Strapless hydrofoil airs, where to start

[jumptheshark]

Ketos leading the way with study materials.

[LeoLeal]

I do think that before trying something strapless hydrofoil air you have to master the same trick first on a strapless surfboard. The crashes on a hydrofoil looks scary.

[jumptheshark]

Learning to air a strapless surfboard is amazing and highly recommended, but its significantly different from the strapless hydrofoil air learning curve.

Had a pretty rough wipeout yesterday where I came down on top of a spinning foil and some part of it scrapped the length of my ulna from elbow to wrist drawing blood through 4mm of rubber! Gonna leave a mark! No question, this area of foiling carries risk, but other than bruises on my legs that I generally don't remember getting, that is the scariest wipeout all season. Nothing like getting the foil caught in my lines that happened really early on when simply learning to foil.

My scary crash was at the end of the first of two sessions yesterday. Was using a 4m peak on 17m lines and working on nothing but airs. Took a break, made dinner, and went back to another spot but it had dropped so I went out with the 5m on 22m lines. Soooooooo much easier to complete airs with longer lines and more lift. The exact same airs were landing so much better. For those looking to speed up their progression in this regard, I highly recommend changing line lengths up. Though the longer lines were much easier, it was working on the same airs with shorter lines earlier in the day that was key to the moment. My goals are definitely to get the airs I want with short lines. They are just sicker. But going back to longer lines every now and again brings up the success rate.

Some of my strapless foil airs are now reaching about 2/3 the amplitude I was getting on surfboard a few years ago. Still very stoked on the progression.