Hand Kite Foiling

Hdip

Michael Peterson status
Apr 23, 2005
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Malibu, CA
No worries topmick. He also kites, but I don't think he foil kites that I've seen on his instagram anyway.

Hey Kuno, did the Fone swing come with the pump? How much was the kit? Looks like the 4.2m. Let me know the wind speeds you can get up in and what board. I'm assuming your old SUP foil board.
 
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Kaser1

Tom Curren status
May 3, 2004
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Maine
My second session yesterday with the F One. Used my old 8'4" SUP board that I know well and made a world of difference getting technique down. My other sessions were on borrowed sub 6.5' SUPs and using my own gear was familiar and more predictable.

I'm really liking the weight of the F One, super light and easy to manage. All packs up in a backpack and don't have to mess with a boom is nice.

Things are clicking each go out and being able to go where I want is becoming easier. Yesterdays session was in the harbor and was able to navigate out of the harbor mouth, tack, get on a swell and luff the wing at my waist and ride the bump on foil. Once the bump died out I powered up and kept going. This, for Maui's winter surf, is going to be pretty f'ing cool. The ability to go out in surf, without a ski, just using wind and a foil to the outer reefs is gonna be nuts. Already heard story of guys on O'ahu doin it on the past south swells, out in zones waaay out without ski assist.

Guys starting to do downwinders with the aid of wings too, leaving the paddles at home. I'm planning on getting some runs going soon too, will give a report.

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Kaser1

Tom Curren status
May 3, 2004
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Maine
No worries topmick. He also kites, but I don't think he foil kites that I've seen on his instagram anyway.

Hey Kuno, did the Fone swing come with the pump? How much was the kit? Looks like the 4.2m. Let me know the wind speeds you can get up in and what board. I'm assuming your old SUP foil board.
Did not come with pump, but I think on their site they're about $50. I picked up one from the shop. The whole kit including pump and also my store discount came out to $894.50. Yes got the 4.2m. Not sure about the minimum wind speeds I can get up in but the site says wind ranges for this size is 15-30knts
 

Kaser1

Tom Curren status
May 3, 2004
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Maine
12 K.

But I thought every one who posted here was rich?
There's one old dude here that has one. Buzzs the line up on one continuous session. Annoying AF as he foils kinda in our zone. Yea heard they're like $12k.

No thanks, I'll stick with my "low budget" gear ;)
 

Hdip

Michael Peterson status
Apr 23, 2005
3,331
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Malibu, CA
Laird and some other rich guys have e-foils in Malibu. They are 12k. They are heavy. The batteries last an hour and a half. You're always on the throttle, even in waves. They fly nose up that I've seen. It looks fun to carve on. You don't "ride" waves in the same way as a light prone foil board though. Laird only uses his when it's flat to fly around. If there are waves he's on his SUP foil.

Back on topic. You're using a Maliko 200 for this? Do you think it would work for a smaller wing like the Naish L. Or the Lift 200? The lift foils sort of confuse me because they're smaller than everything else, but seem to work just as well? Maybe the bigger tail helps offset the smaller front wings?
 
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Kaser1

Tom Curren status
May 3, 2004
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Laird and some other rich guys have e-foils in Malibu. They are 12k. They are heavy. The batteries last an hour and a half. You're always on the throttle, even in waves. They fly nose up that I've seen. It looks fun to carve on. You don't "ride" waves in the same way as a light prone foil board though. Laird only uses his when it's flat to fly around. If there are waves he's on his SUP foil.

Back on topic. You're using a Maliko 200 for this? Do you think it would work for a smaller wing like the Naish L. Or the Lift 200? The lift foils sort of confuse me because they're smaller than everything else, but seem to work just as well? Maybe the bigger tail helps offset the smaller front wings?
Yes, on my M200. Primarily low end lift. Wanna get up on foil asap, after that things get alot easier. Also my SUP would be tough to stay up on a smaller wing, I've tried surfing on my Iwa and wasn't enough lift to make it worth it.

