Did a forum search and didn't find any real hits on this...

Helmet while strapless foiling on flat water - is it necessary, on a scale of 1-10? I've had a couple of sessions on the foil and not really seeing where the risk lies.

Not in it for the glory but would rather wear my wide brimmed hat!

I'm a religious helmet wearer. Which is probably a good thing because I like to do silly activities. Helmets have saved my life at least 5 times over the years.

I haven't actually been hit in the head yet with the foil. No the less I still wear the helmet. After a while you learn to crash in a manner where the foil doesn't get you.

However, I have whiplashed my self several times with high speed smack downs. I wonder for the foil vent smack down if a helmet is actually worse for whiplash because it gives your head a larger surface area to push through the water than normal?

Hothead hey?

Blew a gybe today, fell forward, foil came and hit me on my helmet. Also great for sun protection.

Helmet? Absolutely. The board folliws you when you come off the front. Until you have the skills of Mr Drexler of Cloud kite fame, it's a must.

jackforbes said..
Did a forum search and didn't find any real hits on this...

Helmet while strapless foiling on flat water - is it necessary, on a scale of 1-10? I've had a couple of sessions on the foil and not really seeing where the risk lies.

Not in it for the glory but would rather wear my wide brimmed hat!

I don't think anyone could say wearing a helmet has no value but once you have spacial awareness of the foil, helmet wearing for foiling offers similar things to helmet wearing for twintiping or wave kiting. Do you wear a helmet twintiping?

snalberski said..

jackforbes said..
Did a forum search and didn't find any real hits on this...

Helmet while strapless foiling on flat water - is it necessary, on a scale of 1-10? I've had a couple of sessions on the foil and not really seeing where the risk lies.

Not in it for the glory but would rather wear my wide brimmed hat!

I don't think anyone could say wearing a helmet has no value but once you have spacial awareness of the foil, helmet wearing for foiling offers similar things to helmet wearing for twintiping or wave kiting. Do you wear a helmet twintiping?

Nah. The TT doesn't leap out of the water and go flying at my head.

snalberski said..

jackforbes said..
Did a forum search and didn't find any real hits on this...

Helmet while strapless foiling on flat water - is it necessary, on a scale of 1-10? I've had a couple of sessions on the foil and not really seeing where the risk lies.

Not in it for the glory but would rather wear my wide brimmed hat!

I don't think anyone could say wearing a helmet has no value but once you have spacial awareness of the foil, helmet wearing for foiling offers similar things to helmet wearing for twintiping or wave kiting. Do you wear a helmet twintiping?

I did get hit on the head by my twintip last week, but that was when it fell on me when i was trying to get the Gerni out from the back of the shed. I'm thinking after ten years of not using it that it might be time to get rid of it!

This kind of sums up my question though, i don't wear a helmet normally kiting, i haven't been hit on the head for several years, so its a low risk profile for me. But if there is a credible risk of it cleaning me up along the lines of russkraut's and emmafoils comments, then it seems like the way to go.

So it seems like a soft 8 on the 1-10 scale at the moment!

snalberski said..

jackforbes said..
Did a forum search and didn't find any real hits on this...

Helmet while strapless foiling on flat water - is it necessary, on a scale of 1-10? I've had a couple of sessions on the foil and not really seeing where the risk lies.

Not in it for the glory but would rather wear my wide brimmed hat!

I don't think anyone could say wearing a helmet has no value but once you have spacial awareness of the foil, helmet wearing for foiling offers similar things to helmet wearing for twintiping or wave kiting. Do you wear a helmet twintiping?

Regardless of how skilled a foiler you are, there are inherent risks to foiling that are different from kiting with planing boards. There are many, but 2 obvious ones are the foil shoots thru the water when you fall off (unlike a twintip) and if you make a mistake with roll control, the foil can "jack knife" towards you (unlike a twintip).

oldbones said..
Fallen off foil 3000 times, hit hard in head once. Glad I was wearing my helmet

Epic session!