Dave Kalama, Tomo, Eddie O & DA KA'A BARRACUDA BRIGADE

Ka'a Saturday 2/10/24 Was Full Action! We are always Stoked to feature a lot of new Foil Board designs and concepts from shapers popping up at Ka'a on our Instagram.
As far as performance of catching an unrideable bump early and the number in the lineup any given day or time the BARRACUDA has overtaken Ka'a. Dave's years of hard work of cracking the uncatchable / unrideable code is not only giving Surfers an advantage catching bigger waves earlier father outside in the line up ...they are using less energy to get back after a 2,000' ride giving them longer sessions as well!
Eddie's 1st Surf training clips on an updated design Dave has created for him that he absolutely LOVES!
Tomo is back in town from Japan LAYING DOWN insane carves on his Production BARRACUDA.
Jeremy and his daughter joining the fun, Jeremy "Paddle With Riggs" has helped a lot of these Surfers master the art of paddling flat water Pop Up on a BARRACUDA a must for Downwind ( comes in mighty handy surfing too) Jeremy Riggs can be found on PATREON.COM for personal technical Paddle Support of any paddle discipline. Contact him for your Paddle Success!
Cynthia Bad Brown Launching her "GLIDE TRIBE" to keep friends safe. Visability a mile or more out in crazy conditions is so Important - Cynbad is an absolute standout any foil session SURF, WING, DOWNWIND regardless or gender or age, we are always stoked to see her and Husband Steve pull up!
Mahalo's to STING KONG for sharing Piapo & Fantail, Original Surf Rock from our Favorite Surf Band!
We hope you Enjoy watching the Future of Surfing with us.
Aloha From Maui,
Tony

[@IRWE905]

Can you comment on No Straps, One Front Strap (offset), Two Straps both offset) +, & - How to choose for your own style of ‘Gliding’

[@tonymenze]

Sure for myself the last thing I’m doing at 63 while wing or prone is strapping my feet, ankles and ligaments to something that goes from running 3’ above the water at over 20 mph to Zero Under Water in one foot and one second 😂 so totally personal choice. For me when something goes wrong and I’m doing cartwheels I want to eject be as far away as possible. Early on SUP Foil riders would only use a front strap. It guaranteed critical front foot placement one of the most important factors in a successful ride on a hydrofoil. However having only one foot connected to a foil board is an injury waiting to happen. Now for full on performance Jumping or larger Tow in waves double Strapped! Carve Monsta Eddie O slamming whitewater - Always Strapped- Austin Kalama doing Back Flips yep Straped Mahalo’s for asking hope this helps 🤙🏽🤙🏽

[@ThouPablo]

Just a plain old surfer here wondering about the shape of the board. Not so much the foil, but what does changing the board shape and size do? Is the board about paddling and getting it to pop up and be on the foil? Or does the board shape matter when your actually up and riding too? Just since these board look much bigger than what ive seen people on out in the waves? Chur from NZ

[@simonjones2453]

You're right about the pop-up; a long, narrow, high buoyancy board minimises drag below planing speed so, for mere mortals opens up the possibility of getting onto foil on flat water or gently sloping open ocean lumps. These boards led the charge a year or so back. As far as the shape once up and riding, I guess the main thing is minimising swing weight for turning and pumping by using a very light construction and positioning the foil near the balance point of the board. I assume that's what the thick wedge tail is about - bringing more volume behind the foil, even though the board is narrowing there. Having done long downwind missions on both short and long boards, there's something to be said for having a smoother, slower response to control inputs as well... super twitchy, seat-of-your-pants riding gets quite mentally taxing after an hour or two!

[@DavidFoxDotCom]

I've been riding 38L prone for a while and just a handful of sessions on 92L Barracuda that weighs in at just over a pound heavier. Totally different feel. The projection/forward momentum is quite something and of course waaaaaay easier to paddle. Using both with Foil Drive cause I'm old : ) Standup is way more of a workout when trying to ride it like a small board, and standing up takes additional effort when foil drive not engaged.

[@tonymenze]

Aloha we are all plain old Surfers mahalo for watching! What we are watching IS the biggest evolution in surf design EVER! Shortly after we saw Kai riding Alex Agurea’s Go Foil downwind we saw Kai prone surfing something well under 4’. Well he started the trend -it was small sinker boards and riders went crazy with pumping. Dave Kalama one of the Godfathers of SUP had been working closely with Alex as both board and foil were equal parts of the ability to catch and ride uncatchable unliable waves. Dave stared making prototypes over 4 years ago towards cracking the code. My current Prone is actually one of his personal prototypes that has led to the BARRACUDA. Once the BARRACUDA was visible on social media other Shapers all of a sudden started making money with similar designs. About 10 months ago Dave launched the Production BARRACUDA. (I will be doing an follow up episode in a few weeks) A blessing for the Downwind industry as the wait for A Custom from Dave often is over 3 months. I have never in 50 years of surfing seen any brand of surfboard dominate a lineup like this.

[@tonymenze]

Aloha Dave Mahalos for explaining what you feel! I’m riding, watching and filming the BARRACUDA being used SUP Downwind, Prone Downwind, SUP foil surf, Prone foil surf, Flat Wate Pop Up, I use mine for light wind wing 🪽 as well - Truely a Unicorn 🦄 🙏🏽🙌🏽😆🤣😂