First Hydrofoil tips and advice

[justkite100]

Hi All,
If this has been posted before please point me in the right direction...

I'm a total newbie to hydrofoils but have decided to jump straight in and buy one.

There is such a lot of choice on the market - can anyone recommend what I should be looking for as my first hydrofoil and board ?

Also, I keep hearing different opinions on straps vs strapless. Would it be too much of a challenge to learn strapless straight from day one?

Thanks

[stefarius]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGbhSCxjNIo

[mig27]

Also, I keep hearing different opinions on straps vs strapless. Would it be too much of a challenge to learn strapless straight from day one?

I did from day one, and never tried with straps ever.
After two years I can say this:

Yes, it is possible.
But with at least one strap up front your progression will be better.
Getting on a strapless board is a trick you can learn from YouTube. Search for strapless hydrofoil waterstart. But it adds to the already long learning curve.

When riding it means you have no ability to pull the board up. All corrections have to be done by shifting your weight, much less room for error.

When their is sufficient wind for foiling it is not any more difficult than with straps.
However in the low and high-end straps will give you more options to not crash...

Still, I am stubborn and continue to ride strapless because it feels so good

[NorCalNomad]

I only ride my surfboard strapless and only think they should be on a surfboard if you are surfing XXL swell....

With that being said, I finally finished my own hydrofoil and board and have been riding it strapless. But I was VERY glad that I got to learn on a Double Agent that had a loose 3 strap setup on it. The first two sessions on my foil without straps was pretty tricky getting use to some of the possibly bad habits that I had gotten on the DA. I'd say having straps on it is way easier to learn because of the trickness of positioning a board with a foil on it and some of getting use to new body positioning on a foil. If I hadn't had a strong strapless surf background I'm sure even just the water starting on the foil strapless would be a bear to learn.

This is a SUPER helpful video for waterstarting on a strapless foil. The backhand trick really works well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anmTB__HNb8

[TomW]

Ok, you're in Poole. Look at FC watersports website. They have a wide selection of gear. You're spoiled for choice. Wish I had a retailer like that close by.
Your choices :
Shinn P foil 90cm +Jackson board
Levitaz Cruiser + exo board
Slingshot NF2 + alien air 4-8 / dwarfcraft 4-6
Moses Fluente + T60

Actually the Jackson, alien air, dwarfcraft, and exo have tracks so you can put any of those foils on these boards. The T60 has holes in fixed position, so I'd stay with Moses foil on that board.

Ditch the Straps and get 2 or 3 Slingshot foothooks. let me emphasize : GET FOOTHOOKS!

I learned on and still have my 2016 moses Fluente with 548 front wing. It's not the easiest to learn on, but I managed.

[gbrungra]

Definitely foothooks!

SOMETHING to help you ride on the surface (weight so far forward the board dowesn't foil right away). So a. a board with tracks, b. foothooks mounted all the way forward, or c. a shimmed rear stabilizer. Or some combination of those three things, until you get a feel for front foot pressure control.

Ideally, a short mast for learning. Lots of people learn without one. But it's faster and safer to learn with one. Be honest with yourself. Are you the kind of person who can hop on a new board and just ride, or do you need practice? If you aren't a top 10 percentile natural athlete then get a short mast to learn on.

[TomW]

Definitely foothooks!

SOMETHING to help you ride on the surface (weight so far forward the board dowesn't foil right away). So a. a board with tracks, b. foothooks mounted all the way forward, or c. a shimmed rear stabilizer. Or some combination of those three things, until you get a feel for front foot pressure control.

Ideally, a short mast for learning. Lots of people learn without one. But it's faster and safer to learn with one. Be honest with yourself. Are you the kind of person who can hop on a new board and just ride, or do you need practice? If you aren't a top 10 percentile natural athlete then get a short mast to learn on.

Wow, I'm top 10 percentile natural athlete !!! Not. But I get your point...
Probably top 10 percentile in perseverance.

[justkite100]

Wow thanks for all the advice, Ive just noticed my post has been posted twice on this forum but with separate titles.
The browser crashed when i clicked submit so i reposted but with a slightly different title. Sorry and perhaps an admin could combine them. ( link to duplicated post viewtopic.php?f=196&t=2397101 )




So far Im thinking Slingshot board and foot hooks ( tempted by the cabriha double agent due to the current promotional prices )

Im on 9m and 12m cabrinha FX's.... I'm guessing they're not the ideal kite for hydrofoiling. Not looking to change all my kit but I'm assuming they will get me started.