I am struggling to get going on my J Shapes 95cm mast and thought I would try a shorter mast (after about 4 sessions).

Anyone got a small Tuttle box type mast that would fit the J Shapes foil?

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Adfreetv said..
I am struggling to get going on my J Shapes 95cm mast and thought I would try a shorter mast (after about 4 sessions).

Anyone got a small Tuttle box type mast that would fit the J Shapes foil?

Suggest getting in touch with Antoine at Jshapes mate. I believe they make a shorter mast.

What problems are you having ?
Maybe some experienced people can help with some advice.
I have learnt on that board plus others on the forum. Am having a blast now.

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Adfreetv said..
I am struggling to get going on my J Shapes 95cm mast and thought I would try a shorter mast (after about 4 sessions).

Anyone got a small Tuttle box type mast that would fit the J Shapes foil?

I have the JShapes with 95cm mast with the feeride foil and can tell you it is an extremely beginner friendly and easy to ride rig. They do make a 70cm mast but if I was you I wouldn't bother. Its sounds like you have higher expectations than what is the normal reality. The first step is to be able to ride with the board flat on the water (If you have mastered riding the board flat on the water in 4 sessions you are doing well) with front straps fully forward and no back strap. Back foot over the mast, maybe even towards the front of the mast.This brings your centre of gravity forward, disallowing the foil to rise.
Once you can ride with the board flat on the water start to bring the straps back. Once you have the straps back ( which brings your centre of gravity backward) and you gain enough momentum the foil will just rise by itself.
Expect it to take at least 10 sessions before your getting good longish runs on the foil....could be longer could be shorter but perseverance is the key.

What is not working for you currently? Are you able to ride the board flat on the water, and just not getting up on the foil, or are you having trouble getting going at all? It's weird riding round with a whole mast and foil under the board but once you're used to it things click pretty quickly and your 95cm mast will be fine.

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Adfreetv said..
I am struggling to get going on my J Shapes 95cm mast and thought I would try a shorter mast (after about 4 sessions).

Anyone got a small Tuttle box type mast that would fit the J Shapes foil?

Just persist mate. The J Shapes is relatively easy to ride and it rises super early. I am missing mine. Now that I live here I'd buy it back but can't as in the meantime (I could not live without a foil) I got a cheaper set up with sharp aluminium foil but similar board. Happy to let you have a go on that one just to see if you find it easier (it does not have straps though). What I found is that on the J Shapes I needed to be further towards to front than on the one I currently have. So as snalberski says, have your rear foot on the mast or even slightly in front, and the front foot as far forward as possible. I had it at the very front of the pad, which is even further towards the nose of the board than where the front strap position would be. If you use straps then you can't go any futher to the front. You then need to push your hip further forward, so with slightly bent knees leaning your lower body forward slightly. Or/and have the rear foot adjusted on/before the mast to find that sweet spot, in the beginning. If the board does not raise then either go faster or better, move ever so slightly first your rear foot back by a few cm, or both feet if needed. But gradually, otherwise you do the banana thing.
Once up and running I recon the front strap positions are perfect. Rare foot position could for a while still be more like on the mast or slightly behind, and only much later you will feel comfortable to have it way back where the rare strap is. Some (I think it was snalberski?) therefore place a strap or hand-made strap between the screws so that you have a temporary strap option on the mast for that interim period.

Where are you foiling? St. K is pretty good, not kiddy pool but to the right essentially where the lessons are, as you would go further out anyway hence not be in the way. You avoid the chop which is annoying in the beginning as it pushes your board around. But once up you have all the space out and to the right and you always come back in easily.
Happy to catch up for a session there to perhaps watch and help.

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RussKraut said..

Adfreetv said..
I am struggling to get going on my J Shapes 95cm mast and thought I would try a shorter mast (after about 4 sessions).

Anyone got a small Tuttle box type mast that would fit the J Shapes

Once up and running I recon the front strap positions are perfect. Rare foot position could for a while still be more like on the mast or slightly behind, and only much later you will feel comfortable to have it way back where the rare strap is. Some (I think it was snalberski?) therefore place a strap or hand-made strap between the screws so that you have a temporary strap option on the mast for that interim period.

