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WtF man. Will I ever learn transitions...?

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Re: WtF man. Will I ever learn transitions...?

Postby Peter_Frank » Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:57 pm

One note here, that contradicts what many says:

Reasonable speed is your friend IMO (as opposed to "speed is your friend")

If I carve and get too much speed on the way out, probably the kite is low, my foot change will most likely go bonkers, as the kite will pull sideways and the board might also shoot up (or down) immediately if even the smallestl error.

Whereas, if you ride with a balanced speed and kite pull, you have by far the best chances of making a good feet transition IMO.

The wings we ride today, most of us, can go so slow, that stalling is never an issue really, whereas too much speed and sideways power can be fatal :wink:

8) Peter
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Re: WtF man. Will I ever learn transitions...?

Postby windmaker » Tue Apr 23, 2019 4:53 am

Peter_Frank wrote:
Mon Apr 22, 2019 6:57 pm
One note here, that contradicts what many says:

Reasonable speed is your friend IMO (as opposed to "speed is your friend")

If I carve and get too much speed on the way out, probably the kite is low, my foot change will most likely go bonkers, as the kite will pull sideways and the board might also shoot up (or down) immediately if even the smallestl error.

Whereas, if you ride with a balanced speed and kite pull, you have by far the best chances of making a good feet transition IMO.

The wings we ride today, most of us, can go so slow, that stalling is never an issue really, whereas too much speed and sideways power can be fatal :wink:

8) Peter
I think the reason some mentioned speed is your friend is because too many people think that when learning transitions the slower the better, go buy a huge slow wing and it will be ok. But the opposite is also true , too much speed and riding overpowered is not recommended.

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Re: WtF man. Will I ever learn transitions...?

Postby alowishus » Tue Apr 23, 2019 12:07 pm

I hate the guys who read advice on forums and then report back almost immediately that they've nailed it.
I'm not quite that guy today, but I made huge progress thanks to advice here.

Conditions light about 10-12 knts, enough to get going on my 9 LEI, but really couldn't go upwind in a big way so spent 45min on flying switches before the wind died.
I think the light conditions helped in that the wind was fairly smooth coming over the dunes.

Of the 20 or so attempts (strapless) I successively pulled off 5 flying switches on my unnatural stance switching to natural toeside and 1 from natural to unnatural toeside. I then gybed after riding toeside for a short while. Crashed out the remainder and smashed my shins a couple of times.

What helped me today:
- pretending to be that dude in the video in tegirinenashi's post. Act like everything's cool :o.
- moving back foot forward a bit and making room with the front foot i.e. twisting it a bit more parallel to the board (I wear booties so easy to catch one foot with the other).
- Kite 11 or 1 and try to hold onto a bit of lift, but there wasn't very much.
- Wasn't going that fast but well above stall speed.
- Rotated shoulders around ready for toeside.
- back foot pump just before the switch, trying to keep it in line with my body.
- tried not to look at my feet and ended up looking at the water in front of the board, not quite the horizon.

Such a great feeling to do what seemed almost impossible :rollgrin: Beginner's stoke! Awesome.
I've been trying all summer in frustration but am starting to see the light. Unfortunately, summer is well a truly over here, but there's still winter. :P
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Re: WtF man. Will I ever learn transitions...?

Postby dkazhdan » Tue Apr 23, 2019 7:37 pm

i am struggling with the foot switches as well with no light at the end of the tunnel :)

However, what recently helped me a bit was that instead of having the kite stationary at 11 before the switch I have it moving from 11 to 12 while shuffling my feet around.

Not sure if its the right thing to do but it feels like it's giving more lift this way.

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Re: WtF man. Will I ever learn transitions...?

Postby jumptheshark » Tue Apr 23, 2019 7:56 pm

Bumping the kite from 11 to 12 does give a moment of lift.

A small pump of the back foot can also give a moment of lift.

A carve on or cresting a wave can give a moment of lift.

I tend to use two out these three in combination to give that optimal moment for stepping the back foot forward. Just riding along steady state is the toughest way to learn foot transitions.

Learn to get any two elements timed together well enough to lift you back foot momentarily and your starting to get the right idea.
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dkazhdan (Tue Apr 23, 2019 9:19 pm)
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Re: WtF man. Will I ever learn transitions...?

Postby Macster » Wed Apr 24, 2019 10:39 am

alowishus wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2019 4:26 pm
So Macster are you switching feet now all of a sudden on the foil with the Impulse?
I am currently struggling on my ‘normal’, that is, only, mid aspect wing. I can jibe both sides almost equally whether natural or unnatural stance heel toe heel etc. ie no foot switch. I pulled off a flying foot switch once when overpowered but generally I am barely successful even with surface foot switches (rapidly losing speed, hitting chop, falling off).
My own journey in kiting has been one of persistence and not shortcuts. What I want to know though is if this big wing thing is a “hack” that will quickly translate back to my other wing.
With my current setup I often feel I am not too far away and I just need bigger cojones to do it at higher speed on the foil. I also think / believe it will come .... eventually.... Been thinking that for a while now... But if the big wing helps like training wheels, then it may be worth it. Otherwise I guess I’ll just persist...?
Any experiences of riders going back to their ‘old faster /smaller wing’ and wondering why it seemed so challenging before?
Hey man. I have to laugh, I bought the liquid force foil for my wife and I have used it as much as her cause it is so much easier to do transitions on... I do intend to give it back after a few more turns to hopefully build some muscle memory! So I'll let you know in a few weeks how I go swapping back to the Moses.

