Kiteforum.com

Hey gang

I have this dream of cruising around up on the foil doing smooth carving turns, zig zagging through swells and other kiters, big smile on my face and the wind in my hair, the only time my board touches the surface is when I water start at the beginning and come in at the end.

Reality, my sessions are a series of left and right tacts with a few turns and pauses in between tacts as I swim back to get my foil after another failed gibe and start again.

I've been foiling for about 18 months now. To be fair I get out once every 2 or 3 weeks but still, Ive been foiling for quite a while in relation to not being able to gibe still!

I'm on a Moses Fluente T60 with the 550 front wing. I use the flysurfer soul 8m and 12m.

On a surfboard I can do gibe turns sweetas with or without a downloop depending on wind strength. Stance swap before or after the turn.

Get on my foil and it all goes to pieces. For the last 6 months I have been stuck in a rut where I can do about 50% surface gibes (touch down) and maybe 1 in every 30 transitions I fluke a gibe up on the foil.

Recently I decided to go strapless cause I kept doing minor ankle and knee twists when stuffing up the gibes. This set me back a bit with water starts but has made the foot work easier during the gibes, though strapless has its disadvantages when the power comes on during the turn if you have no straps to anchor your stance against...

I know there's heaps of useful videos out there that I've watched already. I know it will eventually happen, but seriously, did anyone else struggle this long to get transitions locked in?!

Feeling deflated...

You ride toe-side? I found that I like toe-side so much, that I still haven’t gotten good at foot-switches. Gybing to toe-side is relatively easy, and the ability to ride toe-side upwind was always sort of the holy grail for me in terms of what I wanted to be able to do.

In terms of foiling foot changes though, some kites make it way easier than others. It really helps to have a kite that gives some lift at 12 o’clock, though these aren’t always the most fun to fly.

Get a larger/thicker wing. 590 does miracles
All the hype about small wings was awesome for racers and lightweight riders but if you’re not of them, why not get a better wing.

I spent 50 hrs before I could flying carve on the 550 wing. Then another 50 hrs on the 590 and still could not do flying footswitch. Then I got the 633 and after 20 more hours, I'm riding like you wish to.
Get a moses 633 wing.

A bigger wing and a more mellow kite (wave kite, or peak4) would make a big difference. I take it you can already carve back and forward to toeside, seeing as you mention foot changes?

Seeing my friend learning to foil, I think learning to pump the foil is a good idea early on, because it requires quick and precise changes in foot pressure. Otherwise you can get a bit stagnant in a 'stable' position on the board. Strapless is good for allowing you to move your feet and be more adaptive.

When I moved to a peak, I changed my technique to make up for the complete lack of lift from the kite in gybes. I move my front foot into a length wise position so there's room for the new foot, move the kite up towards zenith slowly, and pump the foil to unweight the board so that I can swap my feet in a quick step. Getting the back foot positioned perpendicular across the board so that I can balance heel/toe makes the exit reliable.

I succeeded at gybes when I accidentally discovered technique 3 here: viewtopic.php?f=196&t=2402601&p=1050284#p1050284

Otherwise, I agree with getting a bigger wing

Ditto with TomW, get a Moses 633 wing setup. It makes everything you want to do easier and you can do it at ridiculously slow speeds. I also use the Flysurfer Soul in 6m & 10m on the 633 and it's a great combination especially in light wind. I was out yesterday with another foiler who had a Moses foil very similar in size to yours and I gave him a go on my 633. Blew him away with the ease of toeside turns and made him feel much more confident for other manoeuvres. These larger surf wings are so different to smaller freeride wings like yours that it's almost like another foilsport
You will need as well as the 633 wing, the matching stabiliser and fuselage which will should bolt onto your existing mast. I sell Moses gear just north of you in NSW. Let me know if you require further info.

Have fun, Dave

Big wing! Having one size wing is like riding one size kite--it works, but not as well as having the right size for the conditions.

Most of us are quite happy gybing with normal size wings (but perhaps a bigger wing is more comfortable for those who prefer to do things slowly)..

There are two completely separate moves needed here, the footswitch and the gybe. I strongly recommend you try to master the foiling footswitch and only after that continue into your gybe which is the easy part.

Maintain good speed and get comfortable while keeping your kite quite high at 11 or 1 oclock. if you use straps take your back foot out of the back strap and put it just in front of the back strap. Rotate you stance so your shoulders are in the position they will be in after your footswitch. Now while KEEPING YOUR UPPER BODY AND SHOULDERS ABSOLUTELY STILL move your back foot to the front of the board (into the front strap if you use straps). That's it.. you are almost done.. you don't even need to think about your old front foot because you will naturally want to move it to the back of the board to keep your balance. The key is to have your upper body in position before you move your feet!

One other tip: do NOT look down, keep your eyes on the horizon.

After this footswitch you will find yourself riding toeside. Enjoy it for a while and then whenever you are ready turn downwind, downloop the kite (to give you a surge of power), and then continue carving around to heelside. This is the easy part.

Have fun
CG

Thanks guy. I'll try the 3rd technique a bit more but I reckon you need to be med to high powered to pull that off when learning and I probably need to be more aggressive with the kite too.

I was doing patchy toeside before I went strapless and now I'm struggling to get that back again but I've only been strapless for 3 sessions so far.

I've been eyeing up a 590 wing as a lower cost solution versus buying a new fuselage and 633 or 683 plus stabiliser.

Keen to hear if people thought swapping the moses 550 to 590 wing was worthwhile? I've read glowing reviews of the 633 and 683. Cheers