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Is it Hard to learn how to ride a Hydrofoil ?

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gmb13
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Re: Is it Hard to learn how to ride a Hydrofoil ?

Postby gmb13 » Tue Sep 11, 2012 10:05 am

no you can easily switch on the boards. :-)
Sarcasm is usually a ;-) :-)

A shorter mast has a few more advantages.

1) Being able to kite in places where its a bit shallower

2) The foil reacts a bit quicker to your inputs making learning things easier. I find it much easier to do Airtacks etc with the shorter mast.

3) As mentioned before a not so hard wipeout, and less chance to landing on the foil when crashing

4) Easier to travel with

---
Gunnar

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Re: Is it Hard to learn how to ride a Hydrofoil ?

Postby tautologies » Tue Sep 11, 2012 10:34 am

gmb13 wrote: Sarcasm is usually a ;-) :-)
ah and now I saw the context.
A shorter mast has a few more advantages.
...
3) As mentioned before a not so hard wipeout, and less chance to landing on the foil when crashing
Ok this one is pretty big. My shins agree.

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Bille
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Re: Is it Hard to learn how to ride a Hydrofoil ?

Postby Bille » Tue Sep 11, 2012 7:45 pm

tautologies wrote:
A shorter mast has a few more advantages.
...
3) As mentioned before a not so hard wipeout, and less chance to landing on the foil when crashing
Ok this one is pretty big. My shins agree.
My friend Tommy in SD, told me to use a helmet for when the foil comes around
and tryes to knock you Out after each fall !!

Kite boarding for me is like standing on Stilts while standing on an unstable
board ; and the stilts are NOT very well attached. If i tighten them up More,
then the blood stops flowing and i cramp up immediately.

Doing a back-roll on a strapped surfboard will never result in the same rotational
energy because of that slop in the interface. The leg i'm designing will give
me a LOT more control, so it's gonna be like buying all new kite boards
because the added control. I feel it now when the leg is Over tightened , but
can't do that for more than 10min or the cramps start to Really hurt and
i have to come in and loosen the leg.

Part of the reason i Need such big fins is to dampen out the slop in
the prosthetic ; will be fun not having to deal with that any longer.

SO -- riding a hydrofoil should be like standing on sloppy stilts ;
while standing on the mast of the foil or a second pair of stilts.
This should be difficult but :
This is a challenge i look forward to ; and should net me a bunch of Free Beer
if i can pull it off !!!

Bille

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Re: Is it Hard to learn how to ride a Hydrofoil ?

Postby lbatbeach » Thu Sep 13, 2012 5:17 pm

Got my first try on the foil yesterday. Our spot has a lot of shallow reef so it is not very user friendly. My buddy from MHL went out on the foil at a spot down wind from the main reef. I met him outside the reef and we switched boards. He encouraged me to keep the board in the water by just trying to kite slowly. Doing this was hard for me as I was working the kite too much. Dont think my kite was too small but everything just felt different. He was on a 9 and could foil no problem. I was on my Naish Park 10m and struggled.

Definitely harder for me riding switch stance. With my right foot back it was much easier.

Question... what style kite is best for the foi? Can I expect to have success on the Naish Park 10 or 8 or do I need more of a bow style kite for park and ride. I am hoping not to buy any new kites for this.

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Re: Is it Hard to learn how to ride a Hydrofoil ?

Postby ChristoffM » Thu Sep 13, 2012 5:35 pm

Nah, I think you can use almost any kites for the foil. Good depower for the gusts are nice to have if you have not so clean wind. Since you can normally go out with quite a bit smaller kite than normally needed you don't have to rely on a bow power/depower so much. You can throw the small kite around to get up and get foiling and then just park and ride.

I discovered last weekend how fun a small kite can be. I was on my 7m with the foil having a blast, throwing the kite through the power zone and cruising where ever I wanted to go on the foil while the others were on 12m kites just staying upwind on twintips.

