Opinion on lessons

[grtlakes]

A little background. I am a fairly competent tt rider who just bought a foil. I tried it out for an hour today. I was able to water start fairly easily by the end of the session. Staying on the board not so good. I am in Hatteras and using a happy foil board and short mast and the original foil fish wings.
What are some opinions on lessons? Is it worth it at 150$/hour or am I better off just keeping at it and working on muscle memory? There is so much good information out there I am having trouble justifying the expense of a guy yelling instructions from a jetski Curious about others experiences.
Totally stoked.
Thanks.

[BWD]

Why are you falling? If you know, you can teach yourself to stop doing it. If not, an instructor (or maybe any other foiler) should be able to see, and give you advice...
I hit a few plateaus in learning:
Rear foot too far back
Rear foot too close to rail
Not stepping forward enough to complete jibes
And was able to figure it out, but at some of these plateaus I was "stuck" for several sessions running, mainly because of getting used to handling many variables at once especially chop and wind gusts.
A good coach probably would have been able to diagnose the problems and get me to fix them within a session.
On the other hand a lot of it is simply time in the water. After about 20 sessions I am making some jibes and riding confidently. Lots of bruises the first dozen times out though...

[slingshotucf]

https://kitehouseinstruction.wordpress.com/ read this and just keep going at it. you'll be riding in no time. Just takes time getting your body used to it.

[grigorib]

It is like learning to bike. You can pay for an instructor and he will shorten your learning time.
But it were dad/moms/friends and your own effort to get to it.
First three sessions will suck, then you learn to go either direction, then you're scared to go downwind, then you figure out to foil downwind, then you do s-turns then larger s-turns and then on one of them you go toeside. At some moment you ditch rear strap, replace front one with a hook and you feel "being one" with the foil. You start going into rollers and waves and then you stop bringing twintip aside from party downwinders, wild jumping sessions and crazy breaks.

But again. If you go ride one week a year and it cost you $400 a day to be there you might get off cheaper to learn faster.
They can also teach you essential safety like not trying to stay in straps when falling, or falling far from the board, wearing impact best and helmet or saving you when your foil jumps into your lines.

Stay safe and keep practicing regardless of lessons, first three sessions are hard, but then you foil, foil, foil...

[grtlakes]

Thanks guys. As for falling. My total time with foil in water is closer to 30 minutes than an hour. So who knows why probably pure incompetence at this stage. Wind looks good for next week or so. I will just go at it. I already have a shin scar so out come the shinn pads.
Cheers thanks for the tips.

[Hugh2]

Sounds right for 30 minutes. Assuming you are using the shortest mast, maybe another 30 minutes will have you foiling short distances, and the next one up to 100 yards. And then there is no going back!

[gbrungra]

Foothooks, not straps.

Do at least one of the following to make it easier to ride the board on the surface:
1. Move footstraps (ideally hooks) all the way forward.
2. Move mast all the way back, if board has tracks.
3. Shim rear wing for less lift.

[gmb13]

A little background. I am a fairly competent tt rider who just bought a foil. I tried it out for an hour today. I was able to water start fairly easily by the end of the session. Staying on the board not so good. I am in Hatteras and using a happy foil board and short mast and the original foil fish wings.
What are some opinions on lessons? Is it worth it at 150$/hour or am I better off just keeping at it and working on muscle memory? There is so much good information out there I am having trouble justifying the expense of a guy yelling instructions from a jetski Curious about others experiences.
Totally stoked.
Thanks.

150 an hour? Wow, I really need to raise my prices.

In the end it is up to you. With a good instructor you can save a lot of time, and you will learn important basics like proper board handling and upwind bodydraging using the foil etc.

I pretty much get people up and foiling to a competent level (constant flight with long mast) in about 2- 3 hours and they know what they are doing afterwards.

That said, I do a lot of courses undoing the damage done by bad teaching. There are a lot of guys teaching foiling that have no clue what they are doing and in the end the students can barely foil and their basics are all wrong.

So if you do get instruction, make sure that you get it from someone who knows how to teach it properly.

--
Gunnar

[Dspace]

I am in Hatteras and using a happy foil board and short mast and the original foil fish wings.
What are some opinions on lessons? Is it worth it at 150$/hour or am I better off just keeping at it and working on muscle memory? There is so much good information out there I am having trouble justifying the expense of a guy yelling instructions from a jetski Curious about others experiences.
Totally stoked.
Thanks.

Where specifically are you riding? Waves, Avon, Frisco? What launch? If you did decide to sign up for a lesson, Jaw Crawford (Outer Banks Kiting) would be a great choice. I'm up in Nags Head. Don't know any local in my neck of the woods who has taken a foil lesson

[grtlakes]

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.