Learning to foil in 10 days

[K-Roy]

PF is spot on.

[kas911]

but the complete silence when you learn to go deep (maybe with a slightly oversheeted/stalled kite) IS EPIC

from a noob

[haare]

I learned first with 60cm mast. We usually have small chop 30-40cm.
Because of this going upwind was harder for me, because you need to tilt the foil to do that. Instead I could easily go downwind board flat.

Now I have switched to 90cm. Foil is little more instable because of that. Now actually going upwind is quite easy. Going downwind became harder now.

I always go upwind heelside and downwind toeside. Problem is that usually you need to go more downwind to kill gusts than you need to go upwind to decelerate. For this reason every 10th tack I need to go upwind toeside. This is not hard with ideal wind. However when gust comes it is harder for me to lean more upwind toeside. So often I just ride upwind as long as gust comes and then turn steeply downwind. Once I get some slack in the lines I try to turn upwind again.

[tripman]

going upwind, you get your balance from your board, but also from your kite as you can lean on with the pull from the bar, as opposed to downwind where the kite pull is closed to nothing (and you're moving in complete silence as said by kas911). So the upwind position is quite classic for a surfkiter and not to strange for a tt rider except the pressure on front foot. When going downwind, push few inches on your bar to release the pressure and lower the kite pull to initiate your downwind leg. You'll find yourself with a vertical position, so balance is harder to find. Solution: bend your knees, more than what you'd do normally to keep your balance. Another point is to not look for a stable position when starting HF. Change constanly your position, going up or down , doing curves, etc. Do not stay still on your board, afraid and waiting for the crash to happen. This way, you'll build your muscle memory and you'll learn how to deal with the sudden changes that make you crash when beginning

[tegirinenashi]

Why is there no pull from the kite when going downwind? I understand (and experienced) no pull on SB or TT when sailing downwind. This is because my travel direction is towards the kite. However in case of HF downwind travel speed (arrow marked with 30 kn on the diagram below) easily exceeds the true wind speed (marked with 15 ). Then, the kite lines (red arrow) are oriented almost perpendicular to the travel direction. Since only a component of kite pull contributes to forward propelling force, then
1. The sailor has to counterbalance the pull, which is similar to when going upwind
2. Since apparent wind and water resistance are similar to the case when going upwind how does there is only minimal pull from the kite?


Is my diagram correct (in terms of orientation of vectors, e.g. is kite really at almost 90 degrees to the direction of travel)? (If my intuition is correct, then it explains difficulty mastering going downwind on HF, as the kiteboard is directed to one side of the wind window, while the kite sits in the opposite side of it. "Wind window" being static definition of course, as apparent wind shifts it).

[Regis-de-giens]

The kite pull is not perpendicular to the direction of the travel actually but 90 degree of the relative wind window. That is to me what is not correct in your diagram.

When going upwind, the apparent wind on the kite is higher (because the travel and wind are almost in opposite direction so the kite sees approx the sum of them ). That is why you feel the kite pulls hard in the harness. However only very few of this pulling force is used to pull the rider (because the extremity of the apparent wind window is close to 90 degre of the travel in that case).

On the contrary when riding downwind, the apparent wind on the kite is very low ( approx the real wind minus the travel speed to make it short and simplified). Pull in the harness is therefore very low. But far more purcentage of this pull is used to generate the travel because kite is almost inline with travel direction (because of relative windwindow vs rider direction.)

Sorry i cannot make drawings tonight.

[tegirinenashi]

OK, my picture doesn't seem to be to scale. That "30" is more like 45 when compared to the fat 15 arrow. Please also keep in mind that I borrowed those numbers (15,30) and sailing direction angle from "post your WMG" thread. Admittedly that thread is probably more about race rigs, not Greg-style effortless downwind zig-zagging. As soon as this 30 knots is scaled back to something around windspeed (=15), then the apparent wind decreases, and the kite angle alignes more with direction of travel. Probably it is good idea to watch some youtube videos to notice what this angle really is...