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The longest non-stop leg

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BraCuru
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The longest non-stop leg

Postby BraCuru » Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:12 am

Wonder to know the longest non-stop leg on one tack known or experienced by you.
How to cope with numbness, fatigue?
What gear to use?
What accessories are handy?
Any tips?
What average speed etc?

I am preparing for a 5 hours crossing - most likely on one tack.
My best so far was 90,5km in 2h58m, average speed 16,5kts (30,5kph), hard upwind in 80% of the leg, two falls, no breaks.
It could be longer but that day Baltic was too narrow ;)

Moses Comet and Flysurfer Soul 8m. Bracuru Hover board. NP Race seat harness without a spreader bar. No depower control system. Xcel Infinity 6/5mm wetsuit. Kayak vest with a camelbag.
No assisting boat. Solo trip.

Image

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/4075242525
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bohme
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Re: The longest non-stop leg

Postby bohme » Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:55 am

Impressive. Maybe a bit crazy :-)
What stops me from doing this is safety. I have been en trouble once because of fatigue and and a long swim.
I often foil solo, and bring my mobile in an aqua-pack and some glow sticks. You can now call 112 with gps coordinates (country dependent).
What is the next level? VHF or Garmin inReach?

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Re: The longest non-stop leg

Postby BWD » Thu Oct 24, 2019 2:25 pm

Vhf when you are immersed doesn’t work well to cover distance. It is line of sight. Even in a small boat a handheld is 1-2m antenna height. Floating in water it would be -0.3 (!) to .5m. Doubt effective range would be 5km to another surface bound user. A plane might hear you, or a far away ground station with a high antenna. But once they come out to help in a small boat they would have a harder time.

Go for the satellite messager/epirb type device if you can afford it.

The formula for line of sight (vhf) transmit distance is:
distance in nautical miles = 1.32 * (antenna height in feet)^0.5
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plummet
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Re: The longest non-stop leg

Postby plummet » Thu Oct 24, 2019 6:35 pm

I haven't done anything close to 90km on the hydrofoil. I did 20km one time in 30 knots choppy/lumpy sea. That was HARD. Made harder by the fact I was overpowered and it was a stupid pitchy short period swell
Oh I did do 90km downwinder one tack one time landboarding. And a 24hr landboard which I did 245km. but that was forwards and backwards.

Why not just ride toeside when you feel the need to rest the back leg?

Seems like you already have more experience than most of us here re long distance hydrofoiling.

My lessons learned from the 24hr landboard was this. Its the small things that get you. Things that you don't expect to be a problem because they aren't a problem during normal riding. I hadn't trimmed my toenails as an example. They pushed into the end of my shoes and hurt like hell. I had do stop and trim them partway through. My harness wasn't supportive enough for 19+ hrs of 30+ knots if was painfull as hell. I ended up wearing two harnesses. One to hold the power, the other to distribute the load. Then random bits of that sand got into various placed and I got rubbed raw.

You get to a certain level of pain and just seem to carry on at that pain level if you have prepared your body enough. But if that harness digs in a bit much or there's a pointy bit in your binding that is what will kill it for you.

Take extra special care with finding comfortable gear. The same goes for the kite. Ensure you have an easy to fly huge depower kite. I'd suggest you probably want a depower system. You need as much adjustability as possible. The wind can change alot throughout the day. I'd almost suggest you rig a race style depower system so to can trim the kite to optimal power setting whilst having the bar all the way out. That way you dont have to hold the bar in to 2/3 for the whole journey.

Food wise, I would council against sugary drinks and any short chain single sugars. Go with longchain carbs which give a slow release throughout the day. You don't want a sugar spike and associated, lull.


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Pedro Marcos
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Re: The longest non-stop leg

Postby Pedro Marcos » Thu Oct 24, 2019 9:32 pm

I hope you have a VHF and a CellPhone with you :)

BraCuru
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Re: The longest non-stop leg

Postby BraCuru » Thu Sep 02, 2021 5:31 pm

Pedro Marcos wrote:
Thu Oct 24, 2019 9:32 pm
I hope you have a VHF and a CellPhone with you :)
I choose winds which allow me to ride close to the shore. No need to have EPIRB, SART etc ;)
I just go for fast beaching in a bad case.
BTW. I got two phones with me to arrange a pick up and a home return.

