Opinion on lessons

[gmb13]

I have 1 foot hook and the mast is positioned far back. I'm launching at rental house in Salvo north of Avon.
150$ Does seem steep. It appears to be the going rate at Real and Kitty Hawk kites. Getting the right instructor would be key. I will see what the next few sessions brings. I would like to get basics down. My home area is basically cold choppy and deep. Hatteras is the opposite.

Moving the mast all the way back and the foostraps all the way forward might not be the best idea here. If it is too far back compared to the front straps you need to push too hard to get the board unstuck from the water, and the board might be dragging too much preventing a clean release. Also if you are still spending a lot of time with the baord on the water, having the footstraps all the way forward will get you caught on chop and sink the nose when you touch down. On the Happy Foil Board the middle strap setting and all the way back is good for learning.

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Gunnar

[dylan*]

I don't think $150 per hour is too crazy considering for foiling you're basically paying an expert rider for private lessons. But at that price for me, not worth it at all.

Foiling isn't that hard to learn if you're a competent kiter, it just takes time. Maybe if you only kite a couple times a year it would be worth it so you won't have to waste your few sessions on the water struggling and being frustrated. But if you ride all the time, just take a couple hours and you will get the hang of it.

Even the slowest learners I know get the hang of it between 5-10 sessions. It just sucks until then

[jeromeL]

It's normal to struggle first half hour
Give it another try, within another hour or so you should be able to ride the board by keeping it on water surface everything else gets easier.
At this stage the things that helped me were
put mast all the way back (though on my setup shinn el stubbo + zeeko, I kept it all the way back even after I learned to foil, my feet seems pretty balance already)
When you water start try to stand up all the way, don't lean back in harness which tends to put too much pressure on back foot, really stand straight up with almost no flex in legs, if any flex you want to flex front knee which sends your body weight forward. Don't try to steer board by leaning back it will most likely power it up and fly... You can kind of steer turning your shoulder and hip while keeping board on surface.
after one or two hour of riding back and force on water surface you are ready to try to fly. In my opinion even riding board on water surface you are still "flying" the foil so you still build up some muscle memory, so you should get the flying part stage pretty quickly if you have mastered the board on surface stage.

Lessons can be great if the spot doesn't really have much room side shore or onshore wind. But in OBX you don't have that issue.

I have a playlist of my first few tries so you can relate and see what to expect:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... NLZxjBUCX-

[grtlakes]

Thanks guys. I certainly wasn't expecting much first few times. I was just interested in opinions on lessons. My next step is wait for wind and try try again.

[abel]

Maybe buy two cameras for $150, post some vids and ask from the guys here to comment
Send pics from your setup showing the position of the mast and straps, so guys with same equipment can recommend if position is OK.
What I did is ask from a proficient foiling mate to ride on my HF set and tell me where to position my feet. Helped a lot.
Another important tip that worked for me is bending the knees, but rear leg straighter.
Bend the front leg ... dawn you go, straighten a bit the front leg, ... up you go.

[TomW]

I spent 3 sessions, was getting up and surface riding without control, drifting downwind mostly.
Took a break for winter because it was late September by then. Went to Mexico and booked 4 hrs of private instruction with radio. After that I was flying back N forth, upwind, downwind, not a lot of control, but I was good to go solo.
I think I might have quit without that instruction, I learned some really key things that I haven't read anywhere. For me it cost 100usd / hr.
It was totally worth it.

[styleito]

I'm launching at rental house in Salvo north of Avon.

How is the grass there?
Even a couple of pieces of that can change the way my foil rides.
A small handful makes it all but impossible.

[grtlakes]

So quick update.

Tried foil second time yesterday for 3 hours. First hour messed around finding out foot position to start is even more critical than I thought. Rest of time on water absolutely awesome. Stayed up more than down riding on surface. Last ride before I twisted my kite was a long tack on the foil. I accidentally went up on foil but was able to maintain for a few hundred meters. Pure bliss.

To top it off I was teaching my 14 year old son afterwards on a TT. We have worked on flying the kite for about 5 hours. I introduced him to the board for the first time yesterday. On his 5th attempt to get up he succeeded for a long run. Never seen him so happy. He said it was like time stopped.

Thanks for tips again guys.

[pj sofine]

By the time you make a decision about taking lessons you won't need them,I watched a bunch of videos,went through the ss flightschool program online and read as much as I can on forums like this one.I was able to minimize all the carnage by educating myself and having a good sense of humor!. Oh and the short mast progression helped also, even if you only spend an hour or so on each size as you progress.Lot of good advice in this one thread.

[wingnut]

[/quote]

How is the grass there?
Even a couple of pieces of that can change the way my foil rides.
...
[/quote]

Yah! my foil rides way better if I smoke some of that sh!t.....