Hi grigorib,
yes a big board in the beginning is very important especially as learning flying jibes and tacks on mono is a long way to go. I started with boards of around 1,4 m myself. And a short strut is not necassarily helpful but can be the opposite, I would recommend 0,9 - 1 m. I have been very happy with my 1,1 m I used for a long while now, as it feels much less nervous in pitch.
To all,
as there have been some new questions about what it helps and how to start, I updated the summary from page 8 again, here it is:
MONOfoiling vs. STABIfoiling
Easy learning:
+ stabi foil: Anybody with a good kite flying skills can start learning it.
-- monofoil: First stabi foiling has to be learned till a good level with save flying jibes or even better flying tacks, than complete restart with monofoiling, but with a faster learning curve. But the first insights of the benefits can't be expected on the first day but will show up with time.
Costs and transport:
- stabi foil: more parts and more complex parts out of better materials, therefore significant higher Costs. transportable rigged just with a bus.
+ monofoil: less complex structure: Two parts: one alu strut screwed to a flat low AR fiberglass wing with an integrated short fuselage connection can be enough and maybe easily build your own for less than 100 €, want to try to build a cheap hybrid stabi to mono fuselage. Disadvantage till now no monofoil part from any manufacturer, so have to build it yourself. Pretty compact and much easier to transport when rigged.
Safety:
- stabi foil: Two more and in overall much more pointy wingtips, higher speeds, longer struts means higher risk to cut and a stabifoil can follow you over distance, a monofoil not.
+ monofoil: Just one low AR wing with rounded tips can reach better angle of glide than stabi race foils, struts can be shorter due to lower AR wings and no "stabi breathing to catapult" problems, due to better static also boards can be lighter means less impact mass on your head.
Low and high wind and windrange per kite size:
+ stabi foil: Wider windrange as more kitepower and speed can be conrolled, ability to pump in low wind
0 monofoil: Bit better low wind start, thanks to free movement, especially in low on shore conditions due to shorter struts, more compact structure and no stabi to break on ground, but a bit less high end and range, especially in the beginning
Speedrange and long distance ability:
+ stabi foil: Much higher speeds over much longer time, ability to relaxe by sitting while foiling, myself done more than 100 km per session.
0 monofoil: Lower speeds and shorter ridding times, due to higher demand on concentration, till now just up to 50 km per session. For me the shorter riding times till being exhausted are an advantage. Speed peaks over 40 km/h and a mile with around 35 km/h are possible, so faster than some slow freeridefoils, but slower as race stabifoils.
Performance and glide angle and so ability for maneuvers
0 stabi foil: Good glide angle just on race foils. Most stabifoils with moderate performance and upwind angles of not better than 40°.
+ monofoil: Better glide angle, best documented overall upwind angle of 28° in a row of 6, giving a lot of freedom for many manouvers and low wind.
Jumping
0 stabi foil: Potentially higher jumps in higher winds due to higher speeds, but on costs of heavier more fragile equipment and higher risks
0 monofoil: Same or even better jumping height in the lowest lowend due to high performance, in higher winds still jumping height of over 10 m possible.
Freestyle
0 stabi foil: Many tricks and additionally also boosting very high and all sitting tricks as canery man, which are not possible with monofoils see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABHUvpGODXA
+ monofoil: No boosting and canery man, but due to low swing weight (my actual Setup: 5,5 kg) and easier flying landings, much more fun to jump and much more tricks especially foil ons. Great compatibility with micro pocket boards, see:
http://kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=196&t=2400958 , due to ability to fastly pitch up when touching down, while a stabi blocked foil mostly will nose dive. Also great performance strapless, if you are very good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT3mZnjZxUA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOJrSwre01s