Yesterday - a trip among the Polish coast from Kołobrzeg to Ustka 202km with one U-turn.
It means one leg on the same tack = 101km. That's my best score so far.
Eastwards -3h00m
Westwards - 3h40m
Very slow as in both cases mostly it was upwind sailing due to backing wind form N to W.
Interesting was to ride in a dry wetsuit, gloves, harness, bar. Just two falls within entire trip.

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tkaraszewski
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Re: The longest non-stop leg

Postby tkaraszewski » Thu Sep 02, 2021 5:58 pm

I mostly kite in a river where the wind is straight down the river so the longest leg on one tack is usually less than 2km, hah. I'm not sure I've ever done more than about 5km on a single tack. Most of my kite tracks look like this:

Image

BraCuru
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Re: The longest non-stop leg

Postby BraCuru » Fri Sep 03, 2021 8:05 am

bohme wrote:
Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:55 am
I often foil solo, and bring my mobile in an aqua-pack and some glow sticks. You can now call 112 with gps coordinates (country dependent).
What is the next level? VHF or Garmin inReach?
I used both.
VHF works well if you have assisting boat. In emergency it won't work if there are no vessels within 3-5km range.
Garmin inReach - good to keep the world informed but it's hard to operate it during a ride. Must be additional person to operate it.
It works well in emergency.
plummet wrote:Why not just ride toeside when you feel the need to rest the back leg?
It does not work in my case. Nowadays when I need rest for me feet I just ride sitting on board. Interesting is that I can reach 40kmh riding in rodeo position.
My lessons learned from the 24hr landboard was this. Its the small things that get you. Things that you don't expect to be a problem because they aren't a problem during normal riding. I hadn't trimmed my toenails as an example. They pushed into the end of my shoes and hurt like hell. I had do stop and trim them partway through. My harness wasn't supportive enough for 19+ hrs of 30+ knots if was painfull as hell. I ended up wearing two harnesses. One to hold the power, the other to distribute the load. Then random bits of that sand got into various placed and I got rubbed raw.
You get to a certain level of pain and just seem to carry on at that pain level if you have prepared your body enough. But if that harness digs in a bit much or there's a pointy bit in your binding that is what will kill it for you.
Absolutely agree. Small things can kill. For long distances I use the widest spreader bar and apply extra foam inside a harness in the hips areas.
Pain management is crucial.
Take extra special care with finding comfortable gear. The same goes for the kite. Ensure you have an easy to fly huge depower kite. I'd suggest you probably want a depower system. You need as much adjustability as possible. The wind can change alot throughout the day. I'd almost suggest you rig a race style depower system so to can trim the kite to optimal power setting whilst having the bar all the way out. That way you dont have to hold the bar in to 2/3 for the whole journey.
I use foil kites and the long depower is not so crucial. My latest depower is 12cm long.
Food wise, I would council against sugary drinks and any short chain single sugars. Go with longchain carbs which give a slow release throughout the day. You don't want a sugar spike and associated, lull.
Agree.
tkaraszewski wrote: I mostly kite in a river where the wind is straight down the river so the longest leg on one tack is usually less than 2km, hah. I'm not sure I've ever done more than about 5km on a single tack.
Worth to try longer tacks at open sea. Highly recommanded as it's different foiling than normal one.

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Re: The longest non-stop leg

Postby Jyoder » Fri Sep 03, 2021 12:03 pm

Riding rodeo on a well designed foil, you can almost fall asleep on long tacks.

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vanart
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Re: The longest non-stop leg

Postby vanart » Fri Sep 03, 2021 1:58 pm

Bra curu,
Supercool!
BTW Where di you get you goggle with the nose protection!???


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