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my learning progession on a hydrofoil

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meteo
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Re: my learning progession on a hydofoil

Postby meteo » Thu Nov 19, 2015 7:22 pm

here's a small video of me trying out the rear footstrap... it is too far back to be comfortable, but a least I can put my foot in it... tomorrow I will have change the position of the rear footstrap, put it more foward...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQvo8J4 ... e=youtu.be

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Re: my learning progession on a hydofoil

Postby Mossy 757 » Thu Nov 19, 2015 11:33 pm

meteo wrote: I was by far the slowest rider out there and heard no complaints or remarks of me being in “the way”…
So long as we yelled at each other before the tacks ;-)

I was the guy with the beard and the 15m Purple and Orange Elf Joker...great meeting you in person that weekend!

About your Spotz...have you tried putting the footstraps all the way back? When I got my Sword 2 at first, I had my straps WAY forward because I wanted to keep the foil pushed down a lot with forward weight. As I've progressed and learned how to control kite and foil power better, I've moved my rear strap ALL the way back behind the mast and my front straps to the middle settings. It gives me a wider stance, but when I'm going slowly I can just cruise nicely with weight even between feet. When I want to go fast, I keep my rear foot in the strap, but put a lot more weight on my front foot and rotate my hips forward to drive the nose of the board upwind.

At the end of the day, it's all weight/speed dependent, but I think you may find yourself liking it a lot more with practice as you learn how to make the foil work in different modes of sailing...fast, cruising, downwind, upwind, etc.

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Re: my learning progession on a hydofoil

Postby fpvSB » Fri Nov 20, 2015 8:24 pm

meteo wrote:here's a small video of me trying out the rear footstrap... it is too far back to be comfortable, but a least I can put my foot in it... tomorrow I will have change the position of the rear footstrap, put it more foward...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQvo8J4 ... e=youtu.be
Thank you for posting your progression. Really nice to follow your trials before taking the plunge

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meteo
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Re: my learning progession on a hydofoil

Postby meteo » Sat Nov 28, 2015 8:10 pm

Outings 91 to 95, November 19 to November 27, hours 119 to 125

Almost exchange my Spotz3 for the Alien Air… but decided to keep it.

After 7 hours of practice on the Spotz3… I still cannot do a foiling jibe from heel to toe side or the reverse… I am just simply scared as hell of doing it at 13+kts… at that speed I have do downloop the kite and the added power scares me… I usually can control without problem, 90% of the time… but the small 10% scares me… on the forum on another thread, some good riders(I presume) told a newbie that 13kts is not that fast… well it might be true for them and for me in a few more sessions… but not now…

I foil in a small “pound” at skyway bride (st pete) which is about 300 meters by 300 meters… too afraid to go in the “waves” with the new board… yesterday, it was a “calm” day, with winds of about 11 to 12kts… so I went out into Tampa bay… waves were small, but still it affected my speed… I can do easily 20kts in the pound… could hardly do 15kts in the bay… I just do not feel comfortable… but on the bright side, I can jump and do back roll, I find it very easy and a lot of fun… so much, that I have neglected to practice my jibes…

Conclusion of the day: It’s getting to be a lot of work… time is running out… going back up north(Canada) for the holiday’s

https://youtu.be/gfNkBNE_ous

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meteo
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Re: my learning progession on a hydofoil

Postby meteo » Sun Nov 29, 2015 10:24 pm

Hawaiis wrote:You will find the Spotz harder to gybe than your LF.
This comment was giving to me after my first try at the Spotz2 foil... Now that I have bought the Spotz3, I understand better this comment... easy to foil in straight line... I though then, why would it be harder to turn... Now I understand... MINIMUM speed... on the LF, I can almost stop while turning on a "foil" stance and still accelerate in the other direction and thus keep going on a "foil" stance...

With the Spotz3... as I change directions, my speed drops off... and up to now... I have not been able to keep it up high enough to finish the turn on a foil stance... and to add to this defeat... Almost every time I lose speed, I fall so fast out of the "air" that I cannot get my feet out of the front foot strap thus, I twist my ankle... So now I am afraid to "practice" my foling gybes....

I will get it... but… the remark was very accurate... I wonder if Hawaiis knew that the "minimum" foiling speed would be the reason for me to find it so much harder to gybe the Spotz.

