Turn and run if a wave is closing out.
Out in chest high stuff last night and come to the conclusion that trying to get over the shoulder where the wave is breaking just doesn't work on a foil if you don't time it right.
Net result was knee through the top of my board
I'm starting to think trying to ride foils in waves is a waste of time, just not the same feel as a surfboard.

Why should it be the same as a surfboard? The only reason to do it is because it's fun.

Damaging your board is not a big deal as long as you can repair it and/or have a spare. I dinged my board recently and the local board repairer had it ready for me in two days.

I am having a new board made, partly for something better, and partly to fill in the gap so I have a complete backup foiling kit. It's still fun to kitesurf using standard gear, but it's always best to have the choice to go foiling.

You really need to slow down as you come up to the wave and almost let the speed of the wave provide the lift (unless you are Plummet and going for max altitude).

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high as a kite said..
Turn and run if a wave is closing out.
Out in chest high stuff last night and come to the conclusion that trying to get over the shoulder where the wave is breaking just doesn't work on a foil if you don't time it right.
Net result was knee through the top of my board
I'm starting to think trying to ride foils in waves is a waste of time, just not the same feel as a surfboard.

Haha. You poor old bugger! Never mind , fix it and get out there again and stop whinging
Thank your lucky stars you have wind and waves. We are having a quiet few weeks.

I always turn and runaway on a closeout
And no , it's not the same cause it isn't the same. Hehe.

Just had my first few sessions in some Darwin waves (up to chest high) and can't stop smiling. It was awesome fun even though very light wind on a 17. Prob around 10 knots, and less.
So just cruise about on the faces and drift a little , carving through peaks and slush. Woohoo!

Cant wait for a bit more wind and use a more manoevrable kite. It's hard on a big kite and light wind.

See you in Robe in a couple of weeks and you can show us your skills !

Also looking forward to hearing from Gorgo about the new board.....

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bigtone667 said..
You really need to slow down as you come up to the wave and almost let the speed of the wave provide the lift (unless you are Plummet and going for max altitude).

Ahahaha.... Well my max altitude on the foil suck. More to the point the landings suck.

Yeah, Just avoid the close out, Race down wind, upwind, pussy jybe , punch off the lip, scream through at full speed. Do what ever you need to do to void the close out.

I know your feeling. a roosting a glorious wave on a surface board is better than riding the same wave on the foil. But there are times when you cant ride the wave on the surface board or the swell is sweet but the wave is crud. There are many ways to enjoys the swell and waves. Pick the tool for the conditions. The foil widens the conditions that you can have fun in!

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eddiemorgs said..

high as a kite said..
Turn and run if a wave is closing out.
Out in chest high stuff last night and come to the conclusion that trying to get over the shoulder where the wave is breaking just doesn't work on a foil if you don't time it right.
Net result was knee through the top of my board
I'm starting to think trying to ride foils in waves is a waste of time, just not the same feel as a surfboard.

Haha. You poor old bugger! Never mind , fix it and get out there again and stop whinging
Thank your lucky stars you have wind and waves. We are having a quiet few weeks.

I always turn and runaway on a closeout
And no , it's not the same cause it isn't the same. Hehe.

Just had my first few sessions in some Darwin waves (up to chest high) and can't stop smiling. It was awesome fun even though very light wind on a 17. Prob around 10 knots, and less.
So just cruise about on the faces and drift a little , carving through peaks and slush. Woohoo!

Cant wait for a bit more wind and use a more manoevrable kite. It's hard on a big kite and light wind.

See you in Robe in a couple of weeks and you can show us your skills !

Also looking forward to hearing from Gorgo about the new board.....

Me whing, never, must be thinking of someone else

I wouldn't call what i do skill, more like kooking around.
Enjoying it now with the new setup.

See you in a couple of weeks

Hate to say it, but unless you are in the Spitfire club, the chances of getting that surfboard carving feel on a wave from a foil is a lost cause.

of course you can get a geriatric slow foil but then it's only pivotal turning

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RAL INN said..
Hate to say it, but unless you are in the Spitfire club, the chances of getting that surfboard carving feel on a wave from a foil is a lost cause.

of course you can get a geriatric slow foil but then it's only pivotal turning

Why even look for a surfboard feel? Ride a surfboard for that.

Ride a foil for the foil feel.

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RAL INN said..
Hate to say it, but unless you are in the Spitfire club, the chances of getting that surfboard carving feel on a wave from a foil is a lost cause.

of course you can get a geriatric slow foil but then it's only pivotal turning

I disagree. I do a lot more carving on a SUP foil in the surf than I ever did on the spitfire.

+1 above.

I'm also enjoying my sup foil in waves.

Spitfire has a fun surfy feel but it would always outrun the wave. Never tried the XLW wings tho

Ive gone back to the Green and White as my preferred ride, or a Takuma for waves. I prefer the front foot biased snowboard stance instead. Feels more natural to me (as a non surfer)

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jamesperth said..
+1 above.

I'm also enjoying my sup foil in waves.

Spitfire has a fun surfy feel but it would always outrun the wave. Never tried the XLW wings tho

Ive gone back to the Green and White as my preferred ride, or a Takuma for waves. I prefer the front foot biased snowboard stance instead. Feels more natural to me (as a non surfer)

The XLW are the bomb.....they are so fun and and pivot on a dime. No trouble with outrunning the waves, if I build up a little too much speed it's not hard to wash off the speed. This is a winner for me, much much better for the waves than my Stringy. I have not tried the sup foils yet, but really don't feel I need to. I am stoked with the SP. I think the Canard design IS what is making the difference on how you can turn on a wave and where you apply the pressure to get that surf feel.

I'm going the other way in the waves. High speed carving more powered up. Ripping down the line along the face toeside at full speed then laying down the hardest fastest toe to heal transition to then turn back onto the wave toeside. So much fun.

Ok its not a traditional wave ride. But super fun!

I am not in proper waves, more large wind swell. But, just the act of being high up on the foil and dropping straight in to a steep face always gets my heart beating. That and the gliding feeling of carving long turns on the wave face feels really special. I always envied gannets swooping along the wave face and foiling is the closest we're going to get to that.

I have a personal opinion that it's not wave riding in a challenging sense to ride healside along a wave/swell face with the kite towing and wave powering.
its when you roll over to toeside and go down the line with either the kite drifting or being used to power through a bottom or top turn.

this is the challenge and the potential reward when foiling.
so far I can only manage a bottom, top then the top continues back to original tack. But I have to work on kite control to extend the run.

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dafish said..

jamesperth said..
+1 above.

I'm also enjoying my sup foil in waves.

Spitfire has a fun surfy feel but it would always outrun the wave. Never tried the XLW wings tho

Ive gone back to the Green and White as my preferred ride, or a Takuma for waves. I prefer the front foot biased snowboard stance instead. Feels more natural to me (as a non surfer)

The XLW are the bomb.....they are so fun and and pivot on a dime. No trouble with outrunning the waves, if I build up a little too much speed it's not hard to wash off the speed. This is a winner for me, much much better for the waves than my Stringy. I have not tried the sup foils yet, but really don't feel I need to. I am stoked with the SP. I think the Canard design IS what is making the difference on how you can turn on a wave and where you apply the pressure to get that surf feel.

I agree with dafish . . . the XLW setup is amazing for tight carving . . . it is a shame you only tried the standard setup James. Having said that, it is the surfing back foot pressure that drives the hard carving.

I have yet to try the standard wings myself so can't comment on that setup.

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RAL INN said..
I have a personal opinion that it's not wave riding in a challenging sense to ride healside along a wave/swell face with the kite towing and wave powering.
its when you roll over to toeside and go down the line with either the kite drifting or being used to power through a bottom or top turn.

this is the challenge and the potential reward when foiling.
so far I can only manage a bottom, top then the top continues back to original tack. But I have to work on kite control to extend the run.

But you can also run down the line drifting the kite heelside.

I personally don't because my break and prevailing winds give me lefts And I'm goofy. So it's all toeside down the line for me.

Personally I don't care how it's done as long as it's fun. I try to depower the kite as much as possible and play with pumping and all the rest. It's really only experimentation.

I generally drop into waves toeside then do a heelside carve then return to toeside to tension the lines. That's followed by a lot of surfy pumping and wiggling and repeat.

I occasionally try to ride heelside in the other direction but that is downwind so line tension is a problem. I've tried looping the kite to keep it flying but that is a bit of sensory overload for me to be foiling and on a wave and looping the kite all at the same time.

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Gorgo said..

I occasionally try to ride heelside in the other direction but that is downwind so line tension is a problem. I've tried looping the kite to keep it flying but that is a bit of sensory overload for me to be foiling and on a wave and looping the kite all at the same time.

Imagine the speed you will generate!!!!!!!

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Gorgo said..
Personally I don't care how it's done as long as it's fun. I try to depower the kite as much as possible and play with pumping and all the rest. It's really only experimentation.

I generally drop into waves toeside then do a heelside carve then return to toeside to tension the lines. That's followed by a lot of surfy pumping and wiggling and repeat.

I occasionally try to ride heelside in the other direction but that is downwind so line tension is a problem. I've tried looping the kite to keep it flying but that is a bit of sensory overload for me to be foiling and on a wave and looping the kite all at the same time.

Down the line looping is easy. Just fishpole the bar and ride the wave down wind. Loop the other way after 2-3 loops. It's easier than actively flying the kite back and forth.

Just practice not of the wave face first.

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Plummet said..

Gorgo said..
Personally I don't care how it's done as long as it's fun. I try to depower the kite as much as possible and play with pumping and all the rest. It's really only experimentation.

I generally drop into waves toeside then do a heelside carve then return to toeside to tension the lines. That's followed by a lot of surfy pumping and wiggling and repeat.

I occasionally try to ride heelside in the other direction but that is downwind so line tension is a problem. I've tried looping the kite to keep it flying but that is a bit of sensory overload for me to be foiling and on a wave and looping the kite all at the same time.

Down the line looping is easy. Just fishpole the bar and ride the wave down wind. Loop the other way after 2-3 loops. It's easier than actively flying the kite back and forth.

Just practice not of the wave face first.

Yup, down the line looping is the go. You don't generate power because you are chasing the kite. However, what the looping does is keep the kite positioned deep behind in the wind window allowing you to not have to fly it towards the other side. If you start to lose speed, ( which you generally don't on the wave) you can loop the kite back into the power zone for a little pick me up. Once you get comfortable doing multiple loops both way quickly it is super fun. This style of flying the kite is pretty essential when riding waves strapless on the foil.

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RAL INN said..

Yup. This is where it's at for me. The Spitfire is legit!

This clip definitely doesn't do it for me. I don't see any foil surfing. This is just a guy riding around in some small waves and occasionally some whitewater. Every session I have at the beach is like this (well, my tacks are not as good). He's better than the average rider but this is essentially the same as watching Greg Drexler from BRM.

Not hating on him/ it, I just don't get how this video shows what makes the Spitfire a "surf foil".

I want to see more wave powered riding - like this :

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jamesperth said..
This clip definitely doesn't do it for me. I don't see any foil surfing. This is just a guy riding around in some small waves and occasionally some whitewater. Every session I have at the beach is like this (well, my tacks are not as good). He's better than the average rider but this is essentially the same as watching Greg Drexler from BRM.

Not hating on him/ it, I just don't get how this video shows what makes the Spitfire a "surf foil".

I want to see more wave powered riding - like this :

It's all well and good if you have the jetski slinging you in. I like both clips, however the previous clip is more like the average day we get here. The SP dude is turning tight top to bottom, re entries on whitewash etc. The other guy is going mostly strait line. They are both awesome advancements for enjoying the aspect of interacting with waves.

After 3 days of the forecast 13-14 knots of easterly wing not happening.
id take any type of wave kitefoiling and be thankful.
loaded gear on Thursday evening next touch was unloading it just now.
of course while I'm at the job site tomorrow, you'll know what'll happen.

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jamesperth said..
This clip definitely doesn't do it for me. I don't see any foil surfing. This is just a guy riding around in some small waves and occasionally some whitewater. Every session I have at the beach is like this (well, my tacks are not as good). He's better than the average rider but this is essentially the same as watching Greg Drexler from BRM.

Not hating on him/ it, I just don't get how this video shows what makes the Spitfire a "surf foil".

I want to see more wave powered riding - like this :

Select to expand quote

jamesperth said..
This clip definitely doesn't do it for me. I don't see any foil surfing. This is just a guy riding around in some small waves and occasionally some whitewater. Every session I have at the beach is like this (well, my tacks are not as good). He's better than the average rider but this is essentially the same as watching Greg Drexler from BRM.

Not hating on him/ it, I just don't get how this video shows what makes the Spitfire a "surf foil".

I want to see more wave powered riding - like this :

Would have been insane for sup foil and then no need for petrol cowboy to help out ??