Foiling an Emergency Ferry Wave
At the end of September, we got hit with a nor’easter here in Waves that shut down Route 12 in Pea Island, trapping a lot of people on vacation on the island. Once the swell disappeared, they started running an emergency ferry from Stumpy Point to Rodanthe to get everyone off the island. Working at the Sailshop I was watching the Ferrys come in an out just thinking how cool it would be to try and foil the Ferrys wake. Luckily Reider called me and said i should go and try out the new Silk v2 behind it. So, I reached out to local ripper and shop rider Corey asap about the idea and luckily, he was just as stoked as I was. We spent two days chasing those ferry waves. We were on a full AFS setup, including the Silk V2 1150 front wing, 80cm HM mast and 30L Chipri board. But before any of good rides, there was a learning curve to just catching the wave and the timing of it all. We woke up before sunrise, headed down to the docks, talked with the ferry crews, learned where the wave started an ended, and figured out how to tow the foil into it. It wasn’t as simple as waiting for the ferry and jumping on like we thought. It took most of the first day to start figuring it out. Then, right at the end of the day, we finally scored one. As the sun came down, Corey got into the wake and managed to stay on it for 2 minutes. He fell, but we got him back up and reconnected with the wave a few more times before it ended. That was the rush of it all, we discovered we only had a 10 minute window to catch the wave before to ends. Which meant we could fall but we had to be quick enough to get back up and on it fast. By day two, after figuring out the ferry schedule and how to tow into the wave, we were able to get some much better rides. There’s something pretty special about being able to say we spent two days foiling behind an emergency ferry wake. It’s not something you experience in the Outer Banks every day, and after the early mornings, the learning curve, finally figuring it out, made the rides that much more rewarding.
As for the gear we used, it was a pretty unique way to demo. What stood out most about the Silk V2 1150 was how it handled the weak sections of the wave when you were further away from the ferry. Even when the wave faded a bit, it had enough lift and glide to keep us glidin through turns on the outside, getting us back on the inside steeper parts of the wave. That extra efficiency meant longer rides, but it still felt lively when turning or maneuvering. And for Corey, who strictly rides the 850 Silk v1, he was at first a little skeptical about going up in size. After a few rides tho, he was really impressed with how well it still turned. It gave him the glide he needed without losing the skatey feel he looks for.
