A forum dedicated to Hydrofoil riders
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borist
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Postby borist » Fri Apr 28, 2017 2:42 am
great read!
keep posting on your progress.
My first session or two was on 19m(!) kite, but it was very light and flat so no big deal. Otherwise 17m sounds too big.
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airsurfer
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Postby airsurfer » Fri Apr 28, 2017 3:50 am
Dont give up everyone has gone through the same experience there are no short cuts in foiling. Try to get up and just stand up straight on top of the board and go downwind. You will instinctively try to edge and go upwind and then you will crash so try hard not to do that
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OzBungy
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Postby OzBungy » Fri Apr 28, 2017 4:30 am
Classic beginner mistakes:
- 17m kite. Really? Any more than 10m is over the top. Even then, use a 10m for the first few sessions then consider going for something smaller.
- Go in a little more wind to start with. You want the kite to fly itself and to relaunch easily.
- Taming the foil. You never tame the foil. You learn to work with it. Go with the flow. Be gentle. Be slow. Relax.
- Back foot too far back. That's why the foil blasts out of the water and tries to kill you. Move your back foot way in front of the mast. You can move it back a bit at a time as you gain experience.
Spend more time body dragging and generally relaxing in the water with the foil. Eventually it will do all the work for you and you just have to wait for it to come to you.
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Kamikuza
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Postby Kamikuza » Fri Apr 28, 2017 5:32 am
OzBungy wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2017 4:30 am
Classic beginner mistakes:
- 17m kite. Really? Any more than 10m is over the top. Even then, use a 10m for the first few sessions then consider going for something smaller.
- Go in a little more wind to start with. You want the kite to fly itself and to relaunch easily.
- Taming the foil. You never tame the foil. You learn to work with it. Go with the flow. Be gentle. Be slow. Relax.
- Back foot too far back. That's why the foil blasts out of the water and tries to kill you. Move your back foot way in front of the mast. You can move it back a bit at a time as you gain experience.
Spend more time body dragging and generally relaxing in the water with the foil. Eventually it will do all the work for you and you just have to wait for it to come to you.
Gotta disagree with a couple of point.
Whatever size kite you're comfy with in the wind you got is fine. Underpowered is worse than overpowered but not by much, and both are worse than being comfortable.
Back foot a little bit forward is ok but no way you need it all that far. Don't learn poor technique from the start! Learn to shift your weight properly from the get go or you'll just have to relearn the technique.
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lovethepirk
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Postby lovethepirk » Fri Apr 28, 2017 5:54 am
We had 13-16mph winds with a nasty current. Yea you can fly a 12m in those winds on the beach, but you cannot get away with flying that kite as you are approaching the beach unless you are powered and have a board on you. I prefer to not hurt anyone on the beach so I'd rather be overpowered learning than rake the beach with a 12m kite like I saw some guy today. I'm aware a 17m kite caused me issues today rangling with the board, but when I was heading towards 10 people on the beach with 3 mph down current I was quite happy with the 17m seeing the kite was witnessing 10mph of wind until I got grounded.
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revhed
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Postby revhed » Fri Apr 28, 2017 7:53 am
lovethepirk wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2017 2:14 am
I got a good deal on a second hand Delta race foil
I don't have a lot of hours in on a surfboard
Both are of no help.
Find a confirmed KBHF pilot and have him test your rig to let you know just before flying stance rear foot position.
Consider a front foot hook ONLY (there is ABSOLUTELY NO reason for ANY rear foot connection other than strapless when learning!)
A larger F wing will do wonders!
R H
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speedyRider
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Postby speedyRider » Fri Apr 28, 2017 8:11 am
that was my first 20 minutes also, after that a lot better, and now doing good after short 7 sessions.
I also commited same mistake, going too much overpowered. I can hold a lot of power with my TT, but this is different thing. Just be enough powered, like 10-12m in 10 knots is more than enough for this task. It also helped to have a clear idea of what to do before entering the water for 1st time, even then and being experienced it was really frustrating the first 20 minutes...
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Pedro Marcos
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Postby Pedro Marcos » Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:15 am
Absolutely normal,
Soon you will stop walking on the beach, and you will start with the insanely high speed crashes (im at that point now).
Enjoy
lovethepirk wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2017 1:20 am
hor·ren·dous
adjective
extremely unpleasant, horrifying, or terrible.
Pretty much sums up my first session. I just got my ass kicked today. I was that newbie in the water today with a helmet on flailing around in the water until I could get the board in position and then I proceeded to dive the kite and within 5 seconds it all went wrong. Walked back upwind at least 3 miles total today and had to takes breaks as I'm walking dead into a side shore stiff breeze with a 17m kite. People asking me how tough it is to learn as I looked like a complete fool out there never riding for more than 20 feet ever with around 50 water start crashes.
I did learn the damn foil has a nasty behavior in the water and you have to tame it while body dragging out beyond the sand bar, in near shore current, and then getting settled for a water start. I'm simply trying to body drag out a couple hundred feet and the damn thing is rising out of the water, pitches back down, aims upwind, then I'm suddenly dragging the bitch behind me now begging for mercy, then a gust hits so I release the board and now I'm back to bodydragging 101 trying to get back to a board which fkin hates me.
All my crashes were falling forward and back, few were just when I actually got the board to plane and it nose dived so I just barred in and went for a ride in the air. I don't like that your forward foot is already on the edge of the board, I almost think I'd have done better today strapless. I did remove the back foot half the time as I dove the kite and moved it ahead of the strap, but for some reason that foil just has me all off balance.
There may be a barrier to entry for kiteboarding in general, but I can tell you after the beating I took today I can't imagine the amount of people that try foiling then quit rather quickly. I can't even imagine some of the other issues to come like managing your speed up and downwind, transitions, etc. I felt like a 350 lb NFL lineman on ice skates today.
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plummet
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Postby plummet » Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:43 am
Pretty similar to my progression first up.
Just keep going. It will start to work
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gmb13
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Postby gmb13 » Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:55 am
lovethepirk wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2017 2:14 am
matth wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2017 1:34 am
You're bumming me out, I just received my new toy yesterday. Did watch tutorials and start as suggested? Did you start with a short mast? Did have the mast all the way back if possible?
I plan on taking my time in waist deep (24"mast) water and onshore walk out conditions. Hopefully I will have less frustrating results
Ahhh, my post was in all good humor!
I'm pretty solid on a TT, but that beast was like going from a tame horse to a pissed off Bull. I don't mind getting beat up, the more licks I take the more weird shit you learn.
I got a good deal on a second hand Delta race foil with ~39 inch mast so it's not probably the best thing to learn on. It's a tuttle box setup where the mast inserts into the board, so you can't move the mast forward and back. Had a guy tell me that today that moving the mast around helps a lot when learning. I know that is a roadblock but honestly half of my battle today was just getting into position. We have a sand bar which I didn't want to fk with so I had to body drag out and the damn thing is a beast just to drag out with, then all types of weird shit happens with that board. It's not like a twintip where you can just press one foot and sway the kite and all the sudden you're in position...I don't have a lot of hours in on a surfboard so I think I'm climbing uphill on all fronts.
Hi dude.
There is one thing you can do to make learning a bit more progressive and easier.
Take the Wings off and learn to manage to ride with only the mast. This will let you get comfortable with the waterstart and keeping the board flat on the water without the risk of the foil taking off. When you get the hang of riding it with the mast only, then put the wings back on.
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Gunnar
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