Hi Peter,
respect, "stabless strapless" is very hard . So you are still under the worlds top ten monofoilers (now around 5 at my lake) and third, who has tried "stabless strapless"
I have given up strapless after halft a session as flying tacks and jibes without straps are maybe not impossible, but extremly hard, Caneri Man and Foiloffs are a joke compared .
Yes first it is difficult, also my first tries around 2,5 years ago were pushed by curiosity, to see if and how it works. But then I have seen the further potential.
After now about 15 sessions in a row of just mono foiling I had a new revelation:
During last year when I always switched in between normal foil and monofoil there was always this thought on the first 100 m and more: "Oh, remember this is the mono, be concentrated, stay slow, pay attention ..."
Today first time, after the first 100 m this comes into my mind: "Oh, but this is the monofoil, isn't it, but it doesn't feel anymore like something special, but just like normal foiling has been a year ago, no need to pay attention for nothing..."
And also the rest of the session has been a blast:
Learned more stuff than in any session during maybe the last 10 years:
Stuff with my foilkite, propeller it 3 times to left and right and left and right ... kiting without constant laminar flow on the wing , let it flying backwards, while always riding downwind, as Greg from BRM does with his tubes.
Riding the mono really powered very well without being overpowered... and first tries of arial jibes (as the normal foil flying jibes are still hard , first try made it ) ...
After the first tests, the further motivation was to see, if the mono could reach the point to be a better "normal foil" with the free feeling and performance, but especially for jumping with less risks and weight.
As the levitaz fuselage is very heavy for a carbon foil this was one additionally point to save lots of weight on the worst position.
As I hoped, mono foiling now starts to be much about jumping, not big air, but unexplored freestyle possibilities: Land in any angle like on a TT even backwards ...
And this is where it goes:
Latest monofoil from a friend, with light straps it should be around 4,8 kg. Mine is 5,9 kg with the benefit of some volume. I know there are lighter foils as the HORUE H13, but don't think any other foils of this weight which is stable enough, that you can land hardly and additionally in any angle you want, as there is no stabi that blocks a wing forward landing. Further more the construction is more stable as pressure point is closer to strut. And no stabi to hurt or pointed wing tips. Today once had the foil in the lines first time since long and first with the mono: Also here much less problem and risk to tangle hard....
So in conclusion:
if you want to ride stRapless and also a lot in waves. Then I think it is maybe not worth to learn foiling once again on the mono, as for sure to hard for that.
If you want to do freestyle jumping, but not big air. Then it can be worth to invest time to learn the mono.
Very happy I have done it.
Will keep my racefoil for some occasions, but now sure, the near future is just mono, so many tricks to learn without danger, but lots of fun.
Next I will build a shorter strut as the friend has done, Ketos Box is ordered, ready to cut it down . Long struts are just not needed on a mono, that can surface without catapult, think about 85 cm should be better than the 96 cm, and by side-effect makes it once again, more compact, lighter, easier, safer; My racefoil I nearly never ride with less than 110 cm strut and now full race setup is an 1,4 m x 1,2 m x 8 kg monster full of pointy knife like stabis and wing tips, not good to learn new board offs and similar stuff or over head tricks with .
@Peter
P.S. Oh, but keep in mind difficulty is much about wing shape, high AR is nearly impossible, turned back to Element with Span: 501 mm; Root Chord: 163 mm; Wing Area: 679 cm²; Aspect Ratio: 3,9
The airrush I tried once had an outline similar to your ketos with higher AR and this was to hard to use.