The light wind has always been one of the great challenges of the kite. It is inevitable: the hot summer days with the light breezes from 8 to 12 knots are those in which we all find ourselves on the beach hoping that the wind rises, trying and trying everything to exploit what little there is and stop cooking under the umbrella ... and when I say everything, I say this because in these years I have seen really try everything: from the 2 kites connected together with the 40 meter cables!
A few years ago the solution looked like the big sail . The various brands have created increasingly performing light wind sails that promised to exploit those breezes. But honestly surfing with those 17sqm bisons is not the same sport. As powerful as it may be, a 17 square meter sail is a large sail, therefore slower, more technical, less responsive fun.
Personally I never believed that the answer was to look for in the sail, but rather in the table . Race boards, surfini skimboards ... The skimboard in particular seemed to me the ideal solution for a long time. At least until we tried a hydrofoil last lanzatote last summer. It was certainly not the first time I saw a foil board, but until that moment I never had the chance to try it.
The hydrofoil or foilboard is a particular application of the hydrofoil navigation principles to a kitesurf board, but also to surf, sup etc. The result is a table that, thanks to a particular fin (or appendix) allows you to navigate at about 80cm on the surface of the water, greatly reducing friction and consequently noise and increasing speed considerably . That's why the hydrofoil in kiteboarding has now taken hold as a table dedicated not only to light wind but also to speed and regattas, now supplanting the racing boards in many competitions and making foilboarding a recognized discipline.
With the Hydrofoil, navigation is completely different and the feeling you get is really floating in the air. Thanks to the greatly reduced friction, almost no noise is heard during navigation, and both the chop and the small waves no longer have an impact on the board and are no longer perceived. There are no more sketches on the face nor the continuous stresses on the legs and back due to any rippling of the sea. The navigation becomes incredibly fluid, comfortable and with surreal angles compared to the wind direction. With a hydrofoil the distances are shortened and the speeds increase dramatically.
Since their first appearance, at the beginning of the 2000s, the boom of a few years ago has undoubtedly been made considerable progress in the development of these tables. Since more and more brands have engaged in their series production, we have seen a very rapid evolution that has resulted in greater manageability, stability and performance. Today there are many foilboard models on the market, each with specific characteristics. From foilboards for principiandi to those for speed competitions. And thanks to this evolution of materials, what appeared to be the limits of the foilboard seem to have disintegrated: strong winds and waves no longer seem to be a problem.
The strong wind has always seemed a contraindication to the use of a hydrofoil, but competitions played with winds of over 50 knots have shown that this was more a preconception than an actual technical limit.
The waves are the other "natural" limit. In reality, waves up to about one meter are absolutely not a problem as they can be passed without any particular technique: they simply stay below the table, and the fin passes through them almost without perceiving them. Is it impossible to sail with a hydrofoil in the presence of higher waves? No, simply a little more skill and technique is required, but I saw myself sailing in Lanzarote or Fuerteventura with a foilboard in the presence of waves well above the head.
The jumps are the ultimate limit that seemed impossible to break down, but even here now athletes and riders have shown that those who think so are wrong, and large!
Hydrofoil: only positive aspects? No contraindication?
Not exactly. Unfortunately, like everything else, there are pros and cons.
First of all I have to be honest, telling you that surfing with a hydrofoil, at the beginning, is not as simple as it seems. If you are a beginner in kitesurfing, forget it. First learn to navigate well, to maneuver with sail and board, possibly also with a directional one, and then try. If you are already an intermediate or advanced rider, don't expect to take the board and leave, as if nothing happened. The beginning can be quite difficult because it is a question of balancing the weights well and becoming familiar with table movements, anticipating it and recognizing its behavior in order to prevent the fin from coming out of the water. This in fact is, above all at the beginning, the main problem. The fin has the tendency to want to get out of the water and your concentration will be all in maintaining it at the right height, maintaining a speed such as to raise the table from the water, but preventing it from coming out because at that point the fall is assured. And the falls, from that height and the speeds that are easily reached, are never so soft!
I confess that the first time I tried it it took me a while to start. I don't know if because of the waves or because the table that they had loaned me didn't facilitate me, being without strap ... it seemed to me to have returned to try the departures in water! The advice is certainly to start with the straps and preferably in flat water conditions.
The second problem is precisely the fin (or appendix as many call it). As long as you surf and you're right on the table, no problem. Troubles can come when you fall either because it is easy for the board to turn over and fall to land right on the fin during the fall, either because after a fall, waves or currents can bring the board back to you or to the sail with the consequences that you can imagine.
And this is why it is recommended to use an impact vest and a helmet .
Finally the third contraindication ... the cost. A hydrofoil has a price that discourages most of those who would like to try it and the used market is not yet so thriving. In this regard, however, it could be considered that the purchase of a foilboard will certainly save you the money of a lightwind sail.
Does it still look like a toy out of your pocket? Well you can always try to build it yourself ... what I felt was artisanal and according to those who sailed with that and with others of production you didn't feel the difference ... so if you have some time to devote to the business and good bricolage skills: good work!
Pubblicato il 03 maggio 2018 | Blog > Equipments: KITESURF