Hydrofoiling in 10 knots - Is it that hard?

[joekitetime]

Lots of great posts here and mine will be nothing new.

What I've found is that as I get better, lower winds get easier. The lighter the kite the easier. The cleaner the water (no grass) the easier. The better the fallout (like a beach w/onshore winds) the easier (easier to recover if I drop my kite). The warmer the water the easier. The bigger my foil the easier (although for others small foils work really well).

I think the biggest factor has to do with the lulls when the wind is that light. Almost regardless of how good one is, when the "average 10, gusting to 13 (with lulls of 5) hit, sometimes I just can't keep tension on those kite lines.

[juanpasala]

You know what, you have a 21mt soul, you can ride no problem above 6 knots

[fernmanus]

You know what, you have a 21mt soul, you can ride no problem above 6 knots

I wasn’t planning on foiling with the 21 anytime soon. I have Souls from 21 to 6 in every size and a 5m FS Peak 4 and a 1500 wing, so I have the gear side covered. However, this post is not about me. I know I am not the only one with this question. So, I appreciate the comments.

[windmaker]

You know what, you have a 21mt soul, you can ride no problem above 6 knots

...and be overpowered at 10 kts. On my spot all riders with good basic skills are riding at 6kts of wind with 12m foil kites . I ride a 10m Halo on 16m lines with 510 cm2 front race wing starting at 7/8 kts. Basically, if you can park the kite you can also foil .

[Kamikuza]

10 knots is fine, if a little boring, but it’s the lulls that really ruin it for me. And I refuse to use a kite bigger than 10m.

EDIT: goddamn autocorrect stop changing shit I've already typed three words back.

[UKSurf]

I would also say going upwind in lighter winds is easier since you are creating a lot of apparent wind. Going downwind in light air requires a big foil so you can travel slowly and kite that will stay in the air in next to nothing.

[jkrug]

we must have strange winds here because no one is out in under 10 knots...no one. i often question these claims of foiling in 6 knots, but have seen videos where the water looks very glassy, so there must be some wind above. regardless, i find kiting in extremely light winds extremely annoying. there's gotta be something better to do when it's 'blowing' 10 knots or less. i can skateboard in the pouring rain...but do i want to?

[edt]

yeah there's always some wind gradient so when you measure 10 knots at the surface maybe it's 15 knots at 20 meters high, or maybe just 10 knots. Suffice to say, when it's light wind it's light wind that's all that matters, don't get stuck on the numbers, and nail that transition so you don't go swimming! I can't wait for the day when my transitions are on point every single time.

[Peter_Frank]

we must have strange winds here because no one is out in under 10 knots...no one. i often question these claims of foiling in 6 knots, but have seen videos where the water looks very glassy, so there must be some wind above. regardless, i find kiting in extremely light winds extremely annoying. there's gotta be something better to do when it's 'blowing' 10 knots or less. i can skateboard in the pouring rain...but do i want to?

Glassy or not, from 8 knots I can foil with a 10 m2 tubekite.

And with lighter bigger foilkites, 5-6 knots is the very lowest limit for my 77 kg.
Racers with smaller wings than me, but 20 or 21 m2 kites also out in this on occasion.

A few dont bother below 10 knots especially on this forum, but around here, most racers ride from 6-7 knots, and some freeriders too

You can have "cheasy" wind where 10 knots only pulls like 8, or opposite, 10 knots silkysmooth powerful wind, pulling like 12 knots, eventhough you only have 10 knots average measured in 10 meter height, which is the standard used and wind gradient not that important now - it can be both glassy down at the surface, or windchop, still close to 10 knots at the kite, when measured in 10 meters height, so good our weatherstations use this

Roughly, below 8 knots it is tricky and often not doable unless special gear (unless wind is measured on the beach which can be pretty useless), but with light kites you can go lower quite fine.

It doesnt matter if you can pull your transitions off or not, regarding how light you can go when marginal - with good kite flying technique you can ride even if you crash, no problems.

Peter

[edt]

It doesnt matter if you can pull your transitions off or not, regarding how light you can go when marginal - with good kite flying technique you can ride even if you crash, no problems.

Peter

I ride in light enough wind that the kite won't stay in the air if I loose apparent wind even with a foil kite. Not sure of the exact wind speed it's light tho. Then I have to swim in.