Yes when I wanted to start boosting on the foil the rear strap position felt way weird. I used the mast screws to rig a rear strap more forward (just a flat strap) which worked really well. Eventually I just persevered practicing with the fitted rear strap position and got used to it after a couple of sessions.

All the above
4 sessions is not really enough to get some feel for it and it depends on the quality of the sessions.
Conditions are critical . If the conditions are relatively flat in cross to cross on , around 15kts , then that is good as it gets.
If you are struggling with depth and running aground then its too onshore to make the effort worthwhile, consider moving some else . I wasted a lot of time on this problem .
Use the kite you would normally choose , you can change down later
Rear foot directly over mast , front strap loose and in the most forward position .
Ride with a view to keeping the board on the water with consistent speed . Use front foot pressure with forward body position as described above . This will get your body position memory adjusted and give you some idea how the thing feels .
For me, once I had done the above , the forward motion + speed causes the foil to rise on an even plane , dont try to force it , just let happen .
Then there is a lot more to figure out , but its a start .

Hi All and RussKraut (no complaints about the board - it just doesn't love me - yet),I'm not much one for social media or sharing but wow - I really appreciate the quality responses from you all - Thanks xxx

So to answer everyone in general. Yep, I am amazed by how hard/different it is. After 13+ years kiting and even after reading all the stuff here I must admit I was conceited enough that I thought - meh, I will be ok, no worries.

Where I am learning is at Raafs at Barwon Heads which has a small ocean wave and a very shallow gradient. This means that it takes some effort and time to get out deep enough and then after that, I wash up downwind in the scarier breakers towards Ocean Grove. The walk of shame back carrying everything is also a huge effort for this old soul!

I am still not able to ride around with the board on the water. I just kangaroo hop violently. My back foot is in front of the mast and not in a strap and my front foot is in the strap on the rail. I must say that 50% + of the time I am just trying to get in position to water start (so a lot of the downwind progress is wasted on that). So I get perhaps half a dozen attempts before I have to walk back up, which I can only do twice per session.

I am trying to think front foot weight but obviously not managing that too well. There is so much happening with the waves, the way the board fights me in the setup and flying the kite and remembering to stay forward. I am hoping with the summer and more consistent sea breezes that life will be easier!

Select to expand quote

Adfreetv said..
Hi All and RussKraut (no complaints about the board - it just doesn't love me - yet),I'm not much one for social media or sharing but wow - I really appreciate the quality responses from you all - Thanks xxx

So to answer everyone in general. Yep, I am amazed by how hard/different it is. After 13+ years kiting and even after reading all the stuff here I must admit I was conceited enough that I thought - meh, I will be ok, no worries.

Where I am learning is at Raafs at Barwon Heads which has a small ocean wave and a very shallow gradient. This means that it takes some effort and time to get out deep enough and then after that, I wash up downwind in the scarier breakers towards Ocean Grove. The walk of shame back carrying everything is also a huge effort for this old soul!

I am still not able to ride around with the board on the water. I just kangaroo hop violently. My back foot is in front of the mast and not in a strap and my front foot is in the strap on the rail. I must say that 50% + of the time I am just trying to get in position to water start (so a lot of the downwind progress is wasted on that). So I get perhaps half a dozen attempts before I have to walk back up, which I can only do twice per session.

I am trying to think front foot weight but obviously not managing that too well. There is so much happening with the waves, the way the board fights me in the setup and flying the kite and remembering to stay forward. I am hoping with the summer and more consistent sea breezes that life will be easier!

