I had a fixing experience today from last time

There were some nice waves today, I almost went wave surfing on my new whip

(picked up a starboard ultra 6’4″) but the waves yesterday werent that great so I decided I needed a fixing experience from my foil disaster and went foiling. The waves were the biggest I have ever foiled in, the wind was a bit gusty 7-13 (I surfed 10-13), and I learned from last time and surfed the 13 cloud. In the lulls it was hard to keep going, in the gusts I was totally lit. Looking now I see I could have surfed later and it would have been good for the 8.. Oh well, tomorrow 🙂

So its a bit unnerving going in, the waves really crash on you, and you have to maneuver between the rocks and waves with a foil and also make sure the kite stays up. Luckily the wind was sideshore so I got in pretty quick and rode away. I was also a bit nervous from last my last session where I ate it and had to walk back, so I surfed pretty carefully, and got quite stressed in the lulls.

But all was good, there were some deep wave breaks which were interesting foiling over, I was able to float over them without even crashing which gave a pretty cool feeling, the foil cutting through the foam and the board just sortof floating over it. I was also able to ride some waves (deep, gentle ones, not the steep ones near the break), actually because there is so little friction and the kite is pulling and the waves are pushing I think one time I broke the sound speed barrier and then naturally tried to lean back to slow down (like in surf board) so I promply exited the water and crashed at like 50,000 miles per hour. Kindof hurt but, small price to pay for surfing in those conditions.

I was obviously surfing alone, no one here really bothers to foil in these conditions, so I always have this grateful feeling when I get out and fold up that the session ended safely without injury to my or the gear.

Actually one sketchy thing did happen, I was reorganizing the bar on my harness and accidentally ejected the kite (luckily it was on the water). My first thought was holy f%$@# my kites gone, but then I was it just stayed in the water 5 meters from me so I got on the foil and paddled over to it as fast as I could and caught it before it relaunched itself which was lucky. Had a bit of trouble resetting the lines in the water (they had ‘X’s when I reconnected) but got it done because thats how I roll  😎 Anyway, lesson learned to be careful around those little balls.

These are a couple pics of the water this morning, it was really quite wavy, I should really start taking some pics before I go in.. Ill do that starting tomorrow 🙂

and in the north early morning:

Some more cloud – foil stoke

Maybe its getting boring but today I surfed the 8 from 11-13 and then again 1330-1430. The kite felt perfect, definitely in the sweet spot for me on the foil. Every session I seem to think to myself holy $h!t this was my best session ever! And then I do another one and it happens again. So it seems like 10-11 with gusts to 14-15 is really nice on the 8.

I rode this session weak-side toeside, which was a first. I also tried to foil-tack, not really getting it but hopefully soon!

The 8 kite itself really handles like a dream. Its so fun to do long sweeping turns after it, whether downlooped or not, its so easy to control the pull from the kite. Makes foiling really nice. Many people say it feels totally different than any other kite and takes time to get used to – I dont agree. Ive surfed most kites (back when I used to try everything I saw, now less) I got used to it immediately. To me it feels basically like the surf kites, but it takes it all one step lighter and more responsive. It is the absolute easiest kite in the world to relaunch. Even from totally drowned.

The thought crossed my mind if I would be as stoked if I didnt get the clouds around the same time as the foil. The foil definitely upgraded my kiting experience, and I was super stoked about foiling also regular kites before I got the cloud. So I think the answer is that both upgrades (foiling vs surfboard and cloud vs strutted) in and of themselves were a huge step up to my kiting experience, and I would have enjoyed both separately and they both boosted my potential surfable conditions. The combination just multiplied my water time like 10 fold (or prob more) and the stoke comes so much harder when you surf every day 😎

Tomorrow Im going to fly the cloud along with some naish kites including the strutless trip, well see how they feel. Hopefully soon Ill be able to try some other foils also, should be an interesting experience.

For now, happy weekend! Ill end with a picture of something I like to do off the water thats easier to photograph 🙂

 

Boardriding maui cloud kites

So like I said in my last post, I have been kite foiling for like 5 sessions in light wind with my bandit 10 which behaves really beautifully, if the wind is strong enough for the kite to stay in the air then I can foil. 10 knots with my 10 kite was as low as I could go. In lulls below 10, the bandit doesnt really stay in the sky without constant kiteloops… If you leave it static then it just sortof floats down without responding to input because of its weight.

I had some nice sessions, but really my problem was keeping the kite in the air while stopped/walking with the board into the depths (to foil), and coming out back to the beach. When I stopped, the kite would literally fall out of the sky, even if I was foiling good including tacking upwind and riding and having fun.

So if before the foil, on a planing hull, the board was limiting the low end, because below a certain speed the boards dont create enough grip and speed to really surf and have fun (now I realize it is due to friction) even if a zephyr will stay in the air and create some pull, with the foil the kite was my problem. Despite that there was enough speed and pull from the kite when moving, when not moving or if I made any type of mistake and the kite fell, I was F$@%#ED.

Enter Boardriding Maui.

 

I got interested in the boardriding maui strutless cloud kites back in the day when the first one came out, but didnt end up getting any for various reasons. Recently I was made aware of them again by a friend who ended up ordering a cloud c.5 size 8.5, which I obviously immediately had to try. This all happened about a week after I bought the foil.

