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juandesooka said..
Just do it is good advice ... there really is no shortcut to learning the muscle memory here. It is so weird and different, the only want to learn is by feel, reading about isn't going to do much.
However, I do think back to that first few sessions, endless wipeouts over and over, with out of control lift shooting me in every direction. The scary part was going too slow (trying to be safer) and falling sideways, forcing the wings up, so you land on the wings ... I call it "the switchblade", ouch. Turns out a little speed is your friend, much like trying to ride a bike too slow.
Some learning aids may help. I have friends who used the 18/24/36" mast progression and were up and foiling in the first 30 seconds of trying. They experienced zero of what I did in that first week. Which is a lot less frustrating, but also lessens chance of injury. I'd recommend that to a beginner, at least for initial orientation stage.
The other thing is large wings. I was on an original carafino, about as low aspect as foils got. I can't imagine learning on one of these twitchy set ups even for intermediates. I have a Takuma sup foil, we were learning it behind the boat, and my friend who has never been on a foil was able to make it work on his first try. On a normal kite foil, he for sure would not have got it as quick. So that's another beginner option -- I know some of the kitefoil instructors out there are using these for that reason.
But back to JUST DO IT: even with some learning aids, there's no substitute for building that muscle memory other than practice.
You do have a point about those early days and the use of learning aids to minimise the crashes. It's your choice which track you want to take.
I watched a friend using a North Speedster with the learner wedge in the other day. He was doing long foiling runs in about 30 minutes with not many crashes. So it can work.
I had a shot on it , very easy to use. Very little lift / feedback at the front ... in fact I was looking for more. Be interested to ride it without the wedge.
Cab double agent less so but again still very easy to use plus others ...
On reflection , once I had better learning conditions it did not take me too long to get those longer runs (1-2 hours 500 metres + ) and it was generally on gybing I was crashing and doing that for a long time before the penny dropped.
Breaching became less of a problem as I got better depth control - in effect making my own short mast just by keeping it down. That is after all the first learning issue.
But now I have ridden a few others and can compare with a little knowledge , wrapped with my original choice even though it may have made the learning curve harder.
That's the path I chose based on 35 years of buying gear for windsurfing and kiting.
I have to thank Gorgo and SirV for their advice based on what they had learned and what they understood about my skills and experience. In the end it is my decision and then , just do it.
Just loving my jshapes performance on both freestyle and wave foils. Man , it is so nice to use
and I sometimes think I don't deserve it.
Riding carbon gear is quite different to the other materials as well as it seems it's design DNA tends towards higher performance due to its racing background amongst those manufacturers doing it for long time. Eg Levitaz, Moses , Zeeko etc.
The mainstream manufacturers are more focussed on a design for everyone to use .... which can dumb it down a little for those who want that next level.
Just based on what I have used and seen and not bagging other makers at all. ...Happy to be corrected.
Sorry about long posts , becoming little obsessed
and cant wait for the next session
Cheers.
dorothyinste
> 9 months ago, 1 Jan 2017