Haha, the set up is great and you'll love it eventually I am sure. I agree, consistent seabreezes is what you need especially for the early days of foiling. Too little and too much wind just hurts and slows down the progress. Chop and waves too. Hence perhaps go to the bayside e.g. St. Kilda for those very early sessions. Just to the the right of the marina you only walk/drag about not even 20m and you're out in the deep but still relatively protected from chop.
As the board is so light and has so much boyancy it does not like chop, it just bounced up and down and floats downwind faster than anything else. While this is great on the touch downs (and when carrying it), it is rather annoying when positioning your board. But trust me it is a matter of a few more sessions, in good conditions and flatish water and you have sussed it out and then the hydrophobic nature of the board becomes an advantage ;-)

The bunny hopping is always a sign of too much rear foot (or too little front foot) pressure so try and have your center of gravity (lower backside) more forward. It's an awkward body position to start with, so different to tt or sb, but you will see it works. Bending especially the front knee will help.

Good luck, fight through this phase and you'll love it!

Yep , all good advice from Russkraut.
The location and conditions are so , so important at the beginning. It made a huge difference when I found a good spot.

If it's any use , for postioning at the start , my method is to grab the other side of the board at the rear ( around the back footstrap holes ) and pull it all the way over until the board is almost on it's side. Then front foot in , back foot in place and sine the kite as you normally would.... with a bit of finesse. Only enough to pull you up.

Don't worry about what the foil does too much , oddly it seems to find its way and corrects the board into position as you go, plus lean forward at the same time from the very beginning of the movement ( not later ) to stop the bunny hopping. That's a bastard.

Stay with it. It's a good piece of gear , you'll be up and running in a bit.
But it is a whole new learning process. I have 25 years of windsurfing and 8 of kiting which went out the window when learning to foil.

If if I can do it , anyone can, believe me.

Cheers Eddie

I got going a bit more this time. Perseverance seems key.

Hi Nige

When you're learning to foil the first several hours you need to do everything you can to keep the board down on the surface. Rising up on the foil will come automatically with time. It took us about 6 hours. Get your back foot way forward and just cruise back and forth.

The Aha! moment comes when you find you can feel the foil through your feet. It's all muscle memory. Once you can feel the foil then everything comes quickly. Even keeping the foil down you'll feel the foil generating lift and that's when you start to progress.

The thing about riding back and forth is that you can finish a session by riding back to the beach. The other thing that is useful is learning to body drag back to the beach, either upwind or downwind, without too much effort. You can even lie prone on the board and ride with occasional glides on the foil. It's quite fun.

Initially you want to use the same size kite you normally use, but once your comfortably riding around you want to go down to a smaller size. All you really want is enough power to water start.

I am perfectly happy on my J Shapes in choppy water. I spend most of my time riding in strong winds and carving waves.

The J Shapes Freeride foil need a slight smoother transition to get up and foiling. If you try to pop up too slow then you'll get some bunny hopping. Getting a little more speed with the board down will help and letting the foil naturally come up by itself.

If you desperately want to spend some money then the J Shapes Cruzer foil is huge fun. It comes up slower and carves beautiful turns. You only lose a few knots of top speed compared to the Freeride.

I am a bit sceptical about the short mast thing. It might make things a bit easier before you know what you're doing. It definitely makes life more difficult once you're up and foiling. The foil is less tolerant of chop and you end up ventilating. I have the 70cm J Shapes and it is good for taking off in light onshore conditions when I can;t get out far enough to get going with the 95cm.

PS The biggest mistake for newbies is believing that foiling is a light wind sport. If you drop your kite in light wind then you're swimming in. Make sure there is enough wind to keep your kite flying easily and enough to relaunch. True light wind foiling is a much more advanced skill.

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Gorgo said..
Hi Nige

When you're learning to foil the first several hours you need to do everything you can to keep the board down on the surface. Rising up on the foil will come automatically with time. It took us about 6 hours. Get your back foot way forward and just cruise back and forth.

The Aha! moment comes when you find you can feel the foil through your feet. It's all muscle memory. Once you can feel the foil then everything comes quickly. Even keeping the foil down you'll feel the foil generating lift and that's when you start to progress.

The thing about riding back and forth is that you can finish a session by riding back to the beach. The other thing that is useful is learning to body drag back to the beach, either upwind or downwind, without too much effort. You can even lie prone on the board and ride with occasional glides on the foil. It's quite fun.

Initially you want to use the same size kite you normally use, but once your comfortably riding around you want to go down to a smaller size. All you really want is enough power to water start.

