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Foiled behind a boat today!

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lovethepirk
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Foiled behind a boat today!

Postby lovethepirk » Mon Feb 19, 2018 2:38 am

We have little wind lately so we foiled today behind a boat. Holy shit was it tough in my opinion to get up. Once up it wasn't too too bad, but you end up almost perpedicular to the motor which still doesn't make sense to me b/c how are you getting pulled if you are perpendicular to the motor...weird.

I started on my Delta race foil and that didn't work too well b/c I guess it was too fast once I hit a wave and accelerated as I was slacking the line alot...with more experience maybe that foil would work.

I ended up using a slow beginner Cabrinha foil and that was much better and easier behind the boat. I was amazed as a newbie to foiling did better than me today which I was happy to see a new foiler develop! I got a new foiling buddy! Anyway......here are some tips in my humble opinion....

The slower you punch the engines on the boat the better..we started out punching it straight to 14-15mph but we ended up slowing down the acceleration. I actually ate shit until we slowed it down while a newbie didn't have that problem. Top speed we got to comfortably is 16mph, I signaled the diver once and we go to 20mph on the cab foil just for a second and I could tell it didn't want any more speed. It's tough to aim the board downwind when you get set up(there's no kiteswing available for you to get to the opposite side). I was amazed how far you get perpendicular to the boat, it's like you are foiling and only need a slight nudge ffrom the boat force every once in a while although I edged out hard most of the time unlike a newbie that put me to shame today.

Anyway...crazy experience I wanted to share....my arms hurt :D I'd rather be kiting, but it was fun!

RadDrDuke
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Re: Foiled behind a boat today!

Postby RadDrDuke » Mon Feb 19, 2018 9:50 pm

i felt that foiling behind a boat is much harder than behind a kite or on a wave.

One of the key aspects is not to get on the foil until you want to, ride really far forward and then slowly inch back and lift up a few inches, then a foot and try and ride there for a bit.

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juandesooka
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Re: Foiled behind a boat today!

Postby juandesooka » Tue Feb 20, 2018 2:03 am

I learned behind a boat -- my first 10 or so sessions, before I got under a kite with it. I found it terrible at first, like nearly all new foilers, then pretty easy. This was about 5 years ago and I could never understand why the rest of the foil community was so negative about boats n foils, saying it's really dangerous etc. But your report maybe clarifies it: I was on the original carafino, as slow and low aspect as foils get, maybe they were on their racing wings. That makes more sense, as their take off speed was slower but once up they would probably over take the boat.

For low aspect foils, I think it's a good way to learn. But we made the same mistake as you at first. Start SLOW, barely able to plane, definitely not enough to get on foil. Then practice little hops to get up on foil a little, fall back down to a plane, over and over, to understand the weight transfer to get foiling. Then practice steering back and forth across the wake. And that's when a magical thing happened: the slight board acceleration from turning at the edges would increase speed just enough to get up on the foil comfortably. For me, those turns, especially frontside to the boat, were the first controlled foiling I did. Thinking back on it now and applying those lessons to kiting: I was effectively riding straight "downwind", doing toeside/heelside and heelside/toeside turns. When I finally tried under a kite, I found the turn to toeside came easy, as did toeside riding, and also riding downwind, which some others seem to report as challenges. So ... in terms of a training tool, those may be side benefits. The main training benefit is that if there is no wind and you have a boat, then why not use it!

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Re: Foiled behind a boat today!

Postby FattyArbuckle » Fri Feb 23, 2018 10:35 am

I,m currently learning to foil behind a boat...Daughter who is a first class wake boarder was up and foiling first attempt, foiled around lake on short mast ( we have 3) under quite good control. Took me an hour tto get to tho stage. Following day swapped to 28 inch mast...and I was a complete beginner again...especially setting off...
Secret we found was gentle pull out but get speed to 14 mph ( boat) and leave it there. Our first attempts we kept speed to 10 mph. ( foil can and will pick my 105 kg up from 5mph).. We found when foiling at 10 mph and you stalled foil( or left water with it) there was insufficient speed for board to work...and you,d go forward..At over 14 mph, when thus happens board recovers..( we are using a crazy foil, which is designed for boat use, it has two foils, the rear is highest, so when it leaves water first board drops to a good position to plane( rather than nose dive)
Plan is to get decent at foiling behind boat and then use foil on WS and eventually kite..🏄😎 It was strange how after 4 weeks or so of foiling I was about 3 years behind daughter??

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Re: Foiled behind a boat today!

Postby FattyArbuckle » Fri Feb 23, 2018 10:46 am

I,ve got a NP RS flight for WS and Kiteboard. The Crazy foil cost me £200 and works fine..bit on heavy side ( foils are metal,mast aluminium) andI bolted it to an old wakeboard I had ...moral...watch out for weed ! Things go wrong quick even at 14 mph when you hit weed beds..( gashes to prove it) Using wakeboard bindings on wakefoil...first advice was not to....but behind boat its fine.. If you buy a cheap Crazy foil... Do not fit it to board where they recommend. Its wrong. Fit plate just in front of rear strap/ binding ( rear if plate, front of binding share same bolt) We have foil on middle setting ( front to back) . Its perfect, you can hold foil down with forward pressure and then let it rise by leaning back slightly.( ours is older version of Crazy Foil)

FattyArbuckle
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Re: Foiled behind a boat today!

Postby FattyArbuckle » Fri Feb 23, 2018 10:55 am

And comments re safety are spot on.. At our ski club we were met with lots of advice, fear and nonsense. We had no injuries,bad falls or anything. We were warned not to use bindings and to be really careful..Yes, ofcourse you can get hurt..but being objective...We are foiling at 14 mph...crossing wake at 18 or so... We often run ski course at 36 mph, crossing wake at 42 mph...( on Slalom ski, not foil)
Foiling behind boat is not dangerous...and you can foil behind anything. ( there,s a youtube posting of some lad foiling behind a rib with a 10 hp...by that reckoning a ski boat will have 250 ish going spare..)
Cant fault crazy foil at price..
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