Learning to foil- strapped or strapless

[Brian H]

The straps helped me a lot , one loose front and one hook at the back to get the board up on edge and also to hold the board on the correct take off angle (very important when learning) the only time I felt I might get my foot stuck was while i ride toe side and then fall akward.

[opie]

I learned strapless. I decided to try strapless first then get hooks if I needed them, but there was no need. It did take 10 sessions before I could foil enough to go upwind and downwind. I was a new kiter though, so no bad habits to break.
I am also starting to get old and brittle, so I was more concerned with not getting hurt.

[cglazier]

You will learn way faster with straps, no matter if a strapless expert on surfboards
But it can be learned strapless, it just take longer, or extremely long (individual).

.
Agreed. Around here most of us (dozens of us) have learned with straps. It is just easier.

CG

[K-Roy]

IMO if you plan to ride strapless in the long run, might as well start strapless.
You gona have to learn the skill needed anyway.
Give yourself a chance, see how you do during the first couple of sessions, if still struggling, put front straps.
The timing with the water start is what takes a little to "figure" but no big deal.

Im a strapless SB rider, no expert.

Both my Son (14) and I where up and going on the foil in 2-3 hours of practice without straps.

hope it helps,
let us know how you got on...

cheers

[windmaker]

I hate straps and always ride my surfs and hydrofoils strapless but learned to hydrofoil with one loose front strap. Unlike a surfboard riding a hydrofoil strapless is not more difficult except for the waterstart.

[bragnouff]

Like pretty much everyone, I'd suggest starting with straps, or one strap, just to figure out the basics, waterstarts, get your first runs, and get a glimpse of what that foiling feeling is about. Then go strapless if you prefer, which may come with a strange frustrating waterstart experience. I've been riding strapless surfboards for many years, and after I removed the straps after 4 sessions on the foil, it literally took me 20-30 minutes to finally manage to just get on the board and ride away. 20 minutes of constant splashing is a long time, embarrassing and very humbling after many years of kiting. If I didn't experience first what the addictive reward was, and if I didn't have the very basics of riding on the foil, that would have been even more frustrating and I could have easily given up for a while. Waterstart strapless is just hard/ much different than whatever you're used to.
Note that my first steps were in sub 10C waters, with bit rough swell/chop, which arguably complicates things. Warm tropical waters would potentially make that less frustrating! Glad I did my hard yards in winter though, it helped with being proficient enough to enjoy lightwind summer days,
Note also that not all foil setups are created equal for waterstart, I guess the combo buoyant board heavy foil makes it harder to keep the board angled for waterstart, whereas it's not so much of an issue on others. Eventually it doesn't matter anymore

[windmaker]

Note also that not all foil setups are created equal for waterstart, I guess the combo buoyant board heavy foil makes it harder to keep the board angled for waterstart, whereas it's not so much of an issue on others. Eventually it doesn't matter anymore

Good point a light hydrofoil or/and narrow/low volume board give you more time to waterstart and makes it easier to lean the board on it's side.

Eventually it doesn't matter anymore but I remember having sore arms (that Taaroa addict board was hell) angling the board 50 times per session to waterstart when I was learning transitions...

[abel]

I started with the straps that come with the Hboard and got the foot stuck in the straps three times . No injury but definitely a hold-back in progress.
The fear factor is a strong inhibitor.
I changed the straps to hooks, then the water start and first tacks were really easy and comfy, no fear.
Definitely not straps!
As for strapless,... achieving the first tacks is hard enough, so why make life tougher? I opted for one step at a time progression.

Good luck!

[plummet]

I agree strapless is not the go a the very beginning.

But one front foot hook is the closes thing to strapless an that is what i did for the first month.

You will at the very least need a indicator of where to put your feet. In particular the front foot.

Also when you don't have the ballance sorted chop and swell cause the board to pitch and lift and roll a bit particularly if you don't have much speed. Those movements will send you off the board strapless in the beginning. Straps allow you to man handle the board through some of those instances without getting punted off.

Later when you have balance and reactions sorted you can easily counteract those movements strapless.

[bragnouff]

Good point a light hydrofoil or/and narrow/low volume board give you more time to waterstart and makes it easier to lean the board on it's side.

Eventually it doesn't matter anymore but I remember having sore arms (that Taaroa addict board was hell) angling the board 50 times per session to waterstart when I was learning transitions...

Quite a few sore spots too on the shins from using the knees to help tilt the board, works well, but it's kind of a novelty to get bruises there... Took me a while to understand I needed to hold the rail during waterstart up to when sending the kite. And once, I sent the kite quite convincingly, and for whatever reason I didn't manage to put the rear hand back on the bar quick enough... Slammed the kite, flew over the still angled board and did a pretty humiliating beginner crash. Great entertainment, ... for other that is.

So yeah, one strap, even very loose, or a foot hook, would tremendously facilitate the waterstart. And it helps to spread the different steps of the learning curve