I am perfectly happy on my J Shapes in choppy water. I spend most of my time riding in strong winds and carving waves.

The J Shapes Freeride foil need a slight smoother transition to get up and foiling. If you try to pop up too slow then you'll get some bunny hopping. Getting a little more speed with the board down will help and letting the foil naturally come up by itself.

If you desperately want to spend some money then the J Shapes Cruzer foil is huge fun. It comes up slower and carves beautiful turns. You only lose a few knots of top speed compared to the Freeride.

I am a bit sceptical about the short mast thing. It might make things a bit easier before you know what you're doing. It definitely makes life more difficult once you're up and foiling. The foil is less tolerant of chop and you end up ventilating. I have the 70cm J Shapes and it is good for taking off in light onshore conditions when I can;t get out far enough to get going with the 95cm.

Cheers Greg, trust you are well. So you have Both J Shapes foils and masts now? Boards?

I have both the Freeride and Cruzer foil and the 70 and 95cm mast.

The board is still the 155cm. I have a hankering for new stuff, but there's really no point. My foiling experience keeps improving and I might as well stay with what I've got. Theoretically the floaty 155cm is better for very light wind riding than a smaller board and that is something I aspire to. I don't have any problems riding the 155cm in very strong conditions (>30 knots).

The 70cm mast is really only useful for light, onshore winds. I have thoughts about mounting it on my SUP but I'll wait and see about that. I went bodyboarding in the surf with the Cruzer foil and the 70cm mast and that was surprisingly successful. It's quite easy to get up on the foil and cruise about.

PS. There is a truism in foiling in that you learn stuff and you think you have it wired. Then you learn something else and realise that your previous knowledge, while not necessarily wrong, is partial at best. Even 200+ hours in I am still getting regular Aha! moments. Even subtle changes like the amount of bend in your knees can have a huge effect on speed and upwind angles and foot placement.

Select to expand quote

Gorgo said..

The J Shapes Freeride foil need a slight smoother transition to get up and foiling. If you try to pop up too slow then you'll get some bunny hopping. Getting a little more speed with the board down will help and letting the foil naturally come up by itself.

Gorgos comment here is spot on , don't force the foil up , just let board speed over the wing lift you .

Its a wing taking off and needs a certain speed to get lift . You will be able to force it a bit more later down the track

Hello,

This is Antoine from J Shapes, Gorgo's feedback is right on.

The 70cm mast is made for going slow, waves and shallow spots, you will get more windrange out of the 95cm mast and you will be able to recover if the foil starts to push you up, but it is not has forgiving. The 70cm is more forgiving if the foil breaches. I use the 70cm mostly in the surf and tidal spots.

Quick word of advise:

The foil is creating lift regardless whether the board is in the air or on the water, the foil has a minimum speed to get up. What you want to to is go pass that speed just a little so that the foiling is constantly pushing up and your front leg is pushing to keep it down. This will vary with rider weigh, kite size and conditions. Once you get a feel for the amount of down force required to keep the foil down you can start by allowing the foil to lift just a few centimeters and push it back down, then you get to a stage where you have a constant chatter against the board. Then you can start by getting longer rides but stay close to the water with your kite high so that you can dump power and push the board back on the water to slow it down.

1. Weight forward(do not use a back strap, it tends to shift weight back)
2. Foils comes up flat(no rodeo)
3. Push it back down
4. Keep it low until you can control lift.

Call if you have any questions, much easier over the phone.

Thanks,

Antoine

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Jshapes said..
Hello,

This is Antoine from J Shapes, Gorgo's feedback is right on.

The 70cm mast is made for going slow, waves and shallow spots, you will get more windrange out of the 95cm mast and you will be able to recover if the foil starts to push you up, but it is not has forgiving. The 70cm is more forgiving if the foil breaches. I use the 70cm mostly in the surf and tidal spots.

