Landing on the board edge with my shins. Ouch!

[Topaz]

At my very first sessions foiling I was landing often on the leeward edge of the board every time the kite would pull me out, always having bad scratches.

For a while I thought I was over it, but two days ago it happened again and worst than ever.
The wind was very light, under 10 knots, so I rigged 12m with 30m lines. I was working the kite to get going when a gust got me out, the foil got quickly powered, the wings came out of the water and both board and I were launched leeward for a couple of meters, luck being so bad that I landed shins first on the edge of the board.

It hurt so badly, that I thought I had a broken bone. I got bad scratches and a big bump on my shin. Out of the sport for some days.

[matth]

ouch!! I would wear my thickest wet suit till I got past the learning stage..

[BWD]

That's what's cool about the slingshot and similar soft top boards. I do not have one. Do have bruises. The shin bruises hurt but heal faster than the thigh bruises (or worse) from falling on the wing itself. I found out.

[Topaz]

I have the Cab.Double Agent. I guess it has the sharpest edges, as the construction is like a twin tip.

I think I'll try wearing my soccer shin guards. It's hot in Florida for a thick wet suit.

[opie]

I think I'll try wearing my soccer shin guards.

You'll get lots of style points for that.

[plummet]

What you need to do is learn to eject in the right direction so A) you don't land on the foil and B) it doesn't hunt your down and get you.

My suggestion is try diving off in different directions until you find the direction that works for you.
Also if your sense impending doom, jump off before you get to a shin smashing crash.

I now have my crashing dialed so that I almost never are hit by the board.

[Dwight]

I'm not a fan of just jumping off. I've seen too many newbies get hurt, so when I learned, I went with the idea of never jumping off. I learned from the very first day to lean back and edge until my butt hit the water. Stopping safely and regaining control.

[lovethepirk]

I have the Cab.Double Agent. I guess it has the sharpest edges, as the construction is like a twin tip.

I think I'll try wearing my soccer shin guards. It's hot in Florida for a thick wet suit.

Dude, I've smashed my shins 3x now and the last one was just wicked painful. Got home and felt some pain laying in bed and looked at my shin and looked like half a ping pong ball was under my shin. Iced it for 2 hours off and on, woke up and it was gone other than just a nasty welt and bruise.

I'm foiling now and only wrecked my shin once while learning. Now, I'm trying some slow jibes and I really think b/c I am so tentative with the move I am more likely to hurt myself. My last shin smack was from placing the kite above and putting my right foot in the front strap and then the board tilted to leeward and I just dropped like a stone right on top of the board edge.

I have UV leg pullover things now for the summer and you can bet your ass I rigged up some sliced in half pool noodles to stuff under them for practicing jibes. I'd wear shin guards if I had them, no joke

[rightguard]

I bought some mountain bike shin guards today. They came with knee protection too but I just cut them off. They fit great and worked well in the water. Of course I didn't hit my shins today but I did feel better knowing I wouldn't hit my bruised shins again.

[Tone]

heh, It's one of the most savage sports to learn.

my first time out I did a full scorpion with both feet in the straps. I fell backwards and the foil and board flipped away from me. Both ankles felt like they were broken, they weren't thankfully.

if you're learning and you're on a tube kite it might be worth looping the kite when you come off to pull yourself away from the foil? I do that on my foil kites sometimes when I know if I come down on the foil.