Getting psyched for summer

Mashup of some new and older vid, all by Thomas Hofmann - hope you're back on the water for summer...
Mind-blowing piloting skills

Civilized paradise^2

Great edit, footage and music

what is mr smooth trying to do at the end: clew first gybe?

Nice, thank you, heading into Fall here, waiting on the winds.

Inspiring, I've just started trying a bit of wind swell carving and appreciate the skills on display in the video. The control of flight height in the swell is amazing.

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thedoor said..
Civilized paradise^2 Great edit, footage and music. what is mr smooth trying to do at the end: clew first gybe?

Cheers

Who knows, clew-first something or other - he gets bored now doing 360s in waves

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John340 said..
Inspiring, I've just started trying a bit of wind swell carving and appreciate the skills on display in the video. The control of flight height in the swell is amazing.

Cheers.
Congrats on giving swell carving a go - for me the most fun on foil
Anyone can learn to control ride height with enough practice, even at speed in big swells. Muscle memory is created so eventually no conscious effort is needed.
It does require pretty intense focus on the swells well ahead, but "body suspension" movements become automatic.

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azymuth said..

John340 said..
Inspiring, I've just started trying a bit of wind swell carving and appreciate the skills on display in the video. The control of flight height in the swell is amazing.

"body suspension" .

Love those video's!
That's a perfect description as I've been learning to handle swell/chop
And not breach. Most of my "lake swell" is created by wakesurf boats or 30 foot sport cruisers. Predominant wind direction puts me hitting them head on (perpendicular to my heading). "Body Suspension " is the key. Also bear away hard and ride them lengthwise if possible.
Or get a longer mast

Superb video...Has everything! great content and riding skills, drone footage and excellent editing

Fantastic. And I wonder how many drones have been lost filming you guys. I don't think you really appreciate the drone until you lose one. Yes.......guilty as charged.

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marc5 said..
Fantastic. And I wonder how many drones have been lost filming you guys. I don't think you really appreciate the drone until you lose one. Yes.......guilty as charged.

I was wondering how those "follow me" drones would work in 30knt winds. Can they go land on the beach if battery low etc. Sounds risky...

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marc5 said..
Fantastic. And I wonder how many drones have been lost filming you guys. I don't think you really appreciate the drone until you lose one. Yes.......guilty as charged.

I don't think Thomas has lost any - even flying in 25-30 knot winds a km offshore

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WsurfAustin said..

marc5 said..
Fantastic. And I wonder how many drones have been lost filming you guys. I don't think you really appreciate the drone until you lose one. Yes.......guilty as charged.

I was wondering how those "follow me" drones would work in 30knt winds. Can they go land on the beach if battery low etc. Sounds risky...

Cool edit!

As one of the few people to have a Skydio outside of the US primarily using it over water, I can tell you firsthand it would struggle in those winds.

Technically they are only rated to about 22kn

I have pushed it closer to say 27-30kn gusts and it will track a rider downwind fine, but can't maintain position on an upwind tack and I have had one get hit by a cross gust and flip and crash at low altitude in those conditions unfortunately

There is no RTH feature either, but with proper planning it's definitely not as risky as it sounds

I did a review over a year ago for Kiteworld, but have learnt a lot since then - magazine.kiteworldmag.com/issue-106/skydio2-drone-review/
www.skydio.com/blog/featured-flyer-paul-davies/

I'm an average-at-best manual pilot compared to Thomas, but the robot is unparalleled for solo shooting