Quick word of advise:

The foil is creating lift regardless whether the board is in the air or on the water, the foil has a minimum speed to get up. What you want to to is go pass that speed just a little so that the foiling is constantly pushing up and your front leg is pushing to keep it down. This will vary with rider weigh, kite size and conditions. Once you get a feel for the amount of down force required to keep the foil down you can start by allowing the foil to lift just a few centimeters and push it back down, then you get to a stage where you have a constant chatter against the board. Then you can start by getting longer rides but stay close to the water with your kite high so that you can dump power and push the board back on the water to slow it down.

1. Weight forward(do not use a back strap, it tends to shift weight back)
2. Foils comes up flat(no rodeo)
3. Push it back down
4. Keep it low until you can control lift.

Call if you have any questions, much easier over the phone.

Thanks,

Antoine

Hi Antoine,
I appreciate your input especially as I bought my foil from RussKraut here, following Gorgo's trusted advice.

I am committed to persevering. Do you have any thoughts regarding elasticising the straps? I have had my front foot trapped a couple of times and would like a bit more give in them to release.

Nige

Select to expand quote

Adfreetv said..

Jshapes said..
Hello,

This is Antoine from J Shapes, Gorgo's feedback is right on.

The 70cm mast is made for going slow, waves and shallow spots, you will get more windrange out of the 95cm mast and you will be able to recover if the foil starts to push you up, but it is not has forgiving. The 70cm is more forgiving if the foil breaches. I use the 70cm mostly in the surf and tidal spots.

Quick word of advise:

The foil is creating lift regardless whether the board is in the air or on the water, the foil has a minimum speed to get up. What you want to to is go pass that speed just a little so that the foiling is constantly pushing up and your front leg is pushing to keep it down. This will vary with rider weigh, kite size and conditions. Once you get a feel for the amount of down force required to keep the foil down you can start by allowing the foil to lift just a few centimeters and push it back down, then you get to a stage where you have a constant chatter against the board. Then you can start by getting longer rides but stay close to the water with your kite high so that you can dump power and push the board back on the water to slow it down.

1. Weight forward(do not use a back strap, it tends to shift weight back)
2. Foils comes up flat(no rodeo)
3. Push it back down
4. Keep it low until you can control lift.

Call if you have any questions, much easier over the phone.

Thanks,

Antoine

Hi Antoine,
I appreciate your input especially as I bought my foil from RussKraut here, following Gorgo's trusted advice.

I am committed to persevering. Do you have any thoughts regarding elasticising the straps? I have had my front foot trapped a couple of times and would like a bit more give in them to release.

Nige

My thoughts .... loose strap and don't put your whole foot in , just your toes unless waterstarting.

It's just guide , not an important part of learning.
Avoid the strap as much as possible and get used to ejecting from the board making sure it's a clean release from the strap.

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Gorgo said..
I have both the Freeride and Cruzer foil and the 70 and 95cm mast.

The board is still the 155cm. I have a hankering for new stuff, but there's really no point. My foiling experience keeps improving and I might as well stay with what I've got. Theoretically the floaty 155cm is better for very light wind riding than a smaller board and that is something I aspire to. I don't have any problems riding the 155cm in very strong conditions (>30 knots).

The 70cm mast is really only useful for light, onshore winds. I have thoughts about mounting it on my SUP but I'll wait and see about that. I went bodyboarding in the surf with the Cruzer foil and the 70cm mast and that was surprisingly successful. It's quite easy to get up on the foil and cruise about.

PS. There is a truism in foiling in that you learn stuff and you think you have it wired. Then you learn something else and realise that your previous knowledge, while not necessarily wrong, is partial at best. Even 200+ hours in I am still getting regular Aha! moments. Even subtle changes like the amount of bend in your knees can have a huge effect on speed and upwind angles and foot placement.

A bit of feedback on the jshapes gear.

Just had my first go on the jshapes cruzer foil on a 9 neo.

