Got my first taste of foil bliss on a kite yesterday

[averagejoe]

I came down to Ventana the first week of January and on my way picked up a wing/sup/foil setup to try to learn. After 8 sessions I decided it was too much work and not my thing. Sold that rig and bought a kite foil board.

First session a few days ago was trying to get the board up on the water and keep the foil down. Dozens of fails and falls.
Second session yesterday morning. Same routine. I rigged up underpowered like the homies down here told me, then I hit a hole in the wind, kite dropped and I made my way back to shore.
Second session yesterday afternoon. First time I sent the kite I got up on foil in perfect trim, totally by accident, and went for 20-30 seconds hauling ass. Kissed by God moment. OMFG it’s so sick. Sicker than I imagined. Rest of the session was a shitshow.

Totally. Hooked.

Any other kite foilers here?

 

[Hdip]

Steamroller kite surfs, and foils. He's considering a wing. Mostly he just SUP foils now I think.

I think most of us just surf foil though.

 

[juandesooka]

Me: kiting 10 years, kite foiling 5 years, sup foiling 2 years, surf foiling 1 years, only a few introductory attempts at wing foil so far. Foiling has indeed been a game changer, I still surface ride on the good wave days, but in between that I end up on the foil most days.

For kite foil, you'll find lots and lots of stoked folks here: https://kiteforum.com/viewforum.php?f=196 What size/type kite wing are you using? Back in the day, attempting to learn to kite foil with high aspect high speed wings was brutal, because you needed so much speed to get up on foil, and couldn't control it as a beginner (spectacular wipeouts). The larger surf wings are way more stable BUT come with the opposite problem of too much lift too quick. The challenge is to keep the wing in the water, so the advice to use under-powered kite. Depending on gear available, you ideally want something in the middle ... Slingshot H2 is an example of a perfect learning wing. Surf foil wings aimed at faster larger waves are ideal for kiting; surf wings for tiny waves will be out of control. Buddies into the big wing kiting are now using 3m kites in 15-20kts, which is pretty crazy.

Wind chasing in general: myself and all the long-time surfers I know who crossed over into kiting all found an unbelievably stoking door opening. So much new fun potential on days that were otherwise crap, plus entire new seasons opened up that were a write-off before. There's a few long-time surfers on this forum that have got into wings and are experiencing that blissful honeymoon period (those living in Maui and not using the wind is mind boggling to a kite surfer!).

Wing: my newbie opinion is that it is much less efficient a wind tool than kiting or windsurfing, so those who already kite or windsurf probably aren't going to take it up. The killer app for wing is as an extension of sup/surf foiling: using the wind to tow-in to waves early, then 100% depowering the wing while you foil the wave, then at end of wave you power up the wing and tack back out for another. No-paddle wave foiling all day long....that's the dream anyway. The difference in kiting is that the power of the kite gets in the way of the pure wave surfing feel, you can "turn off" the kite power to some extent but not 100%, and above all you have to keep the kite flying, which gets in the way of surfing the wave. Side note: if you go to kiteforum and talk about kite foiling in waves, I suspect you'll find the word "surfing" means something different to the people you're talking to ... many/most kiters are not actually surfers, the kooky/clueless level is often set at 11.

 

[SPP]

Kiter here, for a few years. It pairs really well with surfing, at least on the east coast. Those 15-20mph onshore afternoons we get consistently turn from a sh!t surf into a great kitesurf session.

Picked up a foil last summer and it's a hell of a lot of fun. Riding a 10m or smaller kite in 10-12 knots on a foil gliding all over the place is a trip. I also could not get into the wing foiling after trying it a few times, I'd rather just rig a small kite.

 

[SPP]

If you want to see some insanely skilled foiling check out the Boardriding Maui vimeo channel, the guy who makes cloud kites. He's so much fun to watch.