Foiling foot switches

[DukeSilver]

I have been making good progress doing foiling foot switches going from heel side to toe side. Probably up to 90% success rate. However, I'm finding going the other way - toe side to heel side switches - much more difficult. Is this normally the more difficult switch to make or is it just me? Does it require a slightly different technique?

[junebug]

I found toe to heel to be more difficult too, but it could just be that I practiced that much less than heel to toe. I don’t think there is any real difference in technique. With both, I found that it really helped to focus, not on my feet, but on getting my hips switched around. For me, once the hips switch, the feet follow.

[Peter_Frank]

You are right, it seems heel to toe foot switch is the easiest, as most jibe this way and learn quite fast, racers use this method always, having the kite make them weightless for a moment (thus here we call it the "race" jibe).

I cant do it
But I dont really wanna learn either - it feels wrong to me, also on a surfboard (I know I am weird, sorry...)

I love to make "surf" jibes on my hydrofoil, leaning forward into the turn like a bottom turn, and then switching feet on the way out (toe to heel) sometimes with slack lines.
Took me, with my moderate talent, a loooong time to learn, but loving it when it works now

Here out on two boards the same afternoon, very lightly powered at times, last year at my homespot, a long and boring video I know, so have never been "published" just used on youtube for myself to see what I do and learn from it.
But maybe others can use the idea if going for toe to heel foot switch like on a surfboard, on the way out of the turn ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6IzBzD5lOE

Eventhough it looks like I switch after the turn when going straight, this is not the case - for me it is important to switch just before I get real pull in the lines, meaning before the hydrofoil is heeled over again.

Carve around, and when heading up on the new tack, then just before the lines gets too tight, you push down in a splitsecond with your rear foot before it is moved to the front foot, in a superfast shuffle, it will look almost like a "hop", and can also be a hop but a bit more risky.
This way you can make the switch without having the kite support you

I know they are not perfect, but for me it was great just being able to do it
I am very "fragile" on one tack, meaning some days it does not work on this side, only on the good side, other days both works.

PF

[DukeSilver]

Thanks for the replies. Good to know others find this switch more problematic as well.

Peter - this is exactly how I do my foot switches toe to heel on my surfboard too. On the hydrofoil I have been trying them much later after the turn is completed, thinking I need to get the kite up to 11 o'clock before trying it. I will give this a go next time I am out.

Thanks again.

[Peter_Frank]

Thanks for the replies. Good to know others find this switch more problematic as well.

Peter - this is exactly how I do my foot switches toe to heel on my surfboard too. On the hydrofoil I have been trying them much later after the turn is completed, thinking I need to get the kite up to 11 o'clock before trying it. I will give this a go next time I am out.

Thanks again.

If you do the switch downwind before the kite is lifting, so absolutely no help from the lines, it is the most difficult, just so you know, but also the highest satisfaction of course if you succeed by accident or skill.

But when you do it on a too downwind course, you have no help at all from neither the lines, nor able to control your curve/carve, so not good and really difficult.

If you do it too late, with kite in normal position and linepull, heeled over (from toeside), you will get yanked sideways off the board leeward, and if trying to compensate when you find out this happens, you will sometimes fall windward instead - NOT easy...

Going all the way around, keeping your kite high, is what most do I think, and when learned, this works pretty well too.

The reason I do it on the way out before heeling over with more pull, is because it feels "right" in every way, just like on surfboards and windsurfers and other directionals, it has to be finalizing part of the carve and not a separate switch afterwards when going toeside on new tack.
The timing is more difficult, so it is all about trying a thousand times, to learn the exaxt moment to do it, and your kite timing in particular

Fly the kite around and up (never downloop), and opposite to what many writes, speed is NOT your friend here whatsoever, you will lose control totally
Doing it at controlled speed not too much downwind nor upwind heeled over, is key here.
The sweet spot is, when your kite starts lifting a tad up, carve almost ended, but you are not heeled over yet

Whenever you are out, end your session trying a fixed number of times, say 10 or 20 or even 50 if you are really in the mood (depending on day and physique) each way, counting, and then stop.
It will help immensely, and somehow no matter how impossible it seems - you will see some either gradual, or extreme, advancing suddenly - between lots of crashes, and you have the timing in your muscle memory when off the water now.
Of course, if you are tired, it might not be good...
Also, some days NOTHING works, other days everything is sweet - if one KNOWS this, you dont get as dissapointed, it is just the way it is.

We often decide NOT to try something we can not do, at the end of a session, but if you are fit, do it right here both for your mental health, and muscle memory.

Just my findings during the years if it can help DukeSilver

Strange thing was, that on some of my very first try's at foot switches, I actually succeeded a few when full "hops", and I thought "YEEEEEES" it is close now !
But no, it took another year till the timing got anywhere near, and it got a lot worse as I thought I should be able to do it ha haa - what a bummer

I know many thinks "what an idiot since he can not do such a basic thing"....
Maybe, but we are many that have learned to ride quite good (or bad but at least consistent) on our other gear, that changing everything to a new timing is not natural nor easy.

PF

[DukeSilver]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed explanation of your method on this manoeuvre. I will try it with top turning the kite and not down looping which I do 75% of the time. I can see how it may be easier when taking the kite over the top. I tend to briefly pause my kite at 12 while completing the turn with my board, so maybe this is the time to try the foot swap. Hopefully there will be some wind today to try it out.

[TomW]

I'm just starting to learn, but sessions are just getting started this season.

PF, what I pick up from your videos is the foot switch is really fast. That's what I gave to work on: committing and doing it fast. Not shuffling.
In the video it appears there is tension in your lines during the foot switch, and you have a bit of board tilt, but you are not pulling hard.
Looks very similar to what I do on a surfboard.

And I think it's time to take off the foothooks and go strapless...

[DukeSilver]

Well I'm happy to report that I went out yesterday and managed 3 toe side to heel side foiling foot swaps out of 5 attempts. I felt the key for success was to do them much faster than I do when going heel to toe. It was almost a jump compared to a fast shuffle. Much the same as I did when on a strapless SB. This "hop swap" feels fairly natural to me as when I'm riding toe side, I feel that being in this position is like being a wound up / tensioned coil that wants to be released and get back to it's natural state - heel side. It then just takes a slight unweighting for me to release the potential energy and whip back around. A bit of a laboured explanation - but it's the way it felt at the time.

[Peter_Frank]

Good to hear DukeSilver, it is SO rewarding when one succeed

Tom, yes the lines has just got some tension, not much but important it has, as too difficult otherwise.
Eventhough the board is not really heeled over yet, important (maybe the angle from the kite cheats ?)

I just looked at some new footage from yesterday, and a superfast shuffle is better than a hop IMO, as you can do it "safer" than the hop.

A hop means your timing should be 99 % perfect, also where you land with both feet - it works quite often the better you get, but can lead to severe crashes also

Superfast shuffle after a slight push with your rear foot is IMO the best way.

Compared to racers (or the racejibe), it HAS to be superfast or a hop though, as you dont get weightless like they do with big kites straight overhead - two very different ways of jibing.

IMO and experience.

PF

[Pedro Marcos]

When i switch my feet from toe to heel i also put the kite over me before doing it, much harder to do it without the kite help.