cable park with a foil

[Arcsrule]

after building my foil last year, i have still not taken it to the water. I'm thinking of taking i down to the Keys cable park this week. I've never kite surfed 'un-hooked' and i think hooking in to the cable may not be possible. did anyone learn to foil on a cable? would it be a waste of time for me?

[mig27]

I spend many hours at the cable track over here, with both TT's, dedicated wakeboards, skim boards and wake skates.

I wondered if I should once take my hydrofoil over there for fun.

Here are some considerations:

- the cable hook mechanism are known for failures, which often float around. Metal end, wooden grip...you would not want to run into that
- some parcs have shallow water, like my local park.

Learning
I take all the people I learned to kiteboard first to the track, to get hands on experience with a board in the water.

The biggest problem with the cable track is the instant acceleration once you ge hooked in. This is not a representative part of the game. And makes it even more difficult to learn.

When I think of that with learning to hydrofoil this way...i think it is a risk and a waste if time.

Behind a boat, that might be a better option

[Peter_Frank]

I think it would be a totally waste of time

Peter

[cglazier]

Perhaps a skilled rider might be able to do it but I doubt that it would be a productive learning experience for a beginner.

CG

[edt]

cable parks get up to speed in a second or two, right up to about 20 knots. Once there, a wakeboard creates drag with rocker to stay on the line. A hydrofoil has pretty much zero drag so what will happen is as soon as you get pulled up to speed you will over shoot the cable and have to slow down to stay connected. When I take my kiteboard to cable park what I do is as soon as I get pulled up I do a really tight turn to create tension. After coming out of every turn you will also create slack because you over shoot the cable. I am not sure how exactly you are going to create all this drag so you stay connected to the cable. As soon as you start foiling the drag goes to zero, then the cable will go slack, you over shoot the cable, then the cable catches up to you and then it tugs you really hard after it passes you again. It's like being on a bungee ride only sideways.

I am never one to say never. I have no idea tho how you are going to stay connected to the cable. go for it have fun remember stay away from the foil when you crash and remember lurking in every epic disaster is a great video for us to watch. Head over heels over head over heels for 10 minutes straight that's what I think might happen. Do it!

[Regis-de-giens]

I think it would be a totally waste of time

Peter

i agree. i started hydrofoil with 2 painful hours without kite and behind a motor boat. Even if i am a good water monoski rider i learned almost nothing since pulling traction is totally different from the kite. And also because i think it is better to manage foil elevation with speed than weight transfer on feet for the first flights, which is not possible with a cable at constant speed. Waste of time, energy, money and motivation. Experienced foilers confirmed this analysis (later on my boat experience ...)
Cable should be even worse than boat.

[Starsky]

I bet only the best foilers could pull of getting up to stable flight at a standard cable. Even then it would be a challenge to keep line tension.

[Jollydriver]

cable parks get up to speed in a second or two, right up to about 20 knots.

This is true of multi-tower systems, but the OP referenced the Keys Cable Park, which is a 2.0 two tower system. The tower controller/instructor has the ability to vary the speed and acceleration, plus you only have one rider on the cable at a time, so you don't present increased danger to other riders either riding or when down. Also, if you fall, no big deal on a two tower system, as the instructor just backs the cable back up to you. Also, at first, you wouldn't even need to worry about carving the ends, just coordinate with the instructor, and do 3/4 length runs, stop/drop and come back the other direction.

I think the other reason this may be viable, is this particular park has a specific 'Cable for Kite' instructional block, which indicates they have instructors who are not just wake boarders/cable park riders, but also kite boarders.

I say give them a call, and see if they have experience instructing hydrofoils, and if they are positive and responsive, then go for it.

JD

[Mossy 757]

It's probably a valuable experience if they can start you out riding too slow to fly the foil. Get used to getting pulled around just cruising the board then have the dude ratchet up the speed.

[edt]

cable parks get up to speed in a second or two, right up to about 20 knots.

This is true of multi-tower systems, but the OP referenced the Keys Cable Park, which is a 2.0 two tower system.

i've ridden both the circles and the line. You have the same problem. Sure in a line, the controller can bring it slowly up to speed, but when you slingshot around the end, you get a ridiculous amount of slack because you pass up the cable.

Definitely need videos he tries it. When a cable operator teaches kiters about the park they teach things like how to ollie up on a rail (because kiters don't know how to ollie they just ride up to the ramp and slingshot off) also when kiters go over a ramp, they keep their edge, and the wake guys need to teach kiters to flatten out the board when they hit the ramp. A lot of kiters have also never ridden boots so they have to be taught how to get the board in front of them before the operator tensions the cable.