Shared Knowledge for beginners

[Admin]

I’ll be honest. I have only seen the wing foilers out a few times. Mostly at the hatch. What is it they are trying to do? If is to give others something to laugh at, they are succeeding. I am not being harsh, but really....The kiters on foils, the good ones, are like god’s on the water. If I was wanting to foil, the kite 100%.

I see your point.  The good kite foilers are incredible to watch.  Same goes for the windsurf foilers now.  I watched a handful of pros windsurf foiling at the Hatchery last week and they were really impressive.  With wingfoiling we are all beginners.  The most experienced guys have been at it for a year.  The "moves" right now are the most basic fundamentals (foiling reaches, tacks and jibes).  A handful of guys with deep windsport foiling experience are getting controlled airs but I haven't seen that here in the Gorge yet.  And...the people you are seeing at the Hatchery are likely the more experienced wingsurfers here.  They are likely foiling or mostly foiling, sailing reaches and doing the fundamental transitions to some degree.  What everyone calls mowing the lawn for the older windsports.  I can definitely see where that would seem pretty mundane in relation to the more established sports.  If that has you underwhelmed you should see the newbs in action .  We are quite a sight! 

So why do it? 

Learning something new is a hoot and if you don't mind making a fool of yourself this, in particular, is really fun to learn.  We have had a lot of great laughs and it has already made this a very memorable summer.   

There is a lot of reward for even the stuff that appears basic.  When we are up and foiling with the wing it is a unique and amazing feeling.  Impressive only to ourselves but awesome all the same. 

The upside is there.  We aren't there yet but the potential exists.  You can already see videos of the most experienced guys doing incredible things.  Jumping higher than most windsurfers or kiters ever will, sailing faster, etc. 

It is a really simplified experience.  Little blow up doll of a wing and a foilboard.  No lines, no mast, no pully tools, etc.  It is very direct.  The leashes do suck so there is that.

Low wind waves.  This will be a lot of fun for really marginal wave riding.

[river]

I am always baffled when people ask 'WHY"? DUH, such a not winning attitude, But I think Admin summed it up quite nicely. Thank you!

Glad at least we are providing you with some entertainment, don't expect that to end but more likely to increase by a ton!  Sorry, Not Sorry   C U on da H2O

 

[Admin]

Here is an excellent vid for visualizing take offs. 

[Admin]

and another for transitions:

[Dwight (DW)]

They sure do make a 7m look like a reasonable size to own. Maybe the other brands need to play catch-up

[Califoilia]

They sure do make a 7m look like a reasonable size to own.

I sure hope they are, and it's not just Patrice making things look easy...cuz I've got one pre-ordered for their next shipment scheduled for the end of August.

Btw, if you ever wanted to make time to stand still...order something that's not available for over a month.

[clay]

They sure do make a 7m look like a reasonable size to own.

I sure hope they are, and it's not just Patrice making things look easy...cuz I've got one pre-ordered for their next shipment scheduled for the end of August.

Btw, if you ever wanted to make time to stand still...order something that's not available for over a month.

I agree.

I'm seeing a parallel with where foiling was a few years ago, smallish 1100 wings and most the bigger guys struggling, now seems everybody is riding bigger wings.   So maybe the 5,6, and 7 meter handkites are what most of us will end up needing more often than not?

oh and my 5m was supposed to be here by now...ask the universe for patience and you get a line at the foil store.

[Admin]

Absolutely.  I have seen it mentioned in videos, etc. that the wind minimum for the sport is 18 to 20 and that is way off.  It is likely half of that.  This is great news because all of those light wind locations being possible and very fun.  That is going to require a 5 for most of us and a 7 for many.  Design for windsports usually happens in consistently windy locations and by 160 lb dudes.  Easy to get myopic. 

a 4 is 33% larger than a 3.  A 5 is 25% larger than a 4.  A 6 is 16% large than a 5.  At the larger sizes a 7 makes sense as a reasonable jump from a 5.

