Power.

[plummet]

So. I've done the peter Frank stupid small kite hydrofoiling for a while. Now I hunger for speed and power.

Whose else is wanting to grunt up the hf and ride powered.

[Yodarocket31]

Plummet, I know how you feel. At our local spot we have a range of tastes for HF power. I am on the "power-hungry" side. Way more fun to dig in and blast around, IMHO. Also nice to have that extra power in reserve for our high alpine lake lulls and occasionally flukey winds.

Knowing who everyone is on the water (there are fewer than 5 of us on HF, on the busiest day) helps me know how to rig if I show up late.

Compared to the guy who likes to ride underpowered, I am typically a 2-3m+ kite size larger then him.

[juandesooka]

I am ambivalent, but seem to prefer to be on the slightly more powered side of things. I want to ride swells straight downwind, carving back and forth in them with some speed. I want the kite to drift happily, not backstall/hindenburg ... and I would prefer not to have to actively fly it or continually loop it while I attempt to carve around in the waves. Though with this I am still 2-4m smaller than most of the twintip types, especially the larger fellas.

When verging on overpowered, I find the downwind stuff isn't too fun, as I end up riding on my tip toes trying not to get pulled off. But riding hard upwind when overpowered is fun, dig in hard and go as fast as you can. I have never tried jumping, doubt I will, but have to think those guys must be quite powered up to get that much air.

[Tone]

15m foil, 20 knots. Enjoy!

[revhed]

As only into free ride, the feeling of the least amount of power to fly just feels great most of the time.
I find more and more that my fav sessions are less and less wind having to really fly WELL to generate enough energy AND keep the board off the water,
and the combination of this is just fun!
Ultra slow jibes needing big loops just to stay up and finding the correct up,down wind angles while going much faster than one would think considering wind speed feeds my fix!
Stance changes in ultralite wind are also so fun to master.
That said of course powered up sessions are good as well but seem to pardon errors a lot more and stress gear and my getting older body!
R H

[Pedro Marcos]

Two diferent styles, what i normally do to get both:

Lightwind: I ride as much powered as i can with a race foil, speed and jumps in <10knots are fun!

Medium/Strong wind: I feel that being powered up its still too dangerous for my skill, so i put the wave wing and ride a small kite, its fun, and safe!

[DukeSilver]

I'm still new to foiling and love the feeling of riding as small a kite as possible. I had a go of a friends 14m Apollo in 10 to 12kts recently and it scared the shizzle out of me. Barely enough wind to keep the kite flying but when up and going on the foil, the apparent wind generated by the efficiency of the foil made it an uncontrollable beast for me. When I get better, I guess I may enjoy pushing the limits of power. but right now, the buzz is about how small a kite I can get away with and it is still a source of wonder and addiction.

[BOEMIX]

It's always fun to jump high with the 15m foil and foilboard combo when the cool kids can barely go with C kite and twin tip with boots

Although the coolness will be always with them

[borist]

Lately I do enjoy bit more power on tap as long as it does not require larger kite than 9m.

[davesails7]

I originally was riding small kites, but now I ride the same size as others on twintip. Short lines allows you to ride with much more power.

When really powered up, just ride upwind and downwind, not across the wind. Across the wind you get too much speed and can't stop it.

Upwind, you push harder upwind to scrub off power. Downwind, you can head further downwind to scrub off power.