Awesome fun .... generally ; earlier lift , easier turning and transition , great for beginners and plenty of room to grow with it.
Slower than the freestyle foil at speed ( I have not found the top end of the freestyle foil , it's too scary ) , less reactive and more forgiving ( the freestyle will very quickly tell you when you have it wrong ) but smooth as and very easy to carve generally and especially on waves.
With it's slower foil speed I felt I could more closely adopt a surfboard stance and approach to a wave , drift and loop the kite down the line.
I think I will progress for a while on the cruzer foil , tidying up transitions , kite skills and enjoying waves more etc, but the freestyle foil is brilliant for pure performance ... quite noticeably missing when on a slower foil.
I can now swap between the 2 depending on conditions which is handy.

Looking forward to the wet season ! ????

Select to expand quote

eddiemorgs said..




Just had my first go on the jshapes cruzer foil on a 9 neo.

Awesome fun .... generally ; earlier lift , easier turning and transition , great for beginners and plenty of room to grow with it.
Slower than the freestyle foil at speed ( I have not found the top end of the freestyle foil , it's too scary ) , less reactive and more forgiving ( the freestyle will very quickly tell you when you have it wrong ) but smooth as and very easy to carve generally and especially on waves.
With it's slower foil speed I felt I could more closely adopt a surfboard stance and approach to a wave , drift and loop the kite down the line.
I think I will progress for a while on the cruzer foil , tidying up transitions , kite skills and enjoying waves more etc, but the freestyle foil is brilliant for pure performance ... quite noticeably missing when on a slower foil.
I can now swap between the 2 depending on conditions which is handy.

Looking forward to the wet season ! ????

Gone to the dark side as well

Select to expand quote

high as a kite said..

eddiemorgs said..




Just had my first go on the jshapes cruzer foil on a 9 neo.

Awesome fun .... generally ; earlier lift , easier turning and transition , great for beginners and plenty of room to grow with it.
Slower than the freestyle foil at speed ( I have not found the top end of the freestyle foil , it's too scary ) , less reactive and more forgiving ( the freestyle will very quickly tell you when you have it wrong ) but smooth as and very easy to carve generally and especially on waves.
With it's slower foil speed I felt I could more closely adopt a surfboard stance and approach to a wave , drift and loop the kite down the line.
I think I will progress for a while on the cruzer foil , tidying up transitions , kite skills and enjoying waves more etc, but the freestyle foil is brilliant for pure performance ... quite noticeably missing when on a slower foil.
I can now swap between the 2 depending on conditions which is handy.

Looking forward to the wet season ! ????

Gone to the dark side as well

Haha. Yeah mate . How are you going ?

Select to expand quote

eddiemorgs said..

.....
A bit of feedback on the jshapes gear.

Just had my first go on the jshapes cruzer foil on a 9 neo.

Awesome fun .... .....

I've just gone back the Freeride foil after several weeks on the Cruzer. The Freeride is a bit faster and goes upwind a little better, but to get the best out of it you need much better technique.

For pure unadulterated endless fun the Cruzer foil is better. I don't know for sure, but I believe, the Cruzer could be the best fun foil on the market. Slightly less top speed than the Freeride, but you can go absolutely flat out in the crappiest conditions and it just laps it up. If you see a wave just carve that thing, then do it again, and again, and again. Soooooo much fun.

Select to expand quote

eddiemorgs said..

high as a kite said..

eddiemorgs said..




Just had my first go on the jshapes cruzer foil on a 9 neo.

Awesome fun .... generally ; earlier lift , easier turning and transition , great for beginners and plenty of room to grow with it.
Slower than the freestyle foil at speed ( I have not found the top end of the freestyle foil , it's too scary ) , less reactive and more forgiving ( the freestyle will very quickly tell you when you have it wrong ) but smooth as and very easy to carve generally and especially on waves.
With it's slower foil speed I felt I could more closely adopt a surfboard stance and approach to a wave , drift and loop the kite down the line.
I think I will progress for a while on the cruzer foil , tidying up transitions , kite skills and enjoying waves more etc, but the freestyle foil is brilliant for pure performance ... quite noticeably missing when on a slower foil.
I can now swap between the 2 depending on conditions which is handy.

Looking forward to the wet season ! ????

Gone to the dark side as well

Haha. Yeah mate . How are you going ?

Those south easterly you know have been cranking for a month or so, loving it.

