Hi have recently been lent a foil by a mate of mine who is away travelling ( what a legend!) I am 2 sessions in now and I am super keen to get more time under my belt. I have only gone out in quite light winds so far but I am thinking of getting out on some stronger days so I can get more time in, I will probably still stick to under 20knots definitely under 25knkts.

I have heard that stronger winds should be avoided when learning to foil? What do people think ?

I have a 7m and 5m so I have the small kites if needed

For my main discipline, surfboard, my 7m is my most used kite so I feel like I could have some success with the foil on this kite

If a 7 meter kite is your normal go to kite than getting out in 20 to 25 shouldn't be a problem. Most people have a bigger kite as their normal day to day kite for their conditions. Initially the kite should be able to get you standing on the board without too much signing or looping, and then have enough power to get you lift on the foil. The other aspect of stronger winds is chop which makes it more difficult at first, but if you have an area that is smooth enough it won't matter. Main thing is you are out there getting a feel for what the foil is about. Have fun and wear as much rubber and a helmet until you have it down. The foils cut easily and crashes are (or can be) painful when learning.

Thanks da fish, I have had a helmet and impact vest and full wetsuit as my foiling uniform so far, definitely a good idea as I have spent a lot of time floating and did get wacked in the head by the board one time,

I am sticking to the swan river to begin with as there is land on all sides and no great whites ( I think?) It isn't too choppy there and no waves which has made it a lot easier to start off with

Get amongst it
7m for 20knots.5m for 25

As the others have mentioned, stronger winds are fine for learning if you have the kites to cope with them - and you do. I'm 81kg and also learning on the Swan River. I have had great sessions in 20 - 30kts using my 3.5m Cloud and in 15 - 20kts on my 6m Catalyst. It's far easier to learn with comfortable power than in marginal winds where you have to constantly sine the kite and are worried about dropping it. Enjoy the journey. Depending on your weight, your 5m kite will likely be your most used kite if you continue to foil over the Perth summer season.

There are pros and cons for learning to foil in any wind condition.

Strong winds are usually associated with heavy chop which can be a bit tricky especially if you have a smaller board with low volume when you touch down / ride at low speeds. In heavy chop, When the foil is up, you'll have to do more adjustments to keep the foil steady which is more demanding technically and physically.

You'll also have to learn to be more gentle with your kite and your power strokes. Everything happens faster in strong winds so it's generally less forgiving and gives you less time to react to mistakes. Mistakes and crashes in strong winds will be more spectacular and more painful. After a crash, you really have to be aware of the potential for your lines to get tangled in the mast/wings with a death looping kite. This happened to me a few times in low winds, so not a huge issue...however in strong winds this could be extremely dangerous!

As for kite sizes I agree with Plummet, however I would go smaller than that myself. 25 knots is 3m for me.

Have fun and be safe :)

Christian

Thanks for the replies guys, cbulota I definitely hear what you're saying about the potential of the foil getting caught up in the kite lines, so far I have found the foil to move in quite unpredictable and surprising ways during crashes, yesterday after what seemed like a normal easy crash where I did my best to get right away from it but I somehow ended up underneath the foil !!! No harm done but definitely an eye opener

I went out on the river yesterday with my 7m, I call it a 7 but really it is an original bws noise 6m which were labelled with a size smaller than what they are,

Wind was about 15 to 18 knots at first and I was pretty good with that I had some of my best flights on the foil yet but then I got a really light patch and dropped the kite trailing edge down in the water and couldn't get it back up! Oh well I got to practice my foiling and my self rescue !!

In

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Youngbreezy said..
Thanks for the replies guys, cbulota I definitely hear what you're saying about the potential of the foil getting caught up in the kite lines, so far I have found the foil to move in quite unpredictable and surprising ways during crashes, yesterday after what seemed like a normal easy crash where I did my best to get right away from it but I somehow ended up underneath the foil !!! No harm done but definitely an eye opener

I went out on the river yesterday with my 7m, I call it a 7 but really it is an original bws noise 6m which were labelled with a size smaller than what they are,

Wind was about 15 to 18 knots at first and I was pretty good with that I had some of my best flights on the foil yet but then I got a really light patch and dropped the kite trailing edge down in the water and couldn't get it back up! Oh well I got to practice my foiling and my self rescue !!

interesting , wonder if anyone tried self rescue with a foil or what are the best options?

