Light Wind Hydrofoil technique

[Foil]

shorter mast helps.

[UKSurf]

shorter mast helps.

Less drag when surface riding and trying to get upto speed?

[Whattheflock]

Loopfest to get on top of the board heading downwind then followed by a small bump/pump on the back foot to get up.

[alowishus]

Indeed, looping is needed to give an easy waterstart up onto the board, and then another loop or a loop the other way, to get going.

BUT, sometimes it is better to dive the kite, works great if longer lines, and NOT loop it, as you get a lot more efficient stroke with more power because of the apparent wind and angle, and can get going a lot better this way, but only sometimes it is better as said

So IMO looping is not always the best way in light winds where your kite can not hang in the air really - you have to "feel" and find what works the best, and also kite dependent and line length dependent I would say.

I ride in this wind really often, like today we were out 5 hours in sometimes marginal wind, other times loads meaning 7 knots 8 in gusts maybe, with a 12 m2 strutless tubekite, a great day.

What matters is to get the feel for exactly where your hydrofoils "foil-point" is, so you know how to sqeeze it to the max, or should I say, to the "minimum", as if you stall, you are in deep shit if kite is flown down close to the surface.
If you dont stall, you can start extremely efficient this way, particularly if wind is dead onshore an low water

PF

Hi Peter, so you prefer a strutless 12m LEI over a foil kite in these conditions?
This is the dilemma I’m contemplating ATM.
If my 9m single strut can just hang in the air, I can foil on my 1000cm2 wing. Looping essential. If it gets “iffy”, or my kite gets wet, it’s all over! It’s a very fine line for me between cruising along and packing up and going home. 9-11 knots zone.
I’ve been considering a 10m foil kite for these winds, to provide enough power and also hang nicely in the lulls, but then i read about people like yourself using LEIs in winds even lighter than this....???

[DAnderson]

Bending your knees into a crouching waterstart position, so there's less mass to pull upright may also be helpful.

[Peter_Frank]

Indeed, looping is needed to give an easy waterstart up onto the board, and then another loop or a loop the other way, to get going.

BUT, sometimes it is better to dive the kite, works great if longer lines, and NOT loop it, as you get a lot more efficient stroke with more power because of the apparent wind and angle, and can get going a lot better this way, but only sometimes it is better as said

So IMO looping is not always the best way in light winds where your kite can not hang in the air really - you have to "feel" and find what works the best, and also kite dependent and line length dependent I would say.

I ride in this wind really often, like today we were out 5 hours in sometimes marginal wind, other times loads meaning 7 knots 8 in gusts maybe, with a 12 m2 strutless tubekite, a great day.

What matters is to get the feel for exactly where your hydrofoils "foil-point" is, so you know how to sqeeze it to the max, or should I say, to the "minimum", as if you stall, you are in deep shit if kite is flown down close to the surface.
If you dont stall, you can start extremely efficient this way, particularly if wind is dead onshore an low water

PF

Hi Peter, so you prefer a strutless 12m LEI over a foil kite in these conditions?
This is the dilemma I’m contemplating ATM.
If my 9m single strut can just hang in the air, I can foil on my 1000cm2 wing. Looping essential. If it gets “iffy”, or my kite gets wet, it’s all over! It’s a very fine line for me between cruising along and packing up and going home. 9-11 knots zone.
I’ve been considering a 10m foil kite for these winds, to provide enough power and also hang nicely in the lulls, but then i read about people like yourself using LEIs in winds even lighter than this....???

I definitely prefer a LEI kite yes, if possible in any way.

So around 7 knots, a 12 m2 strutless.
In 8 knots a 10 m2 onestrut.
And when more wind, using my 9 m2 and smaller Furia wavekites.

Going down in board (and wing) size when going down in kitesize, except for some waveconditions where I sometimes stick with a big surf wing.

Below 10 knots, not a chance of relaunching, unless there are some gusts, but doesnt matter, you drop the kite extremely rare as they hang so well nowadays.
So a rare swim/drift is needed sometimes, thats just fine as a variety

Only when 5-7 knots, I HAVE to use a foilkite, the only way to ride in this wind

But thats just me, personal choice only

Peter

[Flyboy]

Very informative discussion. There's a lot to learn/relearn to progress in foiling. You're going into territory that really has no precedent in TT or directional kiting. My 3 strut wave kites are very inclined to back stall when underpowered. Learning to start the initial dive with the bar sheeted at the correct point, have the board pointing in the optimal direction, sheeting out to allow the kite to rise back up on the following upstroke & leaving it well back in the power window while balancing the board through this very precarious moment. Just learned how to pump to help pop the foil up. I have not tried looping the kite & have not tried longer lines.

Light wind for me means around 10 knots with an 11m wave kite. I am using a 700 sq cm wing, so I guess the easiest step towards lighter wind foiling would be a larger wing, then a larger, lighter kite combined with better technique.

[OzBungy]

Slightly longer lines helps with hindenberging in light winds. The kite sits a touch deeper in the window and is less likely to front stall and fall. My normal lines are 24m. I use 27m in lighter wind.

Also, standard technique is to keep the kite moving back and forth a touch deeper in the window. Any kite will surge forward in a small puff of wind then front stall when the puff ends. It's fairly easy to adopt a gentle figure-8 pumping motion and this should be your "goto" when winds are stupid light.

I use a 12m lightweight 3-strut kite in light winds. I have a 15m but it's too heavy and only gives a tiny bit extra bottom end.

I don't think I would go for a foil kite for riding in ridiculously light winds. There's far too much chance of swimming in. As long as the breeze is slightly onshore it can be quite pleasant to self rescue by sitting in your upturned LEI and sailing (or drifting) back to shore. I normally get a little warning and can bum drag back to the beach.

As others have said, bigger kite, bigger hydrofoil, bigger board, possibly a shorter mast. The shorter mast is mainly for when it is too hard to stay out from the shallow water while struggling with a half flying kite and a board and foil.