Author Topic: Tips on upwind transitions?  (Read 8565 times)

obxDave

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Tips on upwind transitions?
« on: December 11, 2019, 11:56:17 PM »
Anyone working on, or mastered upwind transitions yet? Any secret learning  tips? I’ve been trying toeside to heelside upwind transitions as my first progression beyond jibing. Would you consider that the easiest first upwind transition to learn?

 I can finish a small percentage standing up, but always come off the foil in the end. They look pretty pathetic right now. Of course I never seem to be in “ideal” conditions. In the attached vid I was seriously powered up on my 4m Duotone, and all that wetsuit rubber in cold water just added to the challenge. Always feel like I’m bringing the wing over my head way too slowly compared to my carve, and sometimes it tends to fall behind me as I swing it over which kinda lifts the foil up killing speed. Maybe just going into them too slow? By the time I can pull on the wing in the other direction my speed’s gone and I’ve overcarved (?) Maybe some good training vids out there? I haven’t really found any. Thinking this might be good to practice on a skate board (with lots of pads!)

https://youtu.be/DcF4WuP2aPk


obxDave

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Re: Tips on upwind transitions?
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2019, 11:58:51 PM »
So no input? Figured I was late to the party on this wingy thing and lots of people would already be onto the next level. Oh well.

 Last session I was way underpowered but was itchin to try a downwind jibe into a backwinded riding position. I wiped out pretty quickly but it was fun to try. I want to try again. Are these sorts of transitions just not on people’s radar screen...?

Admin

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Re: Tips on upwind transitions?
« Reply #2 on: December 18, 2019, 02:37:30 AM »
So no input? Figured I was late to the party on this wingy thing and lots of people would already be onto the next level. Oh well.

 Last session I was way underpowered but was itchin to try a downwind jibe into a backwinded riding position. I wiped out pretty quickly but it was fun to try. I want to try again. Are these sorts of transitions just not on people’s radar screen...?

There are a bunch of clips posted here of some nice smooth tacks for visualization:

https://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php/topic,34953.0.html


Also, Dan (River) had done this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQoset86qD4

obxDave

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Re: Tips on upwind transitions?
« Reply #3 on: December 18, 2019, 04:44:59 AM »
Yeah, I watched Dan’s vid early on, and I’ve watched just about every clip I could find of upwind tack styles (not even sure if you’re supposed to call it a tack since most people don’t switch stance midway, but any term is fine with me). Anyway, thanks for the links!

Watching clips of the “super wingers” can be limiting since they make everything look like an afternoon stroll in the park, and you don’t get a feel for the progression to get there. One example; I like to ride a reasonably narrow stance for easy foot switch, but find I need a bit wider stance at least while learning to tack, to stay balanced through the transition.

Just surprised about no comments on personal progression experiences given all the in depth talk about wanting to water start 25 liter boards.........

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Re: Tips on upwind transitions?
« Reply #4 on: December 18, 2019, 07:17:58 AM »
Yeah, I watched Dan’s vid early on, and I’ve watched just about every clip I could find of upwind tack styles (not even sure if you’re supposed to call it a tack since most people don’t switch stance midway, but any term is fine with me). Anyway, thanks for the links!

Watching clips of the “super wingers” can be limiting since they make everything look like an afternoon stroll in the park, and you don’t get a feel for the progression to get there. One example; I like to ride a reasonably narrow stance for easy foot switch, but find I need a bit wider stance at least while learning to tack, to stay balanced through the transition.

Just surprised about no comments on personal progression experiences given all the in depth talk about wanting to water start 25 liter boards.........

Hi Dave,

Yes.  It is cool to see all of the different styles.  I love the look of switching the front hand first and leading the whole move with that hand as it goes over the old front shoulder (particularly when switching from regular stance to offside with no foot switch).  I was talking to a kite foiler the other day who is really stoked on the wing.  He thought that foiling transitions were almost identical on the wing as on a kite with the handwork being the only real difference.  Are you finding that?  Any transition into the wind is going to be a tack.

I am unsure what connection you are making with waterstarts and tacks.
« Last Edit: December 18, 2019, 07:27:52 AM by Admin »

river

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Re: Tips on upwind transitions?
« Reply #5 on: December 18, 2019, 12:31:33 PM »
I find that lots of speed is needed for any transition upwind, and once I switched to a smaller hydrofoil they became way easier because of the speed on the approach.  At first, you may also need to pivot the end of your turn really quick into the new reaching angle after you cross the eye of the wind unless your really hauling ass.  I also grab way far back on the boom/handles when I switch my hands to make sure I get max power from the wing as quickly as possible after it crosses over my head through the eye of the wind. I always switch my feet on my offside so I am riding toeside into the tack on a starboard reach since I am regular.   At first, a port side tack was easier but now that I can ride toeside better I like tacking from the starboard reach especially on the face of a wave. I hope that helps from my marginal armchair visualization.  ;D
Wing, Foil & SUP Instruction,Aerial Cinema.
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obxDave

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Re: Tips on upwind transitions?
« Reply #6 on: December 18, 2019, 04:47:41 PM »
River; Cool. I’m on a Gong XL pro foil witch I think is reasonably fast (but not nearly as fast as that Axis 1000), but I’m sure I’m not carrying as much speed into the transition as I should. Maybe need to “bear off” a bit for higher speed going in.  I like the idea of grabbing farther back on the switch. In that vid I posted at least one turn ended with a pretty strong pivot as I came off the foil. My board and foil rig weigh in at a whopping 30 #. I hope to lighten that up in the near future, thinking it will help with the upwind stuff and more aggressive carves.

