kite foiling....it aint easy

Yes Light winds are much easier to learn in. I first tried to learn in strong winds and it was very unforgiving: you pick up way too much speed and have no time to correct your mistakes let alone understand what when wrong and why it went wrong.

Just like the original poster said, even after 3-4 combined hours of practice I thought it would be impossible to learn and wanted to give up so many times... Lots of crashes and cuts from the foil for sure.

I then decided to go out in 8-12 knots winds, which was far easier and 3-4 hours later I was foiling long distances on both sides. The biggest advantage of light winds is that the water is flatter (easier to control the foil) and you can ride the foil at lower speeds and get used to balancing on it without crashing. When you do a mistake you have more time to correct it and you can usually keep riding instead of crashing hard.

The biggest problem is if you want to learn in very low winds you need to pretty much be a light wind expert with excellent light wind flying skills and light wind relaunching skills, otherwise it will simply be too hard as you can stall the kite easily and end up focusing too much on what the kite is doing. Having a big board with volume and buoyancy really helps with this, which not every foil board has...

I taught a few friends already (experienced kiters on directional boards and excellent flying skills) and in 2-3 hours they get up and going especially when using radio helmets so I can give them instant feed-back. With the right approach you can cut down dramatically on the learning curve and prevent injuries as well. Although kite foiling is definitely not for everyone, it was worth the steep the learning curve. You can kite powered and ride upwind easily nearly every day as you only need 7 knots to do so.

Christian

Exactly the dilemma I faced Gorgo - sold my Sector and a largekite to finance the LF and liked the idea of the fish board for occaisional messing in Perths little metro waves. there was a used Spotz on Seabreeze for same amount and may have been easier with higher volume board but I reckon I would have damaged the foil by now. Also, LF will bring out different wings in time apparently . If not, I may have a go at shaping my own in time......

IMO - the best advice is to catch up with the local foiling crew - in Perth that's about 20 strong with most hanging out at either Melville beach or Pinnaroo Point up north , its easy for a more advanced kiters to give any new or developing kiters relevant tips to help them advance quicker and hopefully with less pain and suffering.

AS ABOVE posts suggest A low aspect foil is way easier to learn on - I personally learnt on a low aspect 2nd hand Spotz 1 free ride head which is super stable and slow which I loved at the time - but also many in Perth have jumped on full racing foils and made it work ( they were already formula kite racers though) - I now ride a high aspect race foil which is crazy fast and needs 90% more concentration to ride but fantastic once you developed the skills necessary.

Personally after foiling for about 1 year and seriously for about 4 months I find that getting into a group of riders and comparing notes after each session is the way to go. Other riders will help you get over the fear of trying new techniques as you progress - Your 1st attempt at a full speed foiling gybe is truly terrifying ...

As you progress fairly quickly to more advanced techniques asking other foilers on the water who are trying to learn or already have mastered them is the best way to go - all of the below will test all of your kiting skills and push your kiting to new levels.

- riding any reach
- blast down wind with speed and control
- down loop kite through turns
- tacking with touch down
- water gybe
- ride toe side
- tack foiling
- foiling gybe
- riding in 25knots

Have fun and see you out there.


P.S - wear an impact vest & helmet

Defs worth it I reckon, from the show put on by the foilers at the Merimbula Classic. Brad Hampson was out and tacking hundreds of metres upwind when no other kiters were out there. Jordan Girdis came and showed us how to ride a foil on a wave the next day. I'm gonna get one as soon as the wallet allows.

At last!!! - Got some runs of reasonable length without painful falls. Great to be using a 9m when I would otherwise be on my 19M




Also glued on a twin-tip fin to help with directional stability - seems to help.....

Great thread, watching intently.
Btw, any foils available here in aus.?

A list of local suppliers / builders would be great. Thanks in advance.

Practice behind a boat or cable park instead of kite until you get the hang of it i reckon.

My opinion about Foils is

uninteresting, tedious, dull, dreary, mind-numbing, tiresome, lackluster, unexciting, monotonous, , wearisome, humdrum, uninspiring, lifeless, mundane, stale, stodgy, stuffy, stupid, tame, tiring, trite, bummer, cloying, dead, drab, drag, drudging, flat, nothing, nowhere, plebeian, stereotyped, zero, arid, bromidic, characterless, colorless, ho hum, insipid, interminable, irksome, platitudinous, prosaic,

But that's just my opinion

Thanks for the heads up about KFA, their gear looks skmick, reasonable price and local here in Vic. Also saw they have an aluminiom entry level unit for only 1200.
Anyone seen one of those, thoughts.

at the rear its fine , i've moved it right forward now and just getting used to the shift in weight placement . But i haven't really had any time to dedicate to it yet :|