My Foilboard experience when Kiteboarding

Pantelis Zirinis
Aug 25, 2017 · 8 min read

Introduction — Learning

I have been kitesurfing since 2010. Initially and for the first 3 years I was only riding a twintip. Everything else seemed different, not so much fun, hassle, etc. I then tried surfing, which I fell in love with, race board, and finally foilboarding.

I have been foiling for a bit more than 2 years now and would like to share my experience. Foilboarding is something that initially looks hard to learn, expensive and dangerous. Good news is that the last 2–3 years there have been a lot of improvements.

Hard to learn. This has been improved with the smaller masts and foils that are designed for beginners. I had to learn on a long mast with free ride fins, which is a lot harder. I would recommend to start foilboarding, when you become intermediate at kitesurfing and handling the kite is something that happens subconsciously. It takes approxmately 3 days to learn. The first day expect a lot of falling and drinking a lot of water. The second day you should be able to ride for small distances. The third day you should be able to foil for longer distances without falling. Tacking, jibe and turns are a different story and will come with practise.

Expensive. When it first became a trend it was very expensive and the options were limited. Today there are plenty of brands offering foilboard and the prices have dropped a lot. There are also a lot of used foils around, so new riders can get some good offers.

Dangerous. Fins are very sharp and longer masts can be dangerous, as they create a lot of pivot when falling. I recommend wearing a wetsuit, impact jacket and helmet. Wetsuit (although not made for protection) will definately protect from those small cuts in the legs that most people have when learning. I recently started riding strapless which prevents the foil from raising and following me on a crash. When strapless the foil will usually continue its course and stay far from my skin.

Benefits of foil-boarding

Sensation. Since we were kids most of us fall in love with the idea of a hoverboard (from back to the future).

A board that could glide over any surface, a similar sensation to flying but very close to the ground. Skateboarding without wheels. Lexus went a long way to build one:

Unfortunately to use it you need a special track and even for one of the best skateboarders on the world it took him a couple of months to ride it, so they could shoot the video.

If you are an intermediate kitesurfer, you can get that feeling once you learn how to balance on the foilboard, which usually takes a couple of hours. Once the foilboard comes on plane, it feels like gliding over the water, there is no chop, no sound, no vibration, you are gliding over the water. It is an amazing sense of freedom.

Wind range. I see a lot of my friends going for a bigger kiter to increase their lower wind range. I did that too, I was one of the first persons to try out Ozone Zephyr 17m, then I bought a Chrono 2 18m. Very expensive big kites that claim to get you in the water on those light wind days. Which is true, but what can you do with the power they provide….struggle to stay upwind, maybe make a jump or two and then have to ride for 5 minutes to return to the same point.

Instead of a big kite, get a foilboard. Once you get a good feeling of your foil board, you will soon realise that as long as the kite can stay in the air, you can ride upwind, downwind and have much more fun. All that with a kite that you already own. On light winds you can easily get speeds that reach or exceed 3 times the wind speed. You are a very fast sailboat, you can go in any direction you wish. You can even go sightseeing and see the whole coastline. Or even use your speed to boost jumps that are unimaginable before.

Places to kite. Once you become an intermediate foil boarder, you can kite almost anywhere that the water is more that 1.2 meters deeps and the wind is more that 8 knots. Onshore, offshore, gusty is not a problem anymore. Once your foilboard is on plane (raised) and you speed increases, apparent wind is created. You suddenly feel that it is a lot windier that it is when you are stable. The foilboard has a lot of momentum too, which will help it stay in plane even if the wind drops for a couple of seconds. You can feel the gust, but you can go through it.

I have kitted in places, where most of my friends told me that I am insane and there is not way I can kite in that gusty/offshore/light wind.To their surprise I kited without any problems. I also enjoyed the ride, as I could easily reach high speed and go up/down wind at my will.

I even kited in places that they have never seen a kite before, like a beach in Antigua on my sort visit there. The wind was offshore and coming from mountains, which meant a lot of gust. The foil could easily make use of the gusty wind and I could enjoy the ride.

Racing your friends. On foiling there is no “did you see that” or “I jump more than 12 meters (I am glad that with technology we can now measure it)”. You go in the water you start from one place and finish on another. Whoever passes first was the fastest. It is fun, competitive and will push you to new levels.

