Shared Knowledge for beginners

[Admin]

I tried attaching both the wing and board leash to the waist belt yesterday.  That is my favorite so far.  Arms and legs free is a nice change and a few less tangles as well.  I am going to stick there for a while. 

[Julie_Scheyer]

Someone asked about how to depower the wing.  1.  Extend the boom 1-3 clicks.  I did this yesterday.  Also holding it overhead flat depowers it and going downwind depowers it.  Conversely max wind is perpendicular to the wind so to get going you need to be there.  I saw someone struggle yesterday trying to get going downwind and that’s the least amount of wind even with the waves. 

[PonoBill]

Nice picture Julie, You look completely comfortable despite obviously being in some chunky Swell City or Hatchery swell. And good information as always.

That might have been me you saw struggling--if it looked like an Orca trying to strangle a seagull that was me with my 4-meter. I do indeed know I should be on a broad reach, but I wasn't getting quite enough oomph to get up with my crappy pumping. Pumping the M280 is a challenge--it feels like I'm pumping the wing in peanut butter.  I got up a few times by gaining speed in the reach and then turning onto a swell to pop up like foil surfing, which feels more familiar. Unfortunately, when I did this I wound up a bit out of control and only made it about 50 feet before splashdown.

I'll get it together, and by November I plan to look as relaxed as you do, though probably still Orca-like.

[PonoBill]

Yay!! Breakthrough day. I was beginning to think getting up on the foil on the third day in Maui was just a fluke. I was out at the Hook again, on the 4M with the M280 GoFoil. I kind of hate that wing, especially with the 24" wimpy mast, but it redeemed itself today. I was running back and forth, successfully completing non-foiling jibes about 75 percent of the time, when the wind kicked up suddenly by about 10 mph. Just what I needed. Going on a port tack so my regular foot was in the footstrap and my back foot right on the mast, I pumped the wing and the board, and up it came, pretty as could be.

Following Julie's advice about de-powering I brought the wing up over my head and I could hold the foil in the narrow range that the 24" mast permits in the bumpy swell. Note to self--use the longer mast. I rode the foil all the way to the end of the island and then harvested a huge hunk of river grass and flung myself off the nose of the board. The wing helps a bit with sudden stops since it gave me something to hold onto while I was pirouetting daintily through the air.

Naturally, I was a little excited. My yelling and hollering attracted a windsurfer who assumed I was having a seizure. Nope, all good, thanks.

I got up seven or eight more times, my longest run was from the middle of the hook to fifty yards into the main river. I was trying to cross the river entirely, but my board was touching down lightly on the tops of the swells and it made it hard to stay in control. Faceplant. I'm a pro at those. Easy to see why everyone wants long masts in the river.

Anyway, success. I'm super pumped. I'd still be out there but I abused my knee a little and it started complaining. Seems fine now, but I thought I was done for the day so I came home and had a beer and a sandwich. I should have skipped the beer, the knee recovered quickly so I could have gone back out, but I know the effect even one 12oz beer has on my ability to do any balance sport. Not worth it. More tomorrow.

YAY!

[Admin]

I've just begun working on transitions.  Jibes were easy; tacks not so much  To jibe: turn downwind, switch my hands to the opposite side of the wing, the board follows through.  Tacks: turn upwind, switch my feet, pretzel and fall.   Any tips?

Here's another good one at slow speed.  This guy starts switch, 12:00 o'clocks the wing, pushes it overhead and into the wind to do his hand transition and then does his whole board carve after that.  He's fully on the new reach before he commits the wing at all.  Sweet.

[Admin]

...and then this one.  He's doing his hand switch after the carve.  Clean.  That SlingWing looks great as well.

s

[eastbound]

harvester plant! lol

[Admin]

And this guy is doing his hand switch mid carve.  Super smooth.

s

[Chan]

That is smooth.  I'll shoot for that  .  I noticed he switches his feet way early and then does a long carve prior to a quick smooth transition to the new front hand.  I think I'm still rushing it and that isn't working.  A few hundred more attempts and I should have it. 