In answer to your question, in two sessions I am 90% competent in doing air gibes to toe with a downloop and then switching feet afterwards. I do touch down about 50% of the time when switching stance after the gibe.

I've also managed to pull off the overpowered air gibe where you just redirect the kite and dont downloop. For some reason I'm able to switch feet during the gibe in this instance but not when downlooping...? Probably a pyschological issue cause there's more speed through the gibe when downlooping and I need a solid stance versus when doing the slower and easier kite redirect gibe.

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Re: WtF man. Will I ever learn transitions...?

Postby junebug » Wed Apr 24, 2019 11:16 am

Macster wrote:
Wed Apr 24, 2019 10:39 am
alowishus wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2019 4:26 pm
So Macster are you switching feet now all of a sudden on the foil with the Impulse?
I am currently struggling on my ‘normal’, that is, only, mid aspect wing. I can jibe both sides almost equally whether natural or unnatural stance heel toe heel etc. ie no foot switch. I pulled off a flying foot switch once when overpowered but generally I am barely successful even with surface foot switches (rapidly losing speed, hitting chop, falling off).
My own journey in kiting has been one of persistence and not shortcuts. What I want to know though is if this big wing thing is a “hack” that will quickly translate back to my other wing.
With my current setup I often feel I am not too far away and I just need bigger cojones to do it at higher speed on the foil. I also think / believe it will come .... eventually.... Been thinking that for a while now... But if the big wing helps like training wheels, then it may be worth it. Otherwise I guess I’ll just persist...?
Any experiences of riders going back to their ‘old faster /smaller wing’ and wondering why it seemed so challenging before?
Hey man. I have to laugh, I bought the liquid force foil for my wife and I have used it as much as her cause it is so much easier to do transitions on... I do intend to give it back after a few more turns to hopefully build some muscle memory! So I'll let you know in a few weeks how I go swapping back to the Moses.

In answer to your question, in two sessions I am 90% competent in doing air gibes to toe with a downloop and then switching feet afterwards. I do touch down about 50% of the time when switching stance after the gibe.

I've also managed to pull off the overpowered air gibe where you just redirect the kite and dont downloop. For some reason I'm able to switch feet during the gibe in this instance but not when downlooping...? Probably a pyschological issue cause there's more speed through the gibe when downlooping and I need a solid stance versus when doing the slower and easier kite redirect gibe.
You might be bringing the kite higher on a redirect, thus giving you more lift to help with the foot switch?

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Re: WtF man. Will I ever learn transitions...?

Postby cwood » Wed Apr 24, 2019 11:22 am

windmaker wrote:
Sun Apr 21, 2019 4:57 pm
My point of view might be a shock to some of the posters on this thread. I have been doing foiling jibes and tacks for years so my point of view is different now. First of all I do not think that more wing area is of any help when learning transitions, wing span yes as it will give better roll balance.
Also many here seem to think that a larger wing will help them fly slower (true) and therefore make jibes easier. The opposite is true, with more speed comes better balance (just like on a bike). You don't have to be going full blast but good speed makes foot switch so much easier you just need to get over the fear of it.
This is what I find as well, the race wing is actually easier because of low flying friction....it just keeps going without a pull from the kite so you can work through stuff. I find the wave and slow wings rapid deceleration to be a different kind of challenge.

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Re: WtF man. Will I ever learn transitions...?

Postby Macster » Wed Apr 24, 2019 11:51 am

[/quote]

You might be bringing the kite higher on a redirect, thus giving you more lift to help with the foot switch?
[/quote]

That makes sense. I fly short lines (15m) so I guess the downloop is a pretty lateral versus vertical pull

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Re: WtF man. Will I ever learn transitions...?

Postby alowishus » Thu Apr 25, 2019 8:23 am

Macster wrote:
Wed Apr 24, 2019 10:39 am
...So I'll let you know in a few weeks how I go swapping back to the Moses.
Even though I am “possibly” on the brink of a breakthrough on my hoverglide, I am definitely interested in this info. Divided opinions on the value of the big/surf wing for learning.
Macster wrote:
Wed Apr 24, 2019 10:39 am
In answer to your question, in two sessions I am 90% competent in doing air gibes to toe with a downloop and then switching feet afterwards. I do touch down about 50% of the time when switching stance after the gibe.
Are you switching feet after gybing on both tacks?


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