Or another way of saying - being experienced and good compared to when I started in the spring, but still a foil-bombing noob compared to the good ones ha haa
Out playing around a few weeks ago in about 11 knots, in the evening on my way home from work.
With a kitecam I put everything up, apart from the straights and going out/waterstarting/one relaunch that is cut away - so all my mistakes and touchdowns are there, all of the Dumbo's.
But when the carves works - it feels GREAT
Not learning as fast as others with my age and talent, but I LOVE hydrofoiling and carving, soooo smooth and a totally next level of experience in less wind than usual !
Feels like ridge soaring and surfing at the same time, a win-win c",)
Might be the longest and boring video, but as I assume most on this forum are avid hydrofoilers, maybe some of you like it or can reckognize this particular period of your progression when you still fall like this now and then ?
PF
Last edited by Peter_Frank on Tue Sep 30, 2014 11:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Favorite Beaches: P-town Harbor, Manzanillo del Mar
Style: Freeride
Gear: FS: S4 8 & 10 m DLX, S4 Lotus 10 & 12 m, Sonic 2 15 m, Ozone R1V2 11 m Core: XR3 6 and 12 m, XR5 9 m FS: FlyRadical M AlpineFoil 5.0 Ti Ultimate Hydrofoil with RX-V5S board; Sport and Lift wings
Hey, cool video, and good timing. I was just out on my foil today for a quick hour session, and was working on these turns too....trying to do heel to toe and toe to heel turns while on the foil, and not touching down. I didn't have wipeouts (probably going too slow), but only got a few dialed where I didn't come off foil at some point in the turn. Lots going on eh, managing the kite's power and position during the turn.
Looked to me like you have the heel to toe ones easy and the toe to heel are a little more challenging.
For me, I haven't yet invested the time to learn to ride "goofy", I only ride foil left foot forward, either heelside or toeside. I have to spend a day learning it, but in the few attempts, it has been painful - so foreign - so I am waiting for the right day.
Anyhoo...this foiling is super fun....makes the lawn mowing days something exciting and new.
PS, super kooky, but here I am....no, I am not an exceptionally tall human, I am on the foil! And yes, in Canada!
Hey man, I'm knowing that feeling all too well. I think there are a lot of foilers "our" age feeling the same. Love the choice of music. I presume you chose it because of its meaning. It was a hit when I was 19. Now I understand the meaning LOL
Lookin good Peter. That was pretty nice swell to play with. You've encouraged me to spend some time working on toe side. We have a bunch of foilers in the Vancouver area but we spend all our time working on tacks and gybes for racing. Because we never ride toeside when racing, we just never work on it. Pretty good skill to have when playing in waves.
irwe wrote:How many hours on the water to get that proficient?
What will you work on next on the foil?
Hmmm, I havent checked how many hours (but logged).
Been out relatively often, but not for that long each time - as this is better for learning a totally different sport (which it is in every way) and also easier when you have work and lots of other things to attend.
Mostly riding waves when windy'er which it is often (on kitewaveboards, not hydrofoil), so steals time too.
The way to get proficient for me ?
In the spring - the first practice regarding turning, was to yank the kite around in the opposite direction, no matter if big kites or small, and turn your board downwind (and even better when on a wave) - and then sheet fully out and turn up again.
This gives the good carving feel, and you learn to handle turning/twisting the board, without falling as it is really easy - but prepares your muscle memory for the full carves later
Then it was to just try a couple of times each session, to carve and ride toeside (a couple of months ago, as I could not do in the spring).
Suddenly something worked, by pure luck - and then it worked more often, but still not every time, as the waves would interfere.
Then 5 weeks ago, I had two sessions a couple of days apart, in flat water (which we dont have here normally), and okay wind for a medium kite size only.
Now I could carve 100% of the time, both ways (and lots of other stuff) - as flat water and a bit more wind is extremely easy
So all the dumbo work payed off suddenly, and the trigger that really rushed it faster, was practicing in more flat water also, to get it dialed.
There was a buoy at this spot (an island, or is the name just a "bar" ?, only half a foot high and a few kilometers upwind tacks to get to the spot), and I practiced all 4 sides repeatedly - as it was awesome to be able to do it with such confidence, and repetitions put it into muscle memory !
This was the first session at the spot - at the second I put a kitecam up, to see what it looked like, and maybe learn something, and maybe share the experiences
Practicing these figure 8's around a buoy was the key (and AWESOME just to be able to go on and on and on - only hydrofoilers will know what I mean) - and 2 weeks later I could master big chop and small/medium waves quite well (as in the long video)
As even small waves add two really difficult new parameters:
1. Keeping the board free but preventing ventilation on the wing.
2. Going down even on a small waveface, accelerates the board hugely - so all timing is changed.
The thing is though, that even when I can do it really good on a given day, then when I change from the Zeeko race to the high ar freeride wing, or back, I am set back and have to learn again for a while.
Also, when changing kite, no matter if bigger or smaller - all timing is lost and have to be learned again for a while (now I am able to learn during a session - so going forward).
Here is a bit of video from my first (well, second) flat water carving fun (practice) - just an internal video and the same all over but shows a few of the 4 combinations I practiced, as when you have a goal/buoy everything changes compared to doing it "whereever" you want :
I sincerely hope I can help some with my experiences ?
As being an older but experienced kitesurfer, has both its ups and downs...
Older means not as fast learning, and what you HAVE learned and have to un-learn takes longer
But you are also able to see through this, and KNOWS that every experience out there, both good and bad, pays off and it will come and pay off
Well, apart from being able to handle a kite and read waves of course, which is extremely good to have on your backbone.
As the feeling of soaring, flying, gliding, carving, surfing is what it is all about on a hydrofoil, just LOVING it
PF
) ahead of me. It inspires me to work harder. I also just started last spring.
