Greetings! This is my first post.
My wife, kids, and I all started kiteboarding in March of this year (2015) by taking lessons at Houston Kiteboarding. We had zero wakeboard, surfing, or kite experience. Today, I am now riding upwind, jumping, landing about 10%-15% of my jumps, and doing toe-side transitions on the twin tip.
Tomorrow is my birthday, 46, and I wanted to get a surfboard as a progression to my eventual goal of foiling. However, after much discussion with the experienced riders on the levee, most of whom thought this was a good idea to start with a surfboard, I took Phil Midler's advice and bought myself the Liquid Force Hydrofoil and Foil Fish last weekend from Houston Kiteboards. Phil convinced me that I probably didn't need to learn to ride the surfboard before foiling, although it was admittedly more of a hypothesis than an experienced opinion.
Here in Houston, since the Liquid Force aluminum masts came out, Phil has been cutting the full-length masts down to a 1 ft and 2 ft height for beginners, to help them gain some experience and confidence before graduating to the 3 ft mast that comes stock with the foil. The 1 ft mast also allows us to ride in the shallow water close to the shore of the main local riding area.
So, it took me about 20-30 minutes in my first foil session with the 1 ft mast before I could get up and ride for much distance, however, by the end of the first hour I was up and foiling for 100s of yards each way. I couldn't have been more psyched!
I had a repeat one-hour foil session, yesterday, in 10-15 mph after four hours of 15-20 mph wind in warm and smooth water on my twin tip, before I had completely worn myself out.
Anyway, thanks to Phil, Chris, Hana, and Rockney at Houston Kiteboarding for getting me from first-time kiteboarder to foiling in about 3 months! And thanks to my beautiful bride for driving down to learn to kiteboard with me.
Peace!