But while learning it helps to have a bow type kite (or delta is best I think), but not for long. A bigger slower kite helps for learning, and probably will give you a faster ride if you are into racing with the foil, but in the beginning you definitely do not want to go too fast.

I think the kites you have are fine. Just get out there and practice. Don't think of changing kites till you have can ride your foil well and still feel you need some of this or that property in the kite.

Hydrofoils are awesome. Enjoy the silent ride!

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Re: Is it Hard to learn how to ride a Hydrofoil ?

Postby tautologies » Thu Sep 13, 2012 8:18 pm

lbatbeach wrote:Got my first try on the foil yesterday. Our spot has a lot of shallow reef so it is not very user friendly. My buddy from MHL went out on the foil at a spot down wind from the main reef. I met him outside the reef and we switched boards. He encouraged me to keep the board in the water by just trying to kite slowly. Doing this was hard for me as I was working the kite too much. Dont think my kite was too small but everything just felt different. He was on a 9 and could foil no problem. I was on my Naish Park 10m and struggled.

Definitely harder for me riding switch stance. With my right foot back it was much easier.

Question... what style kite is best for the foi? Can I expect to have success on the Naish Park 10 or 8 or do I need more of a bow style kite for park and ride. I am hoping not to buy any new kites for this.
How experienced are you on the foil? Going underpowered is harder than riding with a little more power. Especially if you are riding flat. The whole idea is that once you are up out of the water your drive upwind and force apparent wind into the kite with barely any resistance. If you cannot stay out of the water and drive the foil, then you cannot take advantage of the apparent wind.

Now the parks have been working fine for me. It is easier to ride a more sheet and go kite in the beginning but Parks work fine. I think the newer parks will work better with foils than the older ones, The earlier models tend to spring forward and drop a bit of the power, which if you cannot get out of the water can be hard when underpowered, but once you can stay above it works fine. I do think the newer Park retains much more of the power (can now be ridden with a raceboard. Now when that is said, maybe the Ride is a better choice for a foil...since it is both light and have that sheeting type pull.

Edit: I do think the super grunty low aspect sit deep in the window type kite are the worst for foil riding.

Like mentioned above most kites will work, but some will work a little better IMO. :-)

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Re: Is it Hard to learn how to ride a Hydrofoil ?

Postby gmb13 » Thu Sep 13, 2012 11:07 pm

There is no best kite for Hydrofoiling.

I have tested our foils with all different types of kite. Again with normal kiting, different kites suit different styles of riding.

If you want to go fast and race and upwind is the most important, then get a High AR Kite.

If you are more into carving and floaty tricks then get something that sits deep in the wind window.

The Foil is more than efficient enough to go upwind even with trainer kites. I have been riding with 2 line trainers and the Viron and it still works.

What is important however is kite weight as you will be flying the kite at the bottom of its windrange. Most three strut Wave kites are light and can handle flying in light winds without backstalling and will still relaunch. Racekites are the same. Most Freestyle and Freeride orientated Tube kites are however a bit heavy and will react slow and/or be backstally in the low end part of their range, especially when going downwind on the foil.

--
Gunnar

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Re: Is it Hard to learn how to ride a Hydrofoil ?

Postby Zeeko » Tue Oct 02, 2012 8:46 am

Hi

I was last Week end in La Baule, France, for the last stop of the KTE
Wind was super light and some racers went out with 17m kites.
I was riding all the 2 last days long with a 14m Notus XLW (contest was forbidden for hydrofoils)

Some of the riders were impressed by the speed of the Makaira Hydrofoil,
here some shoots at 43" and 1'32





Other shoots from a friend with double riding foil!!
funny to watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... -XNDOP16VE

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Bille
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Re: Is it Hard to learn how to ride a Hydrofoil ?

Postby Bille » Tue Oct 02, 2012 5:20 pm

Zeeko wrote:Hi

I was last Week end in La Baule, France, for the last stop of the KTE
...
That looked like a FUN place to be !!!!!!!!
From what little i know about French people :
"They Know how to through a Party" !!

Thanks for posting that --
Bille


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