[PonoBill]

I'll settle for a 5, but yes, I can see a seven in my future.

I think as we get better the wind requirement will drop a bit. I did a lesson with Dan Gavere (River) yesterday and his instruction made it easier for me to get up with my 4M in wind that I previously would have struggled with.

Very worthwhile lesson, BTW, I've got a solid weeks worth of things to work on, mostly in keeping the foil under control and maintaining speed. And somehow I need to bend my creaky knees more. I see more Advil in my future.

[PonoBill]

One bit of shared knowledge: It's easy to say "embrace the speed" but that's a little hard to do when you feel out of control. One simple trick from my racing days is that speed is local. If you look at the track surface whipping past the nose of your race car the speed seems unmanageable, but if you look ahead instead of down at the track, it feels much slower and easier to control. I started looking out ahead at where I wanted to go instead of where I was, and the frantic pace disappeared.

Also, the idea that the foil is going to stop flying if you don't have power applied is false. Not only could I coast for quite a distance from speed, but also as long as I maintained front foot pressure I could convert height to forward motion. Leaning back or straightening up leads to a stall and splash. Knees bent, front foot pressure maintained and the damned thing goes a very long way.

[Julie_Scheyer]

Absolutely.  I have seen it mentioned in videos, etc. that the wind minimum for the sport is 18 to 20 and that is way off.  It is likely half of that.  This is great news because all of those light wind locations being possible and very fun.  That is going to require a 5 for most of us and a 7 for many.  Design for windsports usually happens in consistently windy locations and by 160 lb dudes.  Easy to get myopic. 

a 4 is 33% larger than a 3.  A 5 is 25% larger than a 4.  A 6 is 16% large than a 5.  At the larger sizes a 7 makes sense as a reasonable jump from a 5.

Is this a test to see if I’m reading??

So what brands have 160lb myopic designers?  LOL definitely Boards and More has a big size variety.  Boards and More is the owner of Duotone & Fanatic.  Ken Winner is 185-190lb, Sky Solbach 200-210, their testers range from 125lb females and a 10 year old kid Bobo Gallagher, to various sizes.  Have you been to Maui?  We have no wind days and Nukin days.  All winter long we complain we want the summer winds back.

Here is Ken and I riding the 5m Duotone downwinging Maliko in no white caps, light winds avg started at 15mph so less mostly, and dropped to zero. Downwind is even less apparent wind. Dutone has 6m prototypes, but not always posting prototypes.  As you know they are trying to meet the current size demands

Check out 11 year old Bobo Gallagher a Fanatic Team Rider, 70lbs, he’s the future,he usually uses the 2.3m production Foilwing that is for sale also. 

[Admin]

Hi Julie,  Yes, we had our hapanoa in 2000.  The chi-chis were spectacular.  .  We lived in Haiku for 11 years and have done a million Mailiko's, South Shore runs and channels as well.  If you were doing downwinders during our tenure we certainly crossed paths.  A million may be an exaggeration but 800,000 for sure.  Standupzone actually started on Maui in 2007 right as the first production SUP's were becoming readily available.  It was almost exactly where we are now with wingfoiling.  The surf SUP boards were all in the 11 foot range (many were larger) at that point  .  I expect we will look back at our current wingfoiling gear about like we look at that old SUP gear now. 

We know that you guys have larger wings available and coming.  Some brands are touting that a single size is all that is needed.  That does seem a bit limited but I am sure that they will correct that shortly. 

[JEG]

2020 wings comparison

[Rider]

Admin....just to let you know. Your site is going super, super, super slow. It’s not me. It’s been slow all day....fun day on the water...

[Admin]

Admin....just to let you know. Your site is going super, super, super slow. It’s not me. It’s been slow all day....fun day on the water...

Apologies for that.  We are in the process of launching another site on this server and it has been causing some problems.  I think we have it now and it should be back to normal in a few hours.