[CascadeSup]

[ninja tuna]

So my buddy an I got out the other day in some wind finally.  I will call 10-15mph.  It was towards evening so closer to 15 to start and backing off as it got closer to sunset.  We had the slingshot sling wing on a 6’5” flying V with a 200 maliko foil.  It was on a like with a foot or two of chop.  He is a very good foiler, kiter, surfer and I think windsurfer. Me just good surfer, beginner kiter and foiler.

He gets out and gets the feel and within 5 minutes or so takes off the foil and away he goes.  I was following in a boat.  He said it was so easy and so much fun.   Went for a while and came down, don’t remember why.    But then he could not get back up.  Tried different hand positions and angles and still not getting back on the foil.

It was easy to deflate the wing, out it back in the boat, and head back to where we started.  We were starting in deep water too. Now, one time I took the wing to the bow of the boat and was just holding it at the different angles to see where it felt good and that kind of thing.  This was actually pretty neat to do because it pulled the whole boat. Different from fighting it while standing on land.  He did a second run but still had issues with getting back up on the wing.

I went and started on my knees while holding the wing and getting moving and feeling how everything moved.  My smallest sup surf board is 7’10 so I was a little leery of the smaller flying V in the chop.  After a few minutes I went for standing up and flying the wing.  I was able to do it pretty easily once I felt the lift of the wing an ride standing up.  Never made it up on the foil.

Some things of note

When trying get the wing out of the water when it was upside down, we both were muscling it in a rotational fashion to get it right side up.  This involved getting the water off the wing too. Just by saying “eff this”  I did something different that worked way easier.  The wing was upside down, leading edge towards me ( into the wind).  I basically just lifted the leading edge to flip it going with the wind (downwind) . So now I had the topside  of the wing  on top and handle hold side on the bottom where it needed to be. It was now backwards with the trailing edge facing into the wind.  From there, I just rotated it until I had a handle and it would lift right up.  All of this was while sitting or kneeling on the board.  From doing this it became very easy to now use the wing to get me standing right up.

Now by doing this, another  A – HA moment showed up.

My buddy with his windsurfing background seemed like he wanted to hold it more towards the leading edge.  It seemed like his arms were bent most of the time trying to hold it some what like  a windsurfing sail.  I did the same thing when I started.  We both had issues with catching that lower wingtip in the water and lots of cuss words.

The prototype slingshot he has only has handles about half way down the center strut.  So we had been holding just off the leading edge with out lead hand and on the back handle with out trailing hand.  One time getting up using my new found flip method I held the wing towards the back handle with both hands. One as far back as possible and the other one about 6-8 inches in front of it. The wing practically pulled me to a standing position.  Hmmm…  Now flying it while standing up with this new hand position made it a little harder to control, but I was able to get more power in the wing and more speed.  Also, I was able to fly the wing now with more straight arms.

From watching all the videos, I have seen a lot where the hand hold in more centered.  With lighter wind we were flying in, I guessing I was opening the wing up to more wind.  Where the videos  I have seen holding it more towards the front in higher winds allows to spill power more easily. Also , the wing is more horizontal too.

Another thing we noticed was that the way we were holding the wing initially was very easy to go upwind.  I mean like we could not get down wind.  Trying to turn downwind resulted in the dreaded wingtip drag.  Granted we had a big foil on it. But it worked against us in the chop trying to develop speed to get on the foil.  Once I held the wing more centered. Going downwind was not a problem.

I never felt like I was straining any muscles and did not feel like my shoulders or my hands or my legs were tired. 
Overall it was great FUN.   The tips on here have been great for learning this.  I hope my story helps some. Welcome to any pointers or mistakes you may have picked up from my story.

Here is my buddy. 

https://www.facebook.com/brian.lefeve/videos/pcb.10219443530708036/10219443522507831/?type=3&theater

Not bad camera work for holding the phone/camera in one hand steady while running a boat with the other.

[Admin]

Ninja,

Sounds like you had a great time.  Your buddy did terrific!

What size is that Slingwing?