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sonny2727 said..
In

Youngbreezy said..
Thanks for the replies guys, cbulota I definitely hear what you're saying about the potential of the foil getting caught up in the kite lines, so far I have found the foil to move in quite unpredictable and surprising ways during crashes, yesterday after what seemed like a normal easy crash where I did my best to get right away from it but I somehow ended up underneath the foil !!! No harm done but definitely an eye opener

I went out on the river yesterday with my 7m, I call it a 7 but really it is an original bws noise 6m which were labelled with a size smaller than what they are,

Wind was about 15 to 18 knots at first and I was pretty good with that I had some of my best flights on the foil yet but then I got a really light patch and dropped the kite trailing edge down in the water and couldn't get it back up! Oh well I got to practice my foiling and my self rescue !!

interesting , wonder if anyone tried self rescue with a foil or what are the best options?

I have self rescued a few times now with the foil and it can be a pain.

- In no wind at all, I use my leading edge like a pool noodle under my chest. I just push the foil in front of me five metres and start paddling to catch up to it.

- Option 1, In wind, I lay along the leading edge, pull up one wing tip as a sail and try and place the foil just under my free arm for steering. This only works so so with a Cloud but fine with a normal LEI.

- Option 2, In wind (with the Cloud leading edge down), I just grab the front lines of the Cloud and let the sail fill, place the foil under my body and off I go. Some of the smaller rides with larger boards just sit on top of them (Jordan G for example).

Worthwhile practicing.....

Self-Rescue with a foil is just the same a normal rescue, just a lot more efficient! Definitely not painful in the right wind conditions, if you know what you're doing.









Just use the foil like I'm using the TT on this image, as a rudder. If you're good at this you will actually go upwind!

I Self-rescued with my foil a few weeks ago using it a a rudder, wind was no more than 15 knots and I was on a 5m kite. Came back to shore UPWIND from where I started to sail!

Don't pull the wing tip or use the handles (if your kite has handles), both methods are very inefficient. Use the Bridles as per the screenshots ABOVE from my tutorial, it's A LOT more efficient, much faster!

Below is what you shouldn't do, unless you want to take 5 times longer to get to shore.

This is a screenshot from a ''progression'' video and what a lot of kiters keep doing . Terrible....


In NO wind or Off shore wind, if far from the shore, I would consider packing up, rolling the kite and swimming in with the kite on top of the foil, although this will take a while and you loose visibility from a potential rescue as soon as you deflate the kite

I'll try to upload a self-rescue video on the foil one day.

Christian

This method looks interesting:



Important thing is to hang onto the board and not let it go. It goes downwind fast if you let it go.

I'd go with Christians method if there was some wind

That's the advantage of foiling in normal winds. You don't have to worry about the swim in!....

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Plummet said..
That's the advantage of foiling in normal winds. You don't have to worry about the swim in!....

Sometimes things happen in ANY session, like a line break, or whatever. Be prepared.....know what to do, and don't panic. All the previous advice is rock solid. I have found that you actually do go upwind even in the lightest breeze if you are using the foil as a rudder like Christian mentioned.

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Plummet said..
That's the advantage of foiling in normal winds. You don't have to worry about the swim in!....

The problem with a foil is "> 10 knots" become normal wind. Lots of room for swimming.

I've used Weebitbreezy's method a few times whilst testing my light wind threshold, in marginal conditions I use a short leash and take out a long leash attached to the back of my harness as a spare tow rope. That way when it's time for that long swim/paddle in. I just hook the long leash onto the kite and tow it in.

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bigtone667 said..

Plummet said..
That's the advantage of foiling in normal winds. You don't have to worry about the swim in!....

The problem with a foil is "> 10 knots" become normal wind. Lots of room for swimming.

I'm not interested in conditions that have a high swim in chance. Regardless of what the low end of foiling is.