Postby juandesooka » Tue Oct 16, 2018 4:52 pm
I am more safety conscious than most ... one of the last diehards in my local to still wear a helmet, plus impact vest, 2 hook knives, etc ... "Captain Safety". But honestly I think a face cage is probably a little overkill for kite foiling, at least once you're competent. Weighing the risk vs reward, it doesn't seem justified.
But for surf/sup foiling, it's a different story, especially when learning! The difference in kiting is you have a power source that pulls you away from the foil in wipeouts. Surf foiling, when you wipeout, you are mixed in amongst the foil in waves. Even worse, when you're learning you want to go slow, ease yourself in, but it turns out that's super dangerous (similar to riding a bike....a little speed gives you control and is actually safer). Going too slow and leaning on wrong edge leads to "jackknife" wipeouts, where you collapse into the foil. It comes up at you so fast, I find you don't have time to even cover your face ... kinda like going over the handlebars on a bike. I got hit a half dozen times while in newbie stage .... and if I had a cage, I would have worn it. Could easily see the wing smashing your teeth or putting out an eye <shudder>. I am now at nearly a competent beginner stage, but still wearing helmet ... got over confident a few sessions ago, dumb wipeout, bopped my head pretty hard into the wing....hard enough to knock me out without a helmet? Dunno, but scary to think of possibilities.