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meteo
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Re: my learning progession on a hydrofoil

Postby meteo » Wed Dec 09, 2015 2:46 pm

Outings 96 to 103, November 28 to December 8 2015, hours 125 to 138.
Now I am certain that I will reach all of my goals on a hydrofoil… This week I practiced a lot on the Spotz3… I am now able to (water) jibe it without problem… do jumps, land them, jibe, everything without falling of the board, but still have not found the courage to do aerial jibes and toe side riding with it, still too fast for me…
I decided to go back to the beginners foil (my Liquid Force) and to my surprise had to relearn to ride it… took me at least 15 minutes to get my feeling of the board back… But now, I decided that I would attack the aerial jibes… GO IT…I had done some before just above the water… but now, I do it like in the videos… Way up there, mast at about 60 to70% out… Unfortunately, I still mist a lot of them… I still need a lot of concentration to get them… but now I know that I will eventually be able to get them all... When I was struggling with my on top of the water foot change, somebody told me: one day you will wonder why it was so difficult to achieve this simple maneuver… and I found this to be true… So… I now believe, that with practice, I will arrive at a point were doing aerial jibes will be super easy…

IMPORTANT: I friend of mine, a very good TT rider and one of the local instructors decided to have a go at foiling… So, not wanting to spend money on a beginners foil, he went directly with an intermediate foil, which is faster than my liquid Force foil, but still much slower than my racing Spotz3… After three weeks of riding almost every day and getting beaten by the foil, he decided to try out a beginners foil… and to his amazement, got it in less than 20 minutes… So after practicing a couple of days with the beginners foil, he went back to his intermediate foil… now he is able to ride it.. but still a lot of work… He told me that now he understands why it is almost mandatory to start with a beginners foil, and kept it, to try different manoeuvers, if you want this adventure to be pleasant... I would never get the courage to try difficult maneuvers with my racing foil…like trying a forward roll… back rolls are easy and natural to do, but front rolls are much more difficult… so I tried them with my beginners foil first… I go super slow, about 5 to 6 kts… bring the kite at noon and push the foil out of the water and throw myself forward… so easy at low speed, got it on the first try… Same thing with aerial jibe, the first ones are done at low speed, about 9 to 10 kts… I bring my kite slightly up, this gives me a gentle lift, do my feet change, as I do this my speed drops a bit, but since I have a big fat wing under me… I continue on a foiling stance… could not do this on my racing foil… but I will eventually, as I get better on my beginners foil, this ability will be transferred to my racing foil.

Conclusion of the day: I now see the difference between a FUN foil and a racing foil…

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Re: my learning progession on a hydrofoil

Postby Edge19 » Wed Dec 09, 2015 3:11 pm

Nice one meteo :thumb: glad you're winning.
Is your rear foot position over the strut?
I filed my adjustment further by one papers thickness and think its there now. Mind you I only travelled about 100m in both directions, as light had gone,but it was enough to notice.
I also moved rear strap back one hole.So from the front hole it's the second back and rear hole set it's the 3rd hole back, felt good in heavy deep chop.
I'll let you know how it is after my next session.
Cheers

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Re: my learning progession on a hydrofoil

Postby Mike Warn » Sun Dec 27, 2015 7:30 pm

I've been foiling for about 8 months and have 3 different foils Manta, MHL and Fone
All good foil boards but I was having a hard time doing touch down jibes and air toe side turns until a friend had me try his board and foil he built himself. The board made all the difference very wide and buoyant. So I looked around and read reviews on boards and found Camet http://www.cametkiteboarding.com/ in CA so I but my MHL foil on the camet board and it was great making touch down jibes and my air toe side turns and turning back on the foil I even had a few sessions I kept my hair dry or what's left of it. For my toe side I take my back foot out of the strap and place my back foot over on the side I'm turning to.

So for me a wide floaty board made a big deference I even been over on the ocean side at South Padre Island.

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meteo
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Re: my learning progession on a hydrofoil

Postby meteo » Sun Dec 27, 2015 7:43 pm

Mike Warn wrote: The board made all the difference very wide and buoyant.

So for me a wide floaty board made a big deference I even been over on the ocean side at South Padre Island.
I thought that the board was not important until I tried the Alien Air from Slingshot.... Since then I have tried many boards... Definitly floaty boards for beginners are easier... But big FAT beginners wings are much more important, since foiling is all about being in the "air".

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Re: my learning progession on a hydrofoil

Postby Peter_Frank » Mon Dec 28, 2015 1:42 pm

meteo wrote:
Mike Warn wrote: The board made all the difference very wide and buoyant.

So for me a wide floaty board made a big deference I even been over on the ocean side at South Padre Island.
I thought that the board was not important until I tried the Alien Air from Slingshot.... Since then I have tried many boards... Definitly floaty boards for beginners are easier... But big FAT beginners wings are much more important, since foiling is all about being in the "air".
What do you mean when you say you want them "FAT" ???

I prefer big and cambered/thick wings, and not low AR (for light wind or practicing that is).
As if low AR you can not use them very well when you've learned to foil :roll:
Whereas the normal or high AR big wings are awesome in marginal and light wind and for practicing :naughty:

Although faster and lower AR are great in waves, eventhough sometimes you also want a bigger (slower) wing in waves.

8) PF


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