Having a ball on the double agent at pinch gut and orwell rocks in 12 knots. Still not that good but improving.

I hate it when I see you guys kiting in shorts, but only for a minute. Give me a wet suit and south easterly's any day

Hope all's well up there.

Select to expand quote

high as a kite said..

eddiemorgs said..

high as a kite said..

eddiemorgs said..




Just had my first go on the jshapes cruzer foil on a 9 neo.

Awesome fun .... generally ; earlier lift , easier turning and transition , great for beginners and plenty of room to grow with it.
Slower than the freestyle foil at speed ( I have not found the top end of the freestyle foil , it's too scary ) , less reactive and more forgiving ( the freestyle will very quickly tell you when you have it wrong ) but smooth as and very easy to carve generally and especially on waves.
With it's slower foil speed I felt I could more closely adopt a surfboard stance and approach to a wave , drift and loop the kite down the line.
I think I will progress for a while on the cruzer foil , tidying up transitions , kite skills and enjoying waves more etc, but the freestyle foil is brilliant for pure performance ... quite noticeably missing when on a slower foil.
I can now swap between the 2 depending on conditions which is handy.

Looking forward to the wet season ! ????

Gone to the dark side as well

Haha. Yeah mate . How are you going ?

Those south easterly you know have been cranking for a month or so, loving it.

Having a ball on the double agent at pinch gut and orwell rocks in 12 knots. Still not that good but improving.

I hate it when I see you guys kiting in shorts, but only for a minute. Give me a wet suit and south easterly's any day

Hope all's well up there.

All good here mate but hot and the stingers are out. Getting some wind though and loving the jshapes gear
Can now carve turns and mostly transition with both foils ....small kites help a lot.

Yeah , some great waves down there to play on with the foil! Kite surfers paradise ...in the summer

The Darwin mob are invading Robe first two weeks in Feb. about 10 of us. Bring on the se's then!

Hope to catch up. Maybe we will arrange a trip to Nene valley or something like that although kinda hard to travel again once we have got to Robe.
Be good to show them some of your country , which will explain to them why you're such a smug bugger when we compare locations.

Better make sure the wood supply is good ....have to keep the soft northerners warm
Hoping they have got the message to bring a wettie ...hehe. T One still recovering ...

Select to expand quote

Gorgo said..

eddiemorgs said..

.....
A bit of feedback on the jshapes gear.

Just had my first go on the jshapes cruzer foil on a 9 neo.

Awesome fun .... .....

I've just gone back the Freeride foil after several weeks on the Cruzer. The Freeride is a bit faster and goes upwind a little better, but to get the best out of it you need much better technique.

For pure unadulterated endless fun the Cruzer foil is better. I don't know for sure, but I believe, the Cruzer could be the best fun foil on the market. Slightly less top speed than the Freeride, but you can go absolutely flat out in the crappiest conditions and it just laps it up. If you see a wave just carve that thing, then do it again, and again, and again. Soooooo much fun.

Yeah , you're right Gorgo , you need to be more precise on the free ride which I think will make us better having learnt on it.
I still hadn't found its limit though. It just rips through our chop without getting unstable. Nervous giggles as you clear it at pace. Awesome sensation of seeing 2-3 foot chop passing beneath you at 15- 20 knots. Just kissing the board.

Went out on the free ride again yesterday to compare and I thought it was a considerably quicker than the cruzer ... but i have only spent a day on the cruzer , so I might need a bit more time.

The bit of time on the cruzer helped a lot with technique too , I noticed that I was handling the free ride much better yesterday. Especially in transition of feet. Sorted out a coupl,e of kinks in technique.

Yes , the cruzer is going to be blast .... and a great learning platform , we just need monsoon and bring on the waves up here.

I'm doing a little bit of foil instruction at the moment and 5 hours is the fastest I've seen anyone manage to progress to a controlled Foil from scratch. That was on a 70cm mast / Takuma Sup Foil too which is a lot easier than a conventional kitefoil, and the rider had very refined kite skills.

as everyone has pointed out there is a lot of "unlearning" to be done. Foiling seems to be a front foot dominated sport akin to snowboarding. All those years on TT/ SB and wake don't really help make the transition.