Admin; regarding the water start connection,....that was just a connection based on degree of difficulty. My feeble guess is that both are a “next level” skill set over the basic stuff. For me upwind kiting transitions are definitely more difficult than on a  wing foil. Timing the kite back loop is way more challenging (for me) compared to just flinging a wing over my head. Doing a kite foil racing foot switch tack is super hard and I’ve never even gotten close to getting one.

Too cold for my old bones to get wet today, so I pilfered my daughters long board to play with the wing. Seemed to work pretty well even though my skate board skills suck, and I was a bit underpowered. Plenty of upwind tacking practice and luckily no scrapes😀

https://youtu.be/95dw_kby0g8

PonoBill

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Re: Tips on upwind transitions?
« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2019, 10:46:12 AM »
Crazy buggah. Most of my serious injuries were doing stuff like that. I shouldn't even watch that stuff.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

obxDave

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Re: Tips on upwind transitions?
« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2019, 11:47:21 PM »
Crazy buggah. Most of my serious injuries were doing stuff like that. I shouldn't even watch that stuff.

I have some knee/wrist/elbow pads on the way from Amazon. Its actually pretty fun, and I want to go faster and turn harder. :P........ (When I was dating my “future” wife in 1985, I had a custom skateboard sailor for my windsurf sails. She’s used to it ;) )

obxDave

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Re: Tips on upwind transitions?
« Reply #9 on: December 31, 2019, 03:19:57 AM »
Starting to feel a wee bit more consistent, though that 5m duotone is a lumbering beast. Really looking forward to trying these tacks with a 12# board, 6.5# foil rig, and minus 10# of wet neoprene. Dec 30th on the Outer Banks and 65 deg, so at least the hood and gloves weren’t needed😀. Maybe try some heel to toeside tacks next. Definitely gonna be harder

https://youtu.be/VRyJ0HWcHxk
« Last Edit: December 31, 2019, 03:24:11 AM by obxDave »

winged surfer

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Re: Tips on upwind transitions?
« Reply #10 on: December 31, 2019, 03:48:13 AM »
Well done!!!

flkiter

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Re: Tips on upwind transitions?
« Reply #11 on: February 01, 2020, 01:15:50 PM »
Just had a break though today on the tacks. I was hitting them off and on and my biggest issue was the wing not going to the other side of the wind window and then I'd stall. I was fine on the 4.2 and 3.5, but the 5, and 6 was the issue.  Found that if I push my back hand away from me it'll turn the nose of the wing sending it to the other side of the window and then I was able to follow around to it and ride off. Hope this helps

obxDave

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Re: Tips on upwind transitions?
« Reply #12 on: February 01, 2020, 01:57:43 PM »
Just had a break though today on the tacks. I was hitting them off and on and my biggest issue was the wing not going to the other side of the wind window and then I'd stall. I was fine on the 4.2 and 3.5, but the 5, and 6 was the issue.  Found that if I push my back hand away from me it'll turn the nose of the wing sending it to the other side of the window and then I was able to follow around to it and ride off. Hope this helps

I don’t think I do anything special with my back hand, at least from what I can see from my own video. The more I’ve been making them on the “fly”  I see that the arc of my turn gets really tight as the tack progresses and I’ll regrab and pull with the new back hand just as I the arc tightens up and I’m directly into the wind. All happens pretty fast. Any delay and I’m off the foil. I will say that doing lots of skate board tacks has helped even though they are much easier to do. The video is on the 5m Duotone, which is a bit of a beast to quickly pass overhead but, again the skate board practice really helped. I’d love to get to the point of having a long gliding foil so the tacks don’t feel so pivot like....

https://youtu.be/rivWD7t63PI

The screen grab shows where I am in that tight arc and already yanking the wing in with the reset back hand before I’m even through the wind window.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2020, 02:05:40 PM by obxDave »

flkiter

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Re: Tips on upwind transitions?
« Reply #13 on: February 01, 2020, 02:51:01 PM »
Looking smooth Dave, I'll have to give the skate board practice a try. I went for my first heal side to toe side tack today and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Practice makes perfect. It would be great if someone would makes a camera mount for the F1's so I could get that angle you're getting with the duotone. Working on the push jibe also, can almost get it but not getting past the wing, going to try dragging the wing tip next time.

obxDave

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Re: Tips on upwind transitions?
« Reply #14 on: February 01, 2020, 04:21:43 PM »
Looking smooth Dave, I'll have to give the skate board practice a try. I went for my first heal side to toe side tack today and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. Practice makes perfect. It would be great if someone would makes a camera mount for the F1's so I could get that angle you're getting with the duotone. Working on the push jibe also, can almost get it but not getting past the wing, going to try dragging the wing tip next time.

Push jibe? Not sure what you mean.  Jibe to sailing backwinded? (Which I guess would be the first half of a 360). I’ve tried a couple on the 5m, but haven’t come remotely close.  Also never tried a heal to toeside tack yet.  Heck, haven’t been on the water for the last two weeks, but anxious to get workin on both!


 


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