Wow... with those skills, a swimming pool would be adequate room... I guess it took Greg all of 6 months to get that good. Perfect coordination between man, kite and board. Unimaginable 10 years ago, but now:
ronnie: Thanks for forwarding the video fun. Travel package for sure. And hopefully game-changing package for enjoying riding near home.
ulx: Thanks.
tomatkins: Thanks. I have been accused of ballet-style riding even before the hydrofoil. Hope to ride with you in the Gorge and hope to get you flying on a hydrofoil!
Tone: Thanks.
Peter_Frank: I hope not very far for anyone. In the last few days I've lent a foil to two different kids and both were up and flying first tack. Took me several sessions to get even a shaky flight while they made it look like the easiest thing ever. Gotta love that. I agree. Never boring, no matter our individual riding progression.
borist: This is my second time around to be interested in smaller boards. First time was just to explore the idea. But I was still interfacing with the water's surface a bunch so I enjoyed going back to a longer board for a smoother transition from flying back down to sea level. I thought I'd stay stoked on this indefinitely till several months later I by chance tried a shorter board again and found it super helpful toward completing some flying transitions I was working on. Since then have found the shorter the board / the lower the swing weight the easier to do some flying maneuvers. Making the board same length as my mast was one silly target length but I've gone shorter since and am still trimming an inch at a time. When I did this before I crossed a threshold from no problem to ride to I can't even waterstart so I'm tying to keep a lid on it this time.
ulx: Totally. One complaint I've heard about foiling is something like "I got into kiting to have less stuff. I'm not interested in more stuff with the hydrofoil." I can appreciate that. But with one hydrofoil + one tiny board + a super simplified quiver I'm able to access way more riding conditions. So for me the hydrofoil has resulted in less stuff, not more.
cnski: Just to suggest an alternative perspective on the video. The video was a single quick shoot of one random after work session. I think that's part of the beauty of the hydrofoiling opening up so many more conditions so we can fit it into a nicely balanced life. Not that my life is balanced. I'm a freak. But it gives me hope for riders that live farther from where they ride. Less skunked days. More fun days riding. An awesome evolution for our sport!!