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Nigel no mates

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plummet
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Nigel no mates

Postby plummet » Sat Nov 25, 2017 4:39 am

The best and worst thing about hydrofoiling in a location where there are very few foilers is that when the wind is light you are nigel no mates.

Discuss!

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Re: Nigel no mates

Postby juandesooka » Sat Nov 25, 2017 7:52 am

'struth

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Re: Nigel no mates

Postby paulOz » Sat Nov 25, 2017 10:50 am

Give 'Scott no mates' a call..

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Re: Nigel no mates

Postby TomW » Sat Nov 25, 2017 4:09 pm

I've gotten used to it. My spot is lonely on a good day. And going to deep water spots in more popular area, I'm often alone. We have started some messenger groups to organize sessions, but everyone has busy life and we are 10 foilers along a 200km stretch of coast.

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Re: Nigel no mates

Postby Foil » Sat Nov 25, 2017 10:02 pm

It will change!
I started windsurfing in 1974, entered my first competition in 76, before harnesses were invented, pure muscle power.
So hard, so few people involved, so lonely,
It soon changed,after 10 years I certainly was not alone, 10 years more and it was global.
Then I looked at kitesurfing and thought Jesus! Are they mad? They will all die! 2 years later And I was in.
Many lonely years followed, then boom! 2003 and it was mega popular, little safety, low quality, but such fun, manic and mega addictive.
Then foiling made an appearance around 2010, it looked like rocket science, no one I knew could do it, it was said to be impossible and would die away.so forget it!
I did.untill 6 months ago.
Just like the aforementioned sports it has evolved into something more accessible, safer, easier, more enjoyable, and will in time overtake twin tip numbers.
I just wish I was as young as I was at the start of the windsurfing boom, or at the start of the Twin tip boom.
But I am so glad I managed to cling on to the start on the Kite foil Boom, but sad I may never get to the performance level I attained in the last two sports, this kite foil sport seems to be so much harder, but so did windsurfing and so did twin tips during the early years.
So I am going to hang on as long as possible, and hope to enjoy the high points I am not even yet aware of yet.
The bad bit about this sport is the fact that you need lots of room on the water, plenty of space around you, the more the better, so lots of other guys foiling is not good news on smaller water spaces.
Will this change with better gear evolved over many years, well in my experience the answer has to be yes, but how will this gear look?
if I knew that then I would make it,and make a good living from it.
I just hope that I can afford to buy it and enjoy it when it becomes available.

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Re: Nigel no mates

Postby TomW » Sun Nov 26, 2017 12:09 am

Foil, I've had similar journey but started windsurfing in 78 at Malibu points, kiting 2001.
I'm sceptical that foiling will get as big as regular TT kiting.
SUP has not taken off here- too much work.
Foiling is a subset of a niche sport. For example, there are about 10% of kiters here on strapless kiteboards, most on TT. About 10% are wearing boots on TT.
Foiling is 10x more difficult than strapless kitesurfing, and takes an all-in attitude.
I have 5-6 close colleagues at work who are avid kiters. They are 10-20 years younger than me. I'm raving about foiling, telling them after you fly, you want to quit your job, leave your family and go foiling somewhere full time.
They are " yea, looks cool, but its really expensive, and difficult and dangerous, and I don't have all the time in the world "...bla bla bla.

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Re: Nigel no mates

Postby TomW » Sun Nov 26, 2017 12:20 am

I will add, there were 2 foilers in Parajuru thus year during my annual trip. Me and another old Bastard on a short mast Slingshot. He was learning, a brave guy. There didn't seem to be any interest. A rental foil sat there 10 days and no one tried it.
One day I'm zipping around in the river while 20 kiters have kites on beach. It's 10-12 knots and perfect. I'm doing 30-35km/hr. Alone.
Other days I'm outside in Ocean pushing 2-3 km upwind along a deserted shoreline in 14knots while everyone struggling to stay upwind. ..... The kite station guys were worried that I was disappearing up the coast..

Still, no one else was renting that foil sitting ready to go.

Perhaps all the old Bastards doing foiling are not the right marketing

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Re: Nigel no mates

Postby DukeSilver » Sun Nov 26, 2017 2:16 am

Yes, it's funny the attitude there is to foiling at my local spot. It was blowing a solid 25 - 30kts a few weeks back. I pumped up my 3.5m Cloud which looked like a toy sitting amongst the 7 and 9m kites that the twin tippers were setting up. There were some doubting looks being directed towards my tiny kite and I as I was launched and started walking out to deeper water. No one really spoke to me about the kite size while I was still on the beach setting up - none of the hot shot twin tippers anyway. A nice young lady who was still learning to kite and her boyfriend had a chat with me about hydro foiling and how much fun it looks. "Will that little kite be enough in this wind? That's amazing".

Once out and foiling, I had a great session on the little Cloud. Long broad reaches down wind for up to 1km, then straight back upwind to my starting position in 1 tack. The other kiters were all doing their own thing in the shallow water on the inside and I was out the back with the windsurfers in the deeper water doing their speed runs and racing each other. A number of them waved hello and gave nods of approval and hoots of mutual stoke.

Looking back at the rigging up area, there was a gallery of 8 - 10 kiters standing in a line watching me foil with great interest including the girl who had shown some interest in foiling. Upon my return to the beach, the same girl landed me and she and her boyfriend - who is a very good freestyle rider were amazed at what the hydrofoil and a tiny kite could do in terms of flying upwind.

And that's how it is for most sessions, one or 2 people show some interest in what I'm doing, and the rest are either disinterested or pretend to be disinterested. But that's fine, we all know how much fun it is.

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Re: Nigel no mates

Postby plummet » Sun Nov 26, 2017 3:08 am

Interesting comments.

There's plenty of interest at my local. But apart from one other no one else yet appears to be stepping up. No doubt there will in time.

I recon it will become more mainstream as foiling in other sports is becoming mainstream also. America's cut is sensationalizing foiling too.

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Re: Nigel no mates

Postby foilonfoil » Sun Nov 26, 2017 6:22 am

Socal has a pretty large foiling community now and foilers dominate light wind conditions. If one foiler gets onto the water, pretty quickly a bunch of foilers will join them. Three to five foilers on the lightest of days is common.


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