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So, I picked up kiting really quick, I picked up hydrofoiling with kiting really quickly, I paddleboard, but somehow im having issues with winging.
I have spent about 2 hours and a half on the water im just not picking it up. Maybe its my board? I have a 5'7 x 27" board 113. Im about 210.
I figured I could get away with it and it might take a little longer but not this long. I just cant seem to keep my balance. I have been using a 6m wing in 12-15 knots and a 1850 Armstrong wing.

Any advice and help would be much appreciated.

Some people pick it up in a half hour. Some, like me, it took 10 sessions, fiddling around with gear and technique

Are you able to kneel on the board holding the wing? Don't try to stand until there is some wind power in the wing, solid pull...short of that balancing is challenging.

I suspect you need more wind. 12kt is challenging until you are on it. A little over powered is much easier, like learning kiting...15 to 18kt is optimal learning for your 6m.

That board is ok size but a little bigger would be easier while learning.

your foil wing is too small bud

Kitemanmuc wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 14, 2020 11:37 pm

So, I picked up kiting really quick, I picked up hydrofoiling with kiting really quickly, I paddleboard, but somehow im having issues with winging.
I have spent about 2 hours and a half on the water im just not picking it up. Maybe its my board? I have a 5'7 x 27" board 113. Im about 210.
I figured I could get away with it and it might take a little longer but not this long. I just cant seem to keep my balance. I have been using a 6m wing in 12-15 knots and a 1850 Armstrong wing.
Any advice and help would be much appreciated.

240 pounds here and I need about 20 knots to get up on a similar area front hydrofoil wing of my own design with a 5.3 Naish wind wing on a 6 foot 6 F-one foil SUP board. Have to time my learning with that wind speed relative to an outgoing tide or I spend most of my time walking. Let the board pick up a bit of speed before you stand and the motion of the water over the foils then will stabilise it a lot to help your ballance standing. Line up a wave to give a small speed boost and kick your rear foot down a bit then as the front rises you're going to have to correct it before it breaches like a dolphin. If you have good learning wind you won't need to head much down wind, picking up speed down wind is a pain because your apparent wind drops. If wind is strong enough like it was for me yesterday, you can also get some good glides in on your knees. If you have a friend who can drop you upwind then you'll maximise your quality time.
Concentrate not on lifting it right out of the water, but keeping the bow of your board just above the water. As you pick up speed your board will touch less and less, look at translating this to gliding flat above the water just between waves, touching at the wave tips. As you put time into this you'll get the opportunity to better feel how the board handles in the air, just build on this slowly and you'll be about where I am now
With your shorter board starts will be less stable but you can potentially get going at a lower speed.

Wear a helmet too, as you are heavy and need strong wind, if the wind catched your board then there is potential for the foil to ram you hard. I wear both helmet and impact vest in my learning sessions.

atomic-chomik wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 15, 2020 5:57 am

your foil wing is too small bud

that wing is perfectly fine unless you really want to push the light wind ability. Foiling isn't the issue for the OP, it's balancing and getting into position. For that, you need to eat shit, rinse and repeat... But still, use the leading edge on the water to stabilize you while getting on the knees and then grabbing the handles, then once there is some pull on the wing, the rest is MUCH easier. Gain speed and pop up on the foil, shouldn't be too much of a mystery for a kite foiler. 15kts should be ok, 12 is ambitious for early days. 18-20 makes it easy.

I agree with bragnouff. I’m 200 on 99L Armstrong with same wing as you. I’m like 2-3 sessions ahead of you.

Have foiled both directions when on flat to small chop and 15-20 knots, one session. Then same set up in 25+ knots and huge swell of 6 feet—VERY difficult.

First of these I used “tripod” technique of front foot flat on board with trailing shin across. Worked way easier and not painful like kneeling on both knees.

Second of these sessions that tech was difficult because as soon as wing pulled overhead, board would round up wind. Attempts to bear off led to wingtip catching. Then I switched to both knees and found I could stay bearing off wind much easier (not clear as to why). Then the thing that stuck out most was that as soon as I got board moving through water everything became way more civilized. Was able to stand and came up on foil easily, because was quite powered (was on 5M WASP).
By then I was so exhausted I couldn’t handle much more. But now I crave another session.

Any thoughts on comparing both techniques?

Is one better for certain conditions and not others?

Any input?

I dont think you are doing anything "specific" wrong...

How many times have you been out, well it is two of you I can read?

When windy, and wind is needed when learning, you WILL point upwind very easy, even when on your knees before standing up.

And as you probably are very careful, meaning slow, to stand up and engage the wing in balance, the risk of heading up is also present.

Just keep practicing, as Juan said, for some (many in fact, I know from others, besides myself) it will take quite some time till mastered even these basics.

Ride on, and it will come, no big secrets to it

Peter

Make sure your foil is as far forward as possible in the box. This helped me alot

irwe wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:06 am

Make sure your foil is as far forward as possible in the box. This helped me alot

Hmmm, then it will turn into the wind even faster?