Best way to wipe out on a foil?

[Osprey1]

Can anyone provide the best way to wipe out on a foil? I've had some close calls between body and/or head and the foil. Thanks

[Hawaiis]

The best way is to land your butt on the water and skip like a pebble for 30 feet.
At :25

[Starsky]

I had a lot more issues when the foil was bolted to a surfboard. the length, buoyancy and sharp point made for a board that would run a bit after crashes, and I cough the board in the lines a couple not so fun times. Now that I'm on a much shorter, less buoyant and round nosed board falls are a lot less intimidating.

[davesails7]

I think Bracuru's video on how to fall helped me. Getting a foot out in front really helps.



I think the more you push off when you leave the board, the more it will lift off and follow you.

I learned not to turn around right away after a fall. Once I turned around to find the board and caught the nose of the board straight to the mouth. Now when I crash going downwind, I keep my head low (with helmet) and count to 5 before I turn around.

[Denisesewa]

Pull the bar to full power to help get lifted away from the board, it becomes second nature after a while.

[Mossy 757]

Pull the bar to full power to help get lifted away from the board, it becomes second nature after a while.

Yeah...when my ride goes sour I use the power of the kite to separate me from the board, then like dave said body drag for a few seconds to make sure the foil isn't following you!

[discojuggernaut]

I keep my straps (front only) pretty loose. If i feel a fall coming i try to flick the foil away from me, sheet in, and try to eject downwind and away from it. I then try to break the water surface with my feet or arm, then immediately body drag sideways away from where the foil presumably is. I don't turn upwind to look for it until i know i'm safely away. If i'm going down with the foil, i'll use my arm and put it in a cage position to cover my head.

[flying grandpa]

The best way is to land your butt on the water and skip like a pebble for 30 feet.
At :25

At speeds above 20 kts that may be very dangerous , especially for waist harness users. At the movie Tony lands on his back, as his center of gravity is directly under the seat harness hook (He bend the legs, it helped a lot to keep his spine paralell to water surface).

With the waist harness the hook is way above your CoG.
Despite you bend the legs even harder, your ass tends to be much lower, touching the water first At :26.
This will start dynamic rotation of your body, increasing risk of whiplash when your head hits water at much higher speed.

I use a very light helmet since it happened to me for the first time and it helped a lot, also at higher speeds.
As I analyze now the movie, pushing the bar down to your thighs may help to keep your spine paralell to water, but we should do it automatically.

I wonder, how can we train it before the crash?

Ride safely

Tadeusz

[Horst Sergio]

I keep my straps (front only) pretty loose. If i feel a fall coming i try to flick the foil away from me, sheet in, and try to eject downwind and away from it. I then try to break the water surface with my feet or arm, then immediately body drag sideways away from where the foil presumably is. I don't turn upwind to look for it until i know i'm safely away. If i'm going down with the foil, i'll use my arm and put it in a cage position to cover my head.

Sheet in, kite up and away from the foil is also my formula to survive till 50 km/h. The problem is, if you want to go faster you have to fly the kite closer to the water and this means to enter the world of pain . So better always stay above 45° with the kite, if you are not sure to have 100% control.

For the straps I am actually looking for a solution with a rated breaking point. Till now I am happy to keep the straps wide but flat, to always fell off when crashing. I just would disadwise wide opened straps in which the foot can slide deep into.