I am about to get the Spitfire with XLW wings and excited to learn foilboarding with it. Are there any specific tutorials or tips available to make learning on it easier? Or, Can the existing online how-to's work?
For example, would the info in this part of this tutorial still apply to the Spitfire?
I learned to ride on the spitfire xlw and remember the kiteboarding.com how to hydrofoil video gave good advise. As far as i remember, they recommended mounting the foil as far back on the board as possible and frontstraps to the very front. Dont use straps on the backfoot. Try to ride with your weight as far forward as possible to keep the foil under water for the first few tacks. Slowly move the weight back to start foiling. Use a helmet.
It took me a year to ride the spitfire properly (with the backfoot over the rear wing).
I moved from the Zeeko Black&White to the Std Spitfire
The main difference using the Zeeko Pocket Air board was that with straps in the two inline positions I had only used the front strap and was slowly moving it back , my rear foot was always in front of rear strap. On going to Spitfire this stance made pitch control very hard. But putting back foot in strap pretty much solved the problem.
The XLW and XXLW wings are easier but jumps are best and bigger waves on the STD wings
You can’t use the Spitfire mount plate with XXLW or jump the XXLW.
Note the same strap position is fine on all Spitfire and Bullet and Blaster foils on my Pocket Air which has only one set of inserts for mounting foil.
Yeah, that's the thing with the Spitfire, you still need a bit of back foot pressure at the back to balance it. Back foot too far forward will kill all leverage and will make it hard to balance. So I think the advice of mounting the foil as far back as possible isn't really that relevant. Back foot needs to be just behind the strut's trailing edge. Adjust your front foot to whatever suits your stance. Initially maybe a wider stance will let you push more on the front to keep it down, but back foot pretty much needs to stay in that right place.
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zerogee_ca (Wed Jun 19, 2019 12:14 am) • Sgallian (Fri Aug 23, 2019 1:49 pm)
I will have a board with 4 footstrap positions. For the front I will have 35cm, 37 (Zeeko recommended), 39 (easier learning?), and 41 spacing from the aft screw to the front screws on the base. The back strap can be over the rear wing and aft of it. I noticed in the video with the XLW wing it appears his rear strap is all the way back (behind the rear wing).
I was planning at starting at 39cm front strap position and over the rear wing with the back strap position.
I am used to a wide stance on my surfboards. Is a wide stance more prone to over correction?
It is sounding more and more like the comments at this point in this tutorial may not apply to the Spitfire with a good trim. Correct??
I am about to get the Spitfire with XLW wings and excited to learn foilboarding with it. Are there any specific tutorials or tips available to make learning on it easier? Or, Can the existing online how-to's work?
For example, would the info in this part of this tutorial still apply to the Spitfire?
Don't overthink it too much, if you have a surfboard experience already, it shouldn't take too long for you to figure it out. Front insert of back strap aligned with trailing edge of mast is a good starting point for your back foot position. Make sure you're well aligned with the centerline of the board. Learn initially to ride both ways at speed while keeping the board down for few long tacks. As soon as you feel lift, bring it down. Once you're comfortable avoiding any lift off with extra front pressure, start to let it lift a little bit more and control it over a few meters. Keep the board quite low. Then gradually control when and where you want it to lift off, and that's where pressure on the back foot comes into play. You'll find the sweet spot in a couple of sessions, easy!
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I am converting my old 2011 North 5'8" WAM. It will have a fixed foil position (I have the parts, material, and a positioning jig handy). I just want to get things right.
Anyone know what these mast profiled stickers are for?
To seal off the mast?? Added protection on the coating of the base and fuselage?? No instructions. Never seen them mentioned before.
Stick one on fuselage at mast interface.
It helps protect the powder coat and can slow water ingress.
But the water gets in anyway, but even full of water it weighs less than a SS mast.