Antoine has made some great comments in his post but everyone else is spot on. Keep the weight forward and get confident riding without foiling, and the rest will come. Porpoising is a sign of too much weight on the back foot / trying to fly whilst riding too slow. The foil rises then stalls, and you crash back down. With speed the foil will breach the surface and eject you off the back - this can be a little dangerous so take care.

It is totally achievable however so persist and I bet after 10-15 hours you will be enjoying the feeling of flying above the waves.

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eddiemorgs said..
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The bit of time on the cruzer helped a lot with technique too , I noticed that I was handling the free ride much better yesterday. Especially in transition of feet. Sorted out a coupl,e of kinks in technique.

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I feel that when riding along I am about 2-4kph slower on the Cruzer. I record all my sessions on my GPS watch. When I glance at the speed the numbers seem to be a little lower than on the Freeride. When I analyse the rides over 500m splits there is no observable difference.

Where there is a big difference is that I am often on the Cruzer in blast mode. I do very short runs with lots of turns, sometimes doing linked heel and toe carves. Those sessions are half the speed of sessions where I do coast runs.

The other thing that has made a difference is that stance seems to make a huge difference in speed and upwind angle. If I widen my stance and bend my knees a lot more, I can feel myself going faster. More importantly I am pulling away from my mates, who were faster than me previously. That is always a wonderful thing.

What I particularly like about the Cruzer is everything is so easy. If it ventilates it either just makes a noise, or it bucks a bit and carries on. I rarely fall. I can aggressively carve into transitions and blast out of them at speed. It is very much like riding a surfboard. Turns can be a lot tighter so those wobbley light wind transitions become neat little carves. Almost every one of my water starts is straight up onto the foil. I feel like I need a "Yay me!" sign when I'm riding it.

The only problem is that the Cruzer is so much fun I was worried I would not have space for the Freeride in my quiver. The Cruzer is good for absurdly light winds because it foils so early and easily and the transitions are rock solid. It's great in strong winds because I can hold vast amounts of power and pretend I am surfing all the chop. The Freeride comes into its own when the water is smooth and the wind a touch stronger.

I am now about 7 hours in with 70% of that time spent just swimming to get in position for the water starts. I'm still not comfortable cruising with the board on the water. I can't stop looking at the board and the kite (not the horizon). I would buy the Cruiser if it will get me going soon/er?

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Adfreetv said..
I am now about 7 hours in with 70% of that time spent just swimming to get in position for the water starts. I'm still not comfortable cruising with the board on the water. I can't stop looking at the board and the kite (not the horizon). I would buy the Cruiser if it will get me going soon/er?

There is only as long as it takes to make it happen. A never say no attitude and blind tenacity helps, or is possibly critical. A prize only has worth when it is difficult to obtain.
Zen over.

The Cruzer is much more user-friendly than the Freeride, but I can't guarantee that it will solve your problem.

Have you tried riding with your back foot a long way in front of the mast? Slightly stronger wind and a smaller kite might help too. You want enough wind so that the kite will fly itself and relaunch easily, but only enough power to water start and not much more.

You say you're spending 70% of your time swimming around into water start position. That is normal for the first hour or so. Sounds a bit excessive for 7 hours. It sounds like you are still fighting the board and trying to force things. You need to relax and take things slowly.

For water starting I have 3 straps on the board. I grab the back strap and pull the board into position and put my foot in to stabilise the board. I get the front foot in the strap and get comfortable. I then take the back foot out of the strap, put my foot somewhere in front of the front mast bolt. Water start and go. If I'm in deeper water and well powered I will put my foot further back and water start straight up onto the foil.

You could practice body dragging with the foil in all the positions. Foil up, down, to the side. Board upwind, downwind, left arm forward, right arm forward. The point of that is that you have to be really comfortable with managing the pressure from your body and the leverage from the foil. Generally you align your chest with the top of the mast and vary pressure from there. Steady the board with your front arm and fly the kite with the rear.

If you're near Hampton you can come and get some coaching.