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A bit of help to hammer those tacks!

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Herman
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Re: A bit of help to hammer those tacks!

Postby Herman » Sat Jul 03, 2021 11:37 pm

Muddled garbage removed
Last edited by Herman on Sun Jul 04, 2021 9:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

Herman
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Re: A bit of help to hammer those tacks!

Postby Herman » Sun Jul 04, 2021 9:40 am

Regarding the old back hand (new front hand):

Personally I find the timing of the old BH pull for the loop for a 360 different to the timing for the BH pull to redirect for a 180.

I use the rotation of the bar to provide the cue for this. For a redirect I start the pull as soon as the kite has crossed Z and as I rotate the bar. For the 360 I wait until the bar is in the new position before pulling with the BH, the kite will have reached 1 o’clock or 11 o’clock.

Rotating the bar puts the muscles in the right position to control the kite. Rob did a very good vid on this showing the wrist rotation needed when going toe to heel.

PS the timing of the initial pull of the BH to get the kite flying across Z is not crucial. The timing for this aspect of the manoeuvre is governed by the way the kite reacts, ie you modify the carve into wind to suite how the kite is flying across Z imho.
Last edited by Herman on Sun Jul 04, 2021 12:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: A bit of help to hammer those tacks!

Postby Jyoder » Sun Jul 04, 2021 12:12 pm

azoele wrote:
Sat Jul 03, 2021 8:59 pm


I understand your point: kite timing is essential.
But I jibe with loops all the time, and am sure if loops can be done in tacks, they must be helpful in very light winds, hence my questioning.
Also, I only use foil kites between 5-10 knots. From there on I have 10/8/5m LEI kites, which provide a fraction of the lift of my large foil kite, so a loop may be helpful.
Sure, a loop can help you ride out of the tack on foil, and I do it frequently on LEI when the wind lulls, am underpowered, or I mistime my tack, but it feels like cheating and not a “real” tack. It’s a good place to start if it works for you.

Foil kites make it much easier to foot switch, But you really have to turn that bar hard with bigger kites!

Also, for all kites, if your lines are very long, your kite may just take too much time to cross the top of the window and you’ll come off foil waiting for it to arrive until you get the timing just right.

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Re: A bit of help to hammer those tacks!

Postby cglazier » Mon Jul 05, 2021 2:27 am

All good comments above.
Here are my favorite 'how to tack' videos:

How to Foiling Tack
Foiling Basics
Foil Tack synchrony
How to Foil Tack
The thin Blue Line
foil tack transition
Daniela Moroz
Geenhat
Sam Light
Toe to heel
These users thanked the author cglazier for the post (total 4):
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azoele
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Re: A bit of help to hammer those tacks!

Postby azoele » Mon Aug 09, 2021 9:42 pm

It's been some time, but I wished to thank you all for your suggestions.
I read, thought, re-read, and then found the courage to get again 100% on trying.

And all of a sudden, I started getting most of my foiling heel-to-toeside tacks.
It happened few days ago: all of a sudden, they started to succeed, and I was *flabbergasted*! :D
(of course, the same day my buddy performed his very firsts toe-to-heelside foiling tacks... my pride was short lived! :D )

What changed it all for me were 4 things:

1) keep *both* hands on the bar, which, for now, is essential to me.
In this way it is much, much easier to "look under the armpit", which I finally understood as the key movement to initiate unit turn.
When I try with one hand only, it's a mess... I do not manouver the kite at the zenith and then on the other side. I just leave it at 1', preventing any turn... and I realize this only if I look at the kite! :D
Two hands, for some reason the kite does exactly what it's supposed to do (more or less... :-) )

2) understand tacks are more physical than gybes.
The need to recover body position after turning is something very different from those lazy gybes with zero physical commitment. I was not prepared for the need to be physical during tacks, especially at this point when they are mechanical rather than intuitive. Raising from the tilted position of the carve to get ready for a kite lurch on toeside requires some working with my 100+Kg :-)

3) accept few of them go straight upwind, and most do a fraction of downwind: when tacks don't come out clean, I just accept to go downwind for an instant when diving hard the kite not to fall from foiling
Probably not the cleanest tacks, but they work for now ;-)

4) carving is fun, but tacks come out better if I lose as little speed possible. Thus a larger turn means coming out with more speed, and more time to dive the kite. This is not what I see everyone try! :D

Now, right foot forward I just carve aggressively, and the movement feels just natural, with zero downwind... but left foot forward has been a mess to fix; for now, I do *not* carve, rather I get the kite at the zenith, and turn while being vertical with the body.
I also need to go downwind some, until I can work the kite for a sudden pull. Eventually it works: much uglier than on the other side, but it works, and in foiling :D

And lastly, these tacks have a bonus included: if you fail them, you can loop and get a 360 without falling down! :D

So: thank you all, really!
Next steps: refine those ugly tacks, and then go for the toeside-to-heelside, and do not lose the arms race with my foiling buddy! :D

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Re: A bit of help to hammer those tacks!

Postby leeuwen » Wed Aug 11, 2021 6:00 pm

azoele wrote:
Mon Aug 09, 2021 9:42 pm
It's been some time, but I wished to thank you all for your suggestions.
I read, thought, re-read, and then found the courage to get again 100% on trying.

So: thank you all, really!
Next steps: refine those ugly tacks, and then go for the toeside-to-heelside, and do not lose the arms race with my foiling buddy! :D
Don’t be surprised if in a next session with different circumstances you start to struggle again.
Somehow timing works out on my 5m, 8m and 11m (foil kite = easy mode) but I had issues with my 6m and 10m.
Although arguably those failed sessions where a lot more difficult due to very gusty conditions.
Funnily enough I tried doing my first toe to heel tacks on the 10m and those I got working consistently after 10 tries or so while I kept failing on the regular heel to toe tacks.
I must admit I touched down a little bit on most attempts but I found them way easier then I expected.
The tip from the progression video really helped (rotating the bar).

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Re: A bit of help to hammer those tacks!

Postby azoele » Thu Aug 19, 2021 10:46 pm

Just an update to all the gentle contributors that shared suggestions: tacks keep improving, and I am having a blast doing them with the Maverick 8m. I am even learning to loop the kite during the tack if wind is just too low.
Kudos to the Maverick: a crazy kite, but super fast and super nice, it is helping me a lot with improving in this complex manouver :-)

Now, bonus point: I also managed foiling toe-to-heelside tacks!!!
A big thank you for this goes to Rob Claisse: my buddy watched and re-watched his video, performed some, and encouraged me to try them, saying: "Remember: rotate the shoulder!!! Did you see the video?!! It works!!!" :D
He told me, I did it... and it worked! I was *ecstatic*!
Thank you Rob!

And thank you all!

Now, it is all about refining them, and then... off to foot change (something I have zero idea about :D )

I know... it's a weird message.
But I'm sure kite/foil lovers will understand how I'm feeling ;-)


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