It is relevant on the water start. Yes, kite needs to pull the rider up at the initial waterstart but to be able to go upwind and ride kite needs to be flown at speed all the time. Miss a jybe and it's game over.leeuwen wrote: ↑Sun Nov 21, 2021 8:28 amThe friction while riding is irrelevant, it’s not what decides the low end on a hydrofoil.
Unlike a land board you cannot just step on the board and potentially even give it some starting speed.
You need enough energy from the kite to be able to get on the board and up to foiling speed.
Also just keeping the kite in the air while maneuvering out in to deep water and getting into a starting position will become tricky.
I don't push the board to get it going on the landboard I use the kite to start. Kite pulls me to start but to keep going and go upwind I have to keep the speed up.
I can ride in 7-10kn on a twintip and a 15m Soul and I saw that even the 10m Soul has enough pull to get me going in the lightest of wind on the landboard.
I believe a skilled rider on a foilboard can do it in 4kn but.....what for? Just for fun maybe.