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Stop this thing

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Foil
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Bar lines made up to any length in a choice of strengths, power lines, trim lines, pigtails, leader lines, bridal lines, elasticated lines, I make and fit them all, free fit and tune service,
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Re: Stop this thing

Postby Foil » Thu May 23, 2019 7:02 am

yes, its scary as hell.
quite a few sessions early on were horrible, just as you get the feeling of being up and away the ruddy thing just wants to go warp speed, and the natural thing to do is crouch down and lower the kite, normally with disastrous results.
all the advice above is of course correct, but just like many other vital steps in this crazy sport it just feels impossible at first.
you will get it quickly,
just one point of safety to remember,
at all costs don't run over your lines,
no matter how scary the situation, just avoid at all costs.
relax, go with it and stand up legs bent, bar out, kite slowly rising, keep board very low whilst trying to slow down, heading up or downwind.
practice S turns as soon as possible in gentle conditions, drop kite sizes as soon as possible.
after a while(many months) you will be looking for that warp speed feeling again, its fun when you can control it, but that takes lots of practice.

Hugh2
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Re: Stop this thing

Postby Hugh2 » Thu May 23, 2019 7:20 am

Wow, that brings back strange sensations of early learning, including out of control crashes that had the foil go up and through my lines. Just wait till you get riding in the open ocean and try going downwind with a big swell running, the speed is downright scary. My buddies are all a lot better than me now and ride really small kites, but I still like a larger kite flown around 11, in part because in a crash or out of control situation I can use the kite to lift me off and away from the foil.

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mr_daruman
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Re: Stop this thing

Postby mr_daruman » Thu May 23, 2019 7:40 am

Head down wind, crouch down and drop the foil? I ride "carving style" short board and no straps though, very easy to bail and go 'time out' when the speed gets out of control ;)
Must be quite a rush being wide stance, strapped down at full power and speed. Not my cup of tea.

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bragnouff
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Re: Stop this thing

Postby bragnouff » Thu May 23, 2019 7:56 am

You can also ride lower, touch down and the contact with water surface will slow you down.
Except that to go lower, you actually don't want to push harder on your front leg, but instead deweighting your back leg.

There's a fine limit to find for that, though. If your board is small with low rocker, it might nose dive at speed, which is usually terminally bad. But riding too high at uncontrolled speed is probably even worse.

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Re: Stop this thing

Postby cor » Thu May 23, 2019 10:24 am

Ah yes... i remembered exactly that stage of my foil progression. Exciting times. I often chose the violent face plant solution but bringing the kite very slowly up to 12 and slightly heading downwind (do not loose tension in the lines!) is a way better idea. Also, to avoid that kind of situation, try to either use a smaller kite or keep the kite flying a bit higher in the window.

Btw in case you are not doing it already: Wear a helmet. It will become more important in that stage. Going faster --> Harder wipeouts.
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slowboat
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Re: Stop this thing

Postby slowboat » Thu May 23, 2019 6:58 pm

If you are truly in a downwind "death run" sometimes you cannot really bring your kite up. Then the only options are to try and jump off safely, keep edging upwind until your kite stalls (hard to do for the inexperienced) or ride directly at your kite (the better option). This will slow you down. It may slack your lines but often you can recover control of your kite before it hits the water.

With experience you will learn to avoid getting into the situation by having your kite high before you get into the point of sail when the speeding starts. It is more likely to occur on toeside so again be prepared with high kite before the speed builds up.

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Re: Stop this thing

Postby plummet » Thu May 23, 2019 7:10 pm

Smaller kite is the answer. Then you wont get to a death run position.
Purposefull touch down... a bit hard to do if you already have a lot of front foot pressure. But its possible.
Go way downwind as others suggest. Thats hard when your learning too as you no longer have the kite pull to balance off
Crank hard upwind. Hard! When really powered you can cant over so much its possible to do a back drag!

All of this will become easier over time. In the meantime use a pissant small kite so you have to work it to get up to speed. Want to slow down? let the bar out and dont work it. That will give you Zero death runs.

Foil
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Posts: 1447
Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2017 7:44 pm
Kiting since: 2000
Weight: 91kg
Local Beach: New Brighton near Liverpool. Open sea with big low tide deep lagoon
and regular at Rhosneigr and Newbrough on Anglesey
Favorite Beaches: New Brighton, Rhosneigr, Fleetwood, Newbrough, Blackrock sands
lake Como (Italy) El Medano
Style: kite foiler since 2017 Ttip since 2000
Gear: My rule to gear choice is "IF IT DONT BOOST ITS NO USE"
Groove Skates 110cm 2022 editions
kraken mast systems 103k and 93k.
Kraken fuse 703k
Duotone SLS Evo's -- 11mtr/9mtr/7mtr/6mtr/ 4mtr RRD.
Duotone 2022 click bars x2,my own custom made lines fitted,
(modified lines now available for the flite99 shod duotone bars)

Bar lines made up to any length in a choice of strengths, power lines, trim lines, pigtails, leader lines, bridal lines, elasticated lines, I make and fit them all, free fit and tune service,
quick turnaround,drop me a message, find me on messenger, Colin Moore.
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Re: Stop this thing

Postby Foil » Thu May 23, 2019 7:29 pm

as touched on above there is only one thing worse than a death run.
A flying toeside death run, you need counselling after a bad one of them.
usually the first one you manage, its that scary you rarely repeat it.
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SENDIT! (Thu May 23, 2019 8:57 pm)
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SENDIT!
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Re: Stop this thing

Postby SENDIT! » Thu May 23, 2019 8:58 pm

Foil wrote:
Thu May 23, 2019 7:29 pm
as touched on above there is only one thing worse than a death run.
A flying toeside death run, you need counselling after a bad one of them.
usually the first one you manage, its that scary you rarely repeat it.
Ha ha! Yes! This is the only time that I've ended up feeling like I couldn't control my speed and I was worried I was going to end up falling on the foil! :lol:

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deniska
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Re: Stop this thing

Postby deniska » Fri May 24, 2019 4:29 am

plummet wrote:
Thu May 23, 2019 7:10 pm
All of this will become easier over time. In the meantime use a pissant small kite so you have to work it to get up to speed. Want to slow down? let the bar out and dont work it. That will give you Zero death runs.
I sort of disagree that running constantly underpowered helps initial progression...
Riding powered helps in many ways, imho.
You just need to learn to keep the kite pretty close to Zenith and
-you get extra support from the kite while you still learn to keep your balance
-you can get away with minimal kite movements during starts and transitions (no big swings and downloops)
-keeping the kite high makes it less likely to run in to your lines with a mast/wings
-you can actually ride slower when your normal stall speed because the kite at near 12 will take off some of your weight... priceless for learning transitions..
-jumping while powered on a foil is pretty easy and fun.. so if you are caught in a death run you might just send it and enjoy the boost (kick off the board, if not sure how to land it)...


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