Improve your foiling skills in paradise! Join us in Montanita Ecuador May 23-30, 2026 for a foil drive / tow / prone foil camp with Ecuador Foil, KT Foiling & Julia Castro. Learn More

In this episode we catch up with Slingshot's wind division powerhouse duo: Elliott Tauscher (brand manager and Hood River local) and pro rider/engineer Trent Carter (fresh from endless downwind sessions in Oahu).

Recorded remotely as the seasons shift—fall hibernation in the Gorge and peak downwind season in Hawaii—the guys kick things off with life updates, snowboarding war stories, and how their roots in skiing, snowboarding, and lake waterman antics shaped their paths into foiling pros.

We go deep on:

• Trent's journey from ditching high school classes for secret Tahoe downwind runs on an Infinity 84 to pitching epic film projects and joining the Slingshot team
• How Slingshot pairs elite athletes like Trent with designers to push boundaries, from early kite innovations to the game-changing One-Lock screwless foil system
• Drag as the ultimate enemy: why eliminating screws, optimizing masts/fuselages, and quick-swapping wings/tails unlocks efficiency, stiffness, and endless setup tweaks
• The evolution of downwind foils: insane glide with consistent range, high-aspect designs that now carve like surf foils, anhedral/dihedral for maneuverability, and profile tweaks for lift distribution
• Real-world testing in ocean swell vs. Gorge swell, gear optimization for every condition, and why no single setup rules everywhere
• Wild future ideas: self-adjusting stabilizers, adaptive foils, and how innovations like One-Lock make swapping (and progressing) effortless for everyone
• Foiling's magic in connecting disciplines—kite, wing, prone, pump, downwind—and bringing the whole watersports community together

From raw athlete feedback driving R&D to the sheer joy of making foils faster, smoother, and more fun, this is an unfiltered look inside one of foiling's most innovative brands—and why the best is still yet to come.

If you've ever wondered what goes into building the foils dominating downwind runs and beyond … this is it.

Follow Slingshot → https://slingshotsports.com/pages/foil
Trent Carter → @trent.carter
Elliott Tauscher: @elliott_stays