When trying get the wing out of the water when it was upside down, we both were muscling it in a rotational fashion to get it right side up.  This involved getting the water off the wing too. Just by saying “eff this”  I did something different that worked way easier.  The wing was upside down, leading edge towards me ( into the wind).  I basically just lifted the leading edge to flip it going with the wind (downwind) . So now I had the topside  of the wing  on top and handle hold side on the bottom where it needed to be. It was now backwards with the trailing edge facing into the wind.  From there, I just rotated it until I had a handle and it would lift right up.  All of this was while sitting or kneeling on the board.  From doing this it became very easy to now use the wing to get me standing right up.

Do you mean that you are flipping the wing so that it the leading edge is further downwind of you than the trailing edge (the leash would be over the top of the wing)?

[ninja tuna]

Do you mean that you are flipping the wing so that it the leading edge is further downwind of you than the trailing edge (the leash would be over the top of the wing)?

Yes you are correct with that. It flipped over and just stayed there. 

The slingwing is 4.2m

[Admin]

Do you mean that you are flipping the wing so that it the leading edge is further downwind of you than the trailing edge (the leash would be over the top of the wing)?

Yes you are correct with that. It flipped over and just stayed there. 

The slingwing is 4.2m

That position has caused me trouble if the wind gets under the trailing edge.  The trailing edge then pressures up against the leash and if it is very windy it can pull you as well or cause a tangle.  This is much worse on the bigger wing because a lot more of the leash is taken up crossing over the wider wing.  Does your board get in the way of rotating the wing.  I have found that this one takes me a minute to clear.  I try to get out of that position right away now if I find myself there. 

[PonoBill]

Ninja: Flipping the wing over is easier if you swing a wingtip into the wind and rotate the wing as the wingtip raises. You need a little momentum because it will want to stop when the lower wing starts getting air. You also need to be ready to catch the wing on the downwind side because it will want to continue flipping and turn 360 right back where you started.

The quickest way I've found to get a wingtip out of the water, or keep it from getting there to begin with, is to raise my upper hand. That gets the nose of the wing pointed up and pops the trailing edge up.

Your buddy did great. People with a lot of kitefoiling or windfoiling experience seem to get this pretty quickly.

Good day at the Hook. Gusty but fairly strong wind both down the back of Wells Island and out in the River. Got up on the foil a few times when the wind was strong enough. I really need something 20+ to make the 4M work. Once I got up I felt pretty relaxed. Pumped a little to get the board higher, but the wind was gusty and if a gust hit when I'm near the max for my short mast I overfoil and slam down. When I went out in the middle of the river the swells got big and kept slapping the board when it's at comfortable ride height.

I found a good spot by going hard upwind across the river (not foiling) and then doing the same on the starboard tack, winding up about the middle of Wells Island. I could take a break and rest my legs in the shallow water, and then take off on a port tack with my front foot in the strap and get up on the foil when the wind was strong enough but the swells weren't nuts. Unfortunately, the only direction I have been able to foil in control is port tack, and the middle of the river was pretty nutz with swell, so it was short foiling runs out, fall in when the swells get too frisky, then dragging back. I've got the non-foiling jibe down fairly well, so it wasn't as exhausting going from starboard tack to port as it could have been.

I have a 29.5 mast in the truck, but the 24 was already mounted. Lazy fuck. I also have my Axis with a huge 90CM mast in the truck but the hook area has been really shallow. It wasn't today with the river high--Kiteboarders 4 Cancer probably asked to have the level raised.

I was coasting a lot on the foil today. Raising the wing up and even one-handing it to decrease the power. Once I'm up I generally have too much and I go out of control if I don't let the wing fly up overhead. During one coast I wandered downwind a bit while I was one-handing and reached up to grab the boom to get some power and turn back upwind. I rotated too far and the wing went over my head, turning the board briskly through a jibe. I almost made a complete foiling jibe with the wing to my back side before I realized what was happening and freaked out. I got a feel for what it would be like to do it on purpose. I still think I'm going to be switch-footing this thing, but backside didn't feel impossible--just clumsy.

The good news is, I'm thoroughly convinced I can do this. The bad news is, I'm pretty sure it's going to be a year-long (at least) odyssey to get competent.