You also learn the priorities, as they are essential when foilboarding. Something that most people on twintips are unaware of.

Kite sizes. I am not going to say that it is bad to have a 17 or 18, as I personally do have one. I am going to say that I am selling my 18, as I rarely use it, most of the times my 12 is enough. In foilboarding once you get to a certain level, if your kite can almost stay in the air you can kite. My 12 (North Evo) can stay in the air from 9 knots. I might have to loop it a couple of times to come on plane with my foil, but once I am on plane nothing can stop me. When I was in Cartagena, Colombia for 6 weeks, I was kiting with my 12m Evo and my foil every other day in a spot where the wind was so light, that even the instructors had to stop lessons (I was usually going in the afternoon after work, when the wind was dropping). The first days they were placing bets on whether I was going to be able to kite or if I was crazy. I was walking upwind and kitelooping at the same time to keep my kite in the air. I had to bodydrag to get to a distance from shallow waters and then waterstart.

The next improtant thing when the wind is minimal is direction turns. It is important as this is the place where your kite will stall and fall. When you are moving apparent wind will keep the kite fully powered, when you stop apparent wind is not there and you are drifting downwind. If I miss a turn and fall in the water, try to move and kiteloop your kite all the time. I also do that when i am standing on the beach, either to launch or land my kite. Movement will prevent the kite from stalling. Sometimes, especially after a loop, you will have to push the bar away from you, to let the kite breath and go above your head.

Foil kites. I have a love/hate relationship with foil kites. I had my best and worst foilboard sessions with my Chrono 18m. I had my best as the kite can go upwind and downwind like nothing else I have ever experience. It also has a stable power pulling me that could eat through gust easily.

The worst sessions were, when the wind dropped bellow 6 knots for more that 45 seconds. The kite would fill up with water and make it impossible to relaunch. I would then have to pack the kite and swim back with a heavy kite (filled with water) that felt like an anchor. When I reach shore, thing were not easy too. The kite was too heavy to take out of the water. Once taken out of the water I had to go home, find a large enough area to unpack, clean it inside out and let it dry. The whole process usually exceeds 3 hours and it is easy to damage your kite. At the end of the day I usually colapse in my bed.

Unfortunately I am selling my foil, as I love to do long distances when foiling. With a leading edge I fell much safer as the kite floats. A floating kite is visible (I always choose contrasting colors with the sea), can be used as a sail to self rescue and as a flotation device to rest. Finally if the wind pick up again, it will relaunch and take you out of the water in seconds.

Using a second leash. I would strongly advise to use a second leash. It does not have to be a full length one. It can be one of the sorter ones. It is very usefull for connecting it to your foilboard when you try to relaunch your kite. Foilboards travel very fast when left in the water and the last thing you want when relaunching in minimum winds is to have to monitor your board or loose it. When I struggle to relaunch, I connect my board with my long leash and divert my attention to my kite. It is also useful when you have to self rescue.

As connecting it to the board has to be easy, I have installed a small rope on the back of my board.

F-One Mitu Convertible. After a lot of research and trying some foilboards out I am currently riding with an F-One Mitu Convertible and F-One Free Ride Foil. The reasons for my decision are the following. Convenience when travelling, when I travel I want to have my surfboard with me too. The Mitu is an excellent surfboard that can be converted in 5 minutes to a foil. Easy setup, with fone’s fast connector I have to screw a total of 3 screw (2 in the top and 1 in the bottom) and I am in the water. Most foils require 8–10 or more to setup. Call me lazy, but I love the convenience offered.

I know that using a surfboard I am not getting 100% out of my foil. I might buy a foil specific board if i find it at a good price for when I am not travelling. To be honest so far I am not missing my old foil that had such a board.

I would love to see more manufacturer offer their high end surfboard as convertible. Most that offer convertible option, do not offer a real surfboard.

— — — — —

I hope you enjoyed my review. Please checkout my Kitesurf Weather Forecast iOS Application, KiteSpotter.

KiteSpotter, combines local rider knowledge with Weather Forecast to provide you with the spot that has the best conditions.

)
Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade