Just curious - when is the most likely time you might stab yourself or chop body parts off..

Learning specific types of turns or other ?

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SaveTheWhales said..
Just curious - when is the most likely time you might stab yourself or chop body parts off..

Learning specific types of turns or other ?

handling the foil and getting into deep water

By far the most common noob error is back foot too far back and too much pressure on the back foot. The foil will buck and can loop in the air, or stay on the surface and carve around by itself. The end result is a foil descending from above, or a board sneaking up behind you and bonking you on the back of the head.

The loop around can happen at slow speed so you can be sitting in the water getting your wits together and receive a love tap on the back of your bonce.

Forehand gybe fails can be scary. Your body falls foward. The board falls back. The foil comes up at your chest like a stabby chopper of death.

High speed getoffs can be part of the "I'm gonna getya" theme. You come off and swing forward and land in the water. The board comes foiling along after you and gives you a painful chop on an arm or leg with the front of the mast.

Noobs with sharp race foils are particularly at risk to slicing feet, ankles and legs while kicking into position in the water.

Wear a helmet. I've had many bonks on the head from my foil board. The more experienced you get the less it happens.

I've had a few impacts and near misses, rare now, but I sliced my ankle the other day. Armour up for learning: booties, helmet, even impact vest. Sounds overkill but worth it imo.

Not sure about the protective stuff. I always wear a wetsuit and booties. I added a life jacket and helmet while learning.

Certainly the quantity and severity of mishaps are far greater when learning so it makes sense to have protection. Just wait until you get the mast weaving itself through the front and rear lines and a powered up kite pulling the whole thing up against your body.

But also, the most common crashes are high speed face plants and crashes. Impacts to the gear are relatively rare.

Think of the foil snatching the water, add in the 95cm mast, then add in 180cm for my height. That's close to a 3m catapult blasting my head and face into the water. It hurts.

The drag from the helmet and buoyancy vest greatly increase the trauma of crashing at speed. I was getting chronic neck pain from all the hits. I get none of that since I ditched the helmet and vest.

A local burst his ear drum not long back after taking off on a decent wave prone foiling (bit off more than he could chew). I was out with him and heard the slap of his skull on the water. And this guy is one of those locals who looks almost like a professional surfer on a normal surfboard. The head slaps at speed tend to be the thing that gets me the most. Ouch.

First session I thought it was a good idea to kick my feet under the water to bring the foil over. Turns out it was a **** idea and cut my feet on the foil. Lesson learned.

Numerous ways. And it will happen to everyone eventually no matter how careful you are. I control what I can. Besides basic safety gear, I don't ride sharp foils.

Cut my head falling on ... some part of the board or foil. The only day I didn't wear a helmet, maybe third attempt at learning so trying to ride in a straight line.

Brushed the back of the stab with my toes walking through the waves; little slice on the top of the knuckles.

That's it. I don't get these people who thrash around so violently they're forever slicing themselves up like luncheon in a deli.

All my shin scars are from the rear stabiliser during waterstarting.
All the kitemares were from the foil launching up into lines.
But the hurty bits were the face plants as Eppo pointed out.

but 2 years since those were added to.
Body learnt to avoid face plants plus I now use two inline straps that I stay in. Due to the soft Spitfire crashes that don't launch the foil upwards.
No more scars cause no more rear stabiliser.

But think of ways to protect your eardrums in those headfirst water impacts.

Got the value out of my helmet when learning the basics. It happens much less now - don't remember being hit in the head the last 50 sessions or so. I got a blue lip from the last tap I can remember. Don't turn your head back looking for your board for at least 5 seconds after forward crash. If the board is travelling towards you after crash I rather get a tap at my skull than at my face.

I hate hitting the water with my eyes open and the occasional bite to the inside of my cheek. Apart from that it's a lot of fun.

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KIT33R said..
I hate hitting the water with my eyes open and the occasional bite to the inside of my cheek. Apart from that it's a lot of fun.

I hate hitting the water mid-"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu--"

dont forget to learn to fall away from the foil, often on a twin tip or surfboard we try and dig in so we are not so far away from the board by the time we stop after falling, but if you dunno where the board is heading its best to try and glide across the water for a bit to get some distance from the foil ;0

His speed death run smack downs are the worst as a newbie. The foil seems to hunt you down and smack into you all the time. After a while you find a technique to crash away from the foil regardless of the type of crash and foil impacts become a thing of the past.

+1 for Helmet.

If you do come off the front, don't look back. Ever. The board may just follow you and smack you in the mouth. Half a centimetre either way and you'll end up with a cut lip (best case) or missing teeth (worst case). It'll hurt a lot regardless.

Initial learning = manoeuvring the foil during waterstarting (kicking it) or bucking / breaching the foil then forgetting to throw yourself away from the gear as you come off.

After circa ten hours = the face / head slap at speed after a moment of in attention.

I've stopped wearing my helmet as it felt like it was making the head/face slaps harder due to the extra mass. But I think that's not my greatest idea!

Well I have to laugh at all the different scenarios, the other day I managed to achieve all of them in one session.
Each time, remembering the individual posts going farq farq and then laughing. :)
I got all the safety gear and rounded off any sharp edges (slingshot tail) which i did kick but saved by listening to good advice.. most of these happened in the slow gybes or tacks.

Cheers everyone for your helpful input. I know how to avoid them now until the next session ;)

I still think the board shooting through the lines, (this has happened to me twice early on, and for several others I know as well) as the one that gets my adrenaline going. Having the lines wrapped around the mast with a looping kite is never fun. Been fortunate enough both times to go underwater and unwrap before having to ditch everything. The wing becomes the ultimate unpredictable weapon against you.

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dafish said..
I still think the board shooting through the lines, (this has happened to me twice early on, and for several others I know as well) as the one that gets my adrenaline going. Having the lines wrapped around the mast with a looping kite is never fun. Been fortunate enough both times to go underwater and unwrap before having to ditch everything. The wing becomes the ultimate unpredictable weapon against you.

This was by far my worst experience learning as well

Have any of you guys ever tried to break through head high plus shore break with a foil?

That is indeed interesting body dragging through the breakers with a floating axe.

The interesting part is getting to deep water then frantically get foiling to beat next wave.
then if you get out back. You find out you just expended all energy reserves and get barely 2 runs before the fatigue crashes start.

Control what you can: Wear helmet, eye protection, life vest/impact vest. Avoid sharp foils. Avoid having too big of a kite.

Practice kicking foil away from you during crashes and other defensive moves like leaving hands in front of face if there is a chance of foiling coming towards it.

One of the best investments I made was soccer shin guards under my wetsuit on the first few attempts at foiling. Saved the legs when fighting the board and kicking the foil.

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Smithy said..
One of the best investments I made was soccer shin guards under my wetsuit on the first few attempts at foiling. Saved the legs when fighting the board and kicking the foil.

Absolutely. shin guards a GREAT idea. Helmet a must. Impact vest. Wetsuit. Boots for sure. Sometimes double up (eg old wettie legs cut off and placed on top of wettie (might be a bit over the top).
echo the comments : it will hunt you down. Seems all the physics favour that foil following you and it's always faster than your reflexes and swimming
I reckon the guys who don't remember needing the helmet may be like me. They don't notice it cuz the helmet prevents noticeable contact. (Would've noticed those bare scalp dings) because you're focused on mowing the lawn and avoiding the guillotine...

my latest injury this week is a bailout on a failing heel toe transition where I got bronco bucked off and the pendulum swung up, foil wing managed to find the rib cage NOT protected by my impact vest and harness. (Wtf?!) it hurts bad.

i reckon the danger zones are:

first few sessions: Shins and feet

trying to nail transitions: the rest of you, as the porpoising and pendulum swinging hack blade aims high... LOL

all in all this is an amazing new realm of kiting those light wind days, I've been out having a ball on a fully depowered 10m when I normally wouldn't dare even try on an 18m with TT!!

i reckon a good foil injury will kill your season.
best to gear up early and then shed some of it as your skills build. depending on water depth, a helmet with ear flaps is probably a permanent wise call.
Enjoy the stoke!!