The "New Foil Guy"—Session 3

The “New Foil Guy”

3rd Session / June 20th, 2017

It’s been a month since I’ve gone foiling—my bad.

We’ve had an unseasonably windy spring, with much more time in the surf than usual. I make no apologies—riding in the surf will always win over everything else for me. With that said, I did have a great session on the 30” mast this last time out. Part of me wonders if that will be the longest mast I’ll need as I only plan on kite foiling in lighter conditions anyway. We’ll see…

Now obviously, the 30” mast has even more room to play with than the available 15” and 24” Slingshot Masts. If you’re only riding in flatter conditions, those may be all that you need. However, for those riding in variable conditions and chop, the 30” is the perfect 3rd step in the Slingshot Flight School Mast progression.

On this third session, I still rode with all three footstraps on my Slingshot Hypermiler. I really wish the board allowed for a center-line mounting of the footstraps. The front two are offset to the left and right sides of the board, while the back strap is center aligned. I would really like to give the Slingshot Sky Hooks a go instead of the traditional Slingshot Surf Straps (set of 3). Maybe next time out I’ll take the back strap off and just use the two front straps. My goal is to eventually ride it completely strapless to allow for better foot placement.

I’ve also still been using the same size kite as I would normally ride my surfboard with. As I get better at kite foiling, I’ll want to be able to size-down to my smaller kite so I’m not so overpowered when on foil. It’s funny when you go from wondering if you have enough wind to even ride, to being fully powered. Foilboards are such a trip.

I still deal with the “bucking bronco” a little bit when I first take off on the foilboard. But I usually get things under control within 20 yards or so. I’ve not yet tried to ride toeside yet—maybe next time. I have been able to stay downwind pretty well and have been carving the foil back and forth, making “S-turns”. Who knew you’d ever be concerned with staying downwind? Ha!

Cheers to your own kite foilboarding adventures, my friend.

Thank you, and good winds,

Aaron