I do think that once I can get down to my 4'10" I'll be on my Iwa. Less board, lighter weight, less load to carry, less need for more lift.

Yes agree the Lift tail wings are bigger for that reason, to add more support. However I don't think the tail wing lift is going to be as important using the kite. It feels like you're using more front wing and not as much tail as if riding a wave. If you think about it, you're putting the power down through the mast being pulled not like on a wave being pushed.
 

Kaser1

Tom Curren status
May 3, 2004
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Maine
So close to getting one of these, but I have to build a board for it first...
It's kinda funny, everone was pushing to ride smaller foilboards, now we're going backwards and looking for more volume again with the kite. I've been scouring CL for people dumping their 6' to 7' SUPs and there's deals out there. Gonna pounce soon.
 

steamroller

Michael Peterson status
Dec 23, 2007
2,118
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48U - Green River, WY
i kite foil...its fun for about 5 min till.you always outrun the waves...then.its just frustrating...but on maui the wind friken NUKES! and the waves are BIG... kiting or even windsurfing and getting to ride 15-20.footers at outside.kanaha is.sooooo
..muuuch..FUN...and.not spending 3 hrs trying to chase down 2... 20 footers either...on a kite youre riding every single wave of the set an they're ALL 15+'...and dont.even get me.started about.jumping with the kite and airtime!....wheeeee!
..
 
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Kaser1

Tom Curren status
May 3, 2004
10,271
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Session #6
Wing- F One 4.2m
Board- 8'4 Kalama SUP conversion
Foil - Go Foil M200 , Iwa Tail, New 29.5" thick mast

Session notes- Pretty comfortable now to go out and back, even upwind some. Also catching waves now on the way back in, dumping power off wing to slow down and surf the wave, then power back up to go get another. There's a small size crossover crew that were surf foiling and have got wings, pretty fun learning, tracking and tacking with others out there. Pretty fun to also go out and just cruize and see the views. If I can get my GoPro working I'll get some vid.




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Kaser1

Tom Curren status
May 3, 2004
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Maine
On another note, Alan Cadiz a couple days ago with the new signature "Starfish". The wingflip to switch at the end blew my mind.

 

Clamsmasher

Michael Peterson status
Apr 22, 2013
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Nar
The blue planet vid kinda spoke to me, the wing looks cool to attack some reefs we have maybe 2 or 3km offshore.
 

Kaser1

Tom Curren status
May 3, 2004
10,271
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Maine
Called up my buddy Dave yesterday to see if he had any boards laying around not using I could borrow. He set me up with a perfect fit for what I was thinking. I've been learning to wing on a 8'4 and am now on a 5'10. There are significant differences, good and not so good that I'm noticing.

As with most larger boards, stability and glide are the benefits. The draw back is performance once on foil. Harder to turn, heavier, etc.. The big benefit to the big board was the ease to get on foil so you can focus on learning to sail. I'm not a wind sport guy so have limited/no sailing background. The part of learning how to sail, without having to struggle to get on foil made the learning alot faster. I've seen a few of my proner friends that have gone straight to learning to wing on small SUP's and are really struggling. I mean, really strugglng just to get the board out of the water. I see/hear their frustration with this and I think it's pretty important to understand.

So now to the small board...getting up on foil was noticeably more difficult. Since the glide of the big board wasn't there to give the foil some initial lift, you were basically trying to go from a dead stop to up on foil by pumping both the wing and board. On the big board you can get some glide going, tap the tail and the board would lift out of the water and you were good.

Getting past all that, the benefits of the small board were nice. The biggest benefit was the ability to go much more efficiently upwind. I could almost go parallel to the beach upwind. At Kanaha it blows side/onshore. Also the surfing of waves and hoding the wing neutral was much easier on the smaller board.

I'm still not doing the switch stance yet but ultimately I hope to do that some day, it'll take alot of pressure off my left leg (goofyfooter) as I don't switch coming back in which puts your body in an odd position for a couple hours.

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