The wind in my first session was relatively high and steady (around 11-13), wind that the bandit would have handled fine also. The kites actually feel relatively similar in their behavior, except that the lightness of the cloud makes everything so much more responsive. Also, the kite just stays up.

So I kept on going lower and lower, even before this kite I was used to going to the beach when no one bothered to come – no wind, but now I literally went in there were no whitecaps, nothing, no wind in the ocean. Once upon a time when I was surfing on the bandit and nugget combo I was a wind meter, I knew exactly how strong the wind was depending on how it felt when I was surfing I had that dialed. Now I cant even say how much wind there was, I know on the wind meters I looked at when I left the house said 9-12 knots in spots that were usually a couple of knots stronger than my home spot. Anyway, the 8.5 kite gave me the confidence to go in and farther out in wind that I previously would have felt verrry sketchy going in, especially alone, because my kite might fall.

The wind range quoted on BRMs site for the 8.5 is 8.5-15.5 knots, I believe every knot of the low end – I definitely think I was surfing in 9 knots and I obviously have room to improve  on my foiling skills, its been less than 3 weeks. This I what I looked like at the end of my sessions with the cloud:

They are sick. So I bought a set of clouds, because that how I do, when I find something that suits me I go all in. A week later my brother brought me this from the states:

Like damn those pack small! I mean 4 kites dont even take the space of 1 strutted kite. So thats all for now, Ill elaborate more on how the kite flies in another post, this was long enough 🙂

Kitefoiling

My unemployed friend has been kitefoiling (that is kitesurfing on a hydrofoil) for the last couple of months, and keeps on reporting to me what an awesome session he had, that he was foiling in basically no wind, that he learned to do tacks and gybes without going down to the water, that I will love it because its a new thing to learn. I agreed that it sounded sick, so when I got out of the army and would be free all day to surf I picked up a used liquidforce hydrofoil fish.

We dont have much strong wind here, so up till now ive been surfing a north nugget with my trusty 2014 bandit 10, a set I absolutely love, and which works for me from 13+ knots I start to have fun already. I also had a zephyr for the really light days but rarely used it recently because it didnt work anyway below 10 knots, and with 13 I would rather be with the bandit.

Anyway, I started going in in stupid light winds (thats all there was… my first session it was probably around 11-12 knots) with the bandit 10, I mean in the lulls the kite barely even stays in the air (in the future I go even lower, but for now it seemed like it was stupid low). Maybe its because the foil is a beginner board, maybe also because I am quite proficient at strapless wave surfing, the foiling came to me pretty easy, my first session I was already going up and down from the foil for legs of 10-20 meters, my second session I was already doing full legs pretty much on the foil, turning the board around, and going the other way. On my third session I started doing tacks/gybes on the water, and from then on just tried to keep improving.

On my 5 or 6th session I was out in the depths, I saw a sailboat tacking upwind, and just out of curiosity I tried to race upwind with them. Quite quickly I discovered that I was going upwind faster than them (this was a simple sailboat no race cat, but also am I no racer) and that kindof put things in perspective about how efficient the foil is, because I always recalled fondly the insane angles upwind sailboats could go from when I was a kid and sucks that kites cant do that.

Another thing that happened was that one day there was forcasted some stronger wind in the afternoon so North kiteboarding came to the beach to do a demo of their equipment (until then I was surfing alone, no one even bothered to come to the beach – it was that light). So I was foiling all afternoon having fun in all directions, then some other kiters showed up, at first some people were going in with the juice 18 and some dice 12s but no one was really able to have fun, just maybe hold a line if they were lucky. After a while the wind did pick up a bit and people were able to surf, so I took the nugget (a board I loveeeeddd before the foil) for a test ride.

I had a hard time surfing the nugget after the foil, it just felt so slippery on the water and SO MUCH FRICTION!! I did a 20 minute session just to try to get used to it because it always takes some time when switching boards to calibrate, but I didnt really have much fun, just seemed such hard work after foil.

The feeling of floating along the water, no chop, no noise, just pk pk pk of the light spray the mast of the foil makes, the absolute grip in the direction your facing, the ability to surf literally in any direction you want to without worrying you will have to work to tack back upwind, is new and unlike other kiting experiences.

This was when I realized once you go foil you never go back. Since then I wave surfed (no kite) a couple of times but havent kited with a planing hull board. Its been only foiling for me, and since I can go in such light wind (frequently there is 9-12 knots summer breeze here, a range previously not worth kiting for me) I have literally been doing morning sessions (something previously reserved for wave surfing due to lack of wind) basically every day at my home spot (!), instead of having to drive 1+ hours to a spot which has wind. This saves tons of time, because I hate driving to surf, just wastes the whole day and I like doing a lot of stuff.

Kite foiling isnt for everyone, I met people who have a hard time learning the balance, although I have a friend who bought a foil with me who has been kitesurfing for a short amount of time (only like half a year and only twin tip) and hes had quite an easy time learning it. You need to be completely comfortable and effortless controlling the kite, balance, patience, but for the more proficient kiters out there – foilboards are the future, Laird Hamilton was towing into waves apparently a while ago, also a few weeks ago there was kai lenny SUPping downwind on a foil SUP (~1 paddle stroke per minute, video here), last week kai was paddling into waves on a foil surfboard (sick!). Kitefoiling is easy relative to those I assume, get in while were still small.

So thats enough for now, more interesting insights and progression coming soon 🙂