Postby Hugh2 » Thu Jul 19, 2018 7:47 pm
I learned with a loose front strap only, and that worked well for me, no twisted ankles and easy to get away from the board when crashing. I'm comfortable riding smoothly both directions, but only on the Slingshot Hoverglide. Any other foil I've tried just tosses me off, especially the carbon ones.
BUT, I've struggled to ride toeside and was annoyed at having to restart all the time, so I decided to go strapless. I could not do it with my buddies boards, so I tried another that Bob from Madison had at Cape Hatteras last summer for learners, the largest available Slingshot board with the aluminum Slingshot Hoverglide foil.
I didn't try the strapless starting procedure I see on videos and described in several posts above where you try to get the board on its side all hunched up, instead I did it the way I start on my strapless directionals. I just get the board pointed in the right direction, leaving the foil fully downward and the board flat, lift both feet onto the board, and dive the kite to bring me up onto the board and ride away. Took perhaps three tries to get it right.
And now, to try to learn touch-down gybes, I've taken an old rubber-top seven foot surfboard and bolted my Hoverglide foil onto it and am rapidly learning touch-down gybes, indeed got them right off the bat with 15 inch mast, so moving back up to 24 inch, etc. Next will be to bolt the foil to one of my directionals, or fork over the money for a Slingshot Converter board. I doubt I will ever get to do full foiling gybes, but I want to avoid having to restart all the time. I'm 62, kiting for 13 years, and 85kg.