiatsic about foiling (as you can probably tell). And hope things will continue to become bigger and better across the whole industry. In tandem Foilshop UK following suit. For now, check out the site and if you have any questions about foils or foiling then get in touch.

Check out these other related posts as well -

2019 - foil, foil and more foil!
My year of windsurfing and windfoiling, in pics, 2018
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2019 - foil, foil and more foil!

Posted on December 12, 2019 by Tez Plavenieks

Keeping things on sport 2019 has mainly been about foiling. 80% of my board riding shenanigans have seen my flying above the water. Windfoil and SUP foil are addictive. I’m also keen to investigate surf foiling - but that’s a work in progress. Of course, there’ve been sessions of standard windsurfing and SUP - there has to be as it’s part of my work. But overall I’m super keen on flying and the feeling and want to do more. Who would’ve thought 2ft and 10 knots could be so fun?

If you’ve yet to try some form of foiling then now’s the time. Equipment’s much easier to learn with and knowledge relating to the subject is in abundance. It mightn’t be for everyone but there’s a large portion of the watersports fraternity that it is for.

Here’re some wind and SUP foiling highlights from my 2019.

Non-POV pics: James Jagger, Nick Kingston

Continue reading →

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Windsurf, windfoil, windSUP - the latter part of 2018

Posted on December 13, 2018 by Tez Plavenieks

Further to my last post featuring a bunch of images from 2018 relating to windsurfing and windfoiling there have been (as is inevitable) a few more sessions that have been captured to camera via James Jagger. Here’re the pick of the bunch.

Continue reading →

Posted in UK, Water sports, windsurf foiling, Windsurfing, Windsurfing UK | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

My year of windsurfing and windfoiling, in pics, 2018

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Tez Plavenieks

As part of my work for Windsurfing UK magazine I test and review a whole raft of equipment - sails, boards, foils and windsurfing accessories. This is in conjunction with similar work I do for SUP Mag UK.

Those who are part of the UK’s windsurfing scene will probably be aware 2018 hasn’t been great for breeze and conditions in general. The New Year started cold, snowy and fickle, so not great or inviting as far as watery shenanigans go. Then in the blink of an eye it was all change as a prolonged period of Mediterranean esque weather hit the UK like a bolt out of the blue. Here on the south coast it was wall to wall sunshine with regular 30C+ days. Still not great for full power windsurfing but with a regular 12 knot sea breeze windfoiling was the go.

Of late we’ve had a mixed bag with the return of proper wind and even some decent wave sessions in the mix. All through this I’ve been working with Windsurfing UK’s chief contributing photographer James Jagger to get those necessary shots of equipment being featured in the mag’s test section. It’s not always easy, and there’s still more to do as we head towards the final issue of the year. We’ve managed, however, in almost all cases to nail it. In some cases I’ve needed to employ my trusty GoPro, but generally between myself and James we’ve come up trumps with accompanying images for each test report.

With this in mind I thought I’d share a bunch of pics from this year (to date) that highlight the work we’ve been doing. So without further ado what follows is a selection of windsurf and windfoil images courtesy of James Jagger Photography, mixed in with a handful of point of view action cam photographs.

Big thanks to James for all his hard work and massive big ups to all the brands who’ve helped by loaning equipment for review purposes.

Brands included are -

Severne , Fanatic, Witchcraft, Loftsails, JP Australia, Duotone, KA Sails, Horue foils, Zeeko foils, Alpinefoil, NoveNove, Slingshot, AHD, AFS foils, BIC, Flight Sails.

Check out JJ’s website for more - https://www.jamesjaggerphotography.com/about/ Continue reading →

Posted in windsurf foiling, Windsurfing, Windsurfing UK | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment