Getting into kitefoiling - notes taken

Not being anywhere close to an advanced kitefoiler, I actually have an advantage when trying to share things learnt. It's still fresh in mind, it's not a twisted memory like "Yeah, guess I struggled a little the first 20 mins, then it was smooth sailing". That's a fact, because I took notes during this voyage. And controlling the foil was not one easy strike. Checked memory with notes, brain validated - in this context.

This page is not meant as a complete tutorial. It's the message I would like to send back in time to myself at the time of startup, in case I would rush out to foil before going through proper learning material.

Some hindsight has been applied to my initial observations, to make it worthwhile and easier to share.

Expectations

Be prepared to see very little progress the first days. Needless to say, it varies with abilities. Experience with directional boards can help a lot. Still, it takes time, you should generally not believe those claiming they were up and foiling the first time.

If you have access to a low-aspect foil with good rise, stability, maneuverability, and reasonable glide, you might progress faster in the beginning. Consider a surf foil instead of a beginner foil, to have one serving for both, and then some. However, many just want to buy one kitefoil (takes quite a bit of money, and consumes space), and the chosen one is often a rather fast freeride foil, if your local spot is not close to good surf. Going the direct-to-freeride-path usually takes a few extra days, that's all.

Finding time, place and conditions that are good enough

This is about wind speed, wind direction, wave types and heights - combined with your skills and the equipment you have chosen. You just learn a lot faster when things are right. That's of course of no surprise to you. But I'd say, having the right conditions when starting foiling is much more important, compared to seeking good conditions when first kiting with twintip. Trying to foil in medium to big chop, or having wind that is unstable and weak, can almost be wasted time and effort in the very beginning, for most of us.

One trick that is relevant for a lot of kitespots that are partly shielded for ocean waves, is to be ready as the wind builds up toward ideal speed, when the water still is pretty flat. Avoid big chop at all costs in the beginning. Not so much of an issue when you become more experienced and have a foil with long mast.

Choose a location that give you long stretches to ride back and forth. Partly because you want to use some time to bring the board up to speed in a controlled way. And partly because you need to keep foiling for a little while to have continuity, while trying out foiling balance and building muscle memory. Then have some time and room for taking the board slowly down, and maybe a place to make a wide turn before going back.

If you use regular multistrut-kites, wind in the range 8-9 m/s is perfect.  So you can make the bord gain enough speed non-foiling and rise naturally without (consciously) increasing back foot pressure.
You can do fine with a bit less wind if it's even, and/or the water is nice and flat. For this, your spot might have an exact wind direction that makes the ride sweeter. Or you know what kind of clouds or other weather parameters that make your wind steady.

Board setup

With most boards, a beginner setup should have front footstraps at the foremost position. As with the rear strap, if you insist on using it. With all kind of boards, I have chosen either both or no straps. In retrospective, I would not have started learning kitefoiling with a rear footstrap.

Some boards, and even some beginner-type foils, will allow for adjusting the foil back and forth (in effect, the front wing and fore-aft balance point). The common adjustment with 4-bolt plate mount masts is with slider rails in the board. Not all board have these rails, usually not the small strapless ones. Observe that some boards have both footstrap and mast foot position adjustment, to be combined to gain the full range of adjustments.

With some volume boards dedicated for strapless riding, you really should try different positions of an adjustable mast foot. It's about light wind, and you want the best board displacement in order to to build enough lifting speed. It is important to have both your feet and the foil at the right positions, to obtain optimal board glide while having foil rise at the preferred balance point. (Such marginal cases could be compensated with a bigger front wing. That might not be what you want, considering foil speed and agility, or cost.)

Most boards can be ridden strapless, it just may take some time feel your way to the optimal front foot position. Easier if you have kitesurfed strapless.

Friendly board setup

The other question I'd like to file under equipment setup, is the combination of foil and board. It's not about adjustment, it's the basics of the right combination. Luckily, the following potential problem is only relevant in the case of not having a volume board.

Be prepared to see your board misbehave! You can already have been shopping, and like the rest of a lot of us you might have come out of the store with a combination that does not work well. It's the "upwind runaway problem" I'm addressing.

Although weird, you'd better believe it. I hear it's hard to predict a failing combo, but typically the foil is buoyant while the board is thinner and less buoynat.

It works like this. You fall off at speed, and typically end up some distance from downwind to the board. Bord is on the side, foil floating until the wing tip is well above water, while the thin board is almost vertical at an angle up against the wind. Although the board edge aboard water is not a huge "sail", it is still almost vertical and efficient. While the board part below water, plus the foil wings, create a catamaran with very efficient keels. You drag as fast as you can, but initially you hesitated a few seconds and end up losing this absurd speed game. Due to a stiff shoulder after surgery, I only drag well to one only. I once had my board a kilometer upwind in a few minutes, against the current!

If you are unlucky like me and a lot of other foilers, you need to swap one of the parts. I'm keeping my troubled board, but now with a Moses foil, that like several carbon foils makers these days use high grade aluminium fuselages instead of carbon (mostly for stiffness), that certainly helps sink the foil body and shoot the problem.

Getting up with your kind of board and foil

I'm assuming that you do not plan to start kitefoiling with one of those neat, thin expert boards with very little footprint. You should either have some area for planing the board, or some volume for flotation help. Preferably both, to get comfortably started. While tempting, the smallest "pedestals" could be a wishful ability-leap that you'd regret.

A volume board (30L+) is a safe startup. Using none, front, or all footstraps - I'd say that you should start that board almost entirely flat and pointing a bit further downwind, compared to what you typically would with a strapless surfboard in underpowered conditions. However, that's just a pointer. Your combo still might allow for a little board edging and less downwind pointing.

A thin board with medium to big footprint can often benefit from quite a bit edging, preferably in combination with a fast rising foil. (like surf foils)

Injuries and security measures

Not starting with this risk section might be unorthodox. But I think it makes sense to talk about foil-specific dangers now that we have looked at where to go.

Don't be entirely focused on what the foilboard can do for you. Pay careful attention to what the bord can do against you. While you can accidentally hit or kick the small fins of a kitesurf board, the foil bord behaves very differently and present a lot more danger. I think, and have felt, that this should be the main concern when foiling. A surfbord mostly slides when you loose it or make a hit. The foil/board combo usually grabs water forcefully when it goes down and comes to an almost instant halt.

While the stalling might seem useful if you trip off the board, it is hazardous to fall off behind the board at high speed. Not only might your body skitter a bit on the water surface by itself, but the kite will keep you going even faster for a while. If you can't make sure that you never fall off behind the board, it is extremely likely that you hit the halted board at high speed, directly into the sharp edges at the back of the foil.
I know. While this phenomenon is at the extreme with fast freeride and race foils, you are still at high risk with a much slower surf foil.

Drill falling forward. Headfirst is ok! And it is ok to not look back immediately, for those cases when the board autonomously keeps foiling after you.

While I usually skip helmet when kiting with a surfboard in waves, I have not yet considered taking it off while foiling. Probably never will. (ok, winging sometimes)

Full suit is good to avoid cuts and hits on sharp parts. Wetsocks/shoes is also a good idea, in case you can't stop threading water when getting close to the foil, and for standing on the foil when waterstarting a kite, and for those long walks home when you finally get going and the wind dies.

Consider an impact vest with some flotation. I find the one from RideEngine helpful and out of the way. Dakine and maybe still a few other has similar ones.
Protection against foil ends and edges is of course something you want. But board edges can cause damage, as the foil flips to the side, floating, and you can end on top of it. I took a rib that way, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one.
I love this type of vest as it keeps me warm and let me use the 2/3 summer suit long into the autumn. But more important in this context, the extra flotation makes it much easier to manage a bord that should be started flat.

Don't use a rear footstrap unless you know what you are getting into. I did, and I thought I knew. I always tended to get rather quickly into the rear strap with a windsurf board or a kiterace board, making more speed while staying in better control. The story with a freerace or race kitefoil is a bit different.

When starting, I heard from some race-oriented riders that they found the rear strap obvious at all times. While some freeriders didn't use the rear strap and said, "You might find it easier without".

Without rear strap might be easier for most. I didn't try. It's hard to tell, as we all did one or the other (or just strapless), nobody fully focused on both.
Anyway, it is not important. Because I think you should not follow my choice. Instead, go without rear strap - for your own health. Because that way you can make sure that accidental rear foot pressure will not instantly make your board shoot up for you to hit. You can consider re-mounting that rear strap much later, if you decide to go racing.

My mistaken keep-rear-strap-strategy was to "Just focus, on that right foot pressure!". Which I did ok with surfboard. And I also did fine with the freerace foilboard - when I focused. That's just it, managing balance by right foot pressure wasn't too hard, it was when "something came up" that I messed up.

I think I have applied uncontrolled rear foot pressure no more than three times - of which two went painfully wrong. One time in the very beginning I got too eager and wanted to keep lifting the foil during a wind lull, shooting the board and foil up in front of me. In the same second the kite caught wind, lifted me, and I was lading sideways with ribs onto the board edge. The other time was at speed when I quickly needed to dodge a piece of floating wood, foil likewise ending up in front. Used large amounts of neoprene glue on my new and suddenly very ventilated suit. As for me, I still got long scars.

If you use footstraps at all, make sure you maintain a loose adjustment. Your feet must release instantly if you catapult. Friends have injured ankles and even a knee that way. I have strong and stable ankles and should be less prone to injuries. But I want to to keep them that way, not risk reduced function for the rest of my life.
On the other side, don't have the straps very loose so you accidentally can have your entire foot with heel pressed into the strap.

Cheating with equipment

If you can buy one or two rater expensive kites dedicated for kites, your wind range may also become wider. I'm thinking of the new trend of strutless construction with superlight canopy, started with the very expensive but excellent Maui Cloud (sold for the USA only), followed up with the inexpensive Gong, and now at a full commercial scale with the rather expensive Slingshot Ufo.

I have not tried the Cloud or Gong, recently bought the Ufo and was stunned about the lightwind drifting abilities, and very happy that someone now has made such a kite versatile with huge depower range.
It is of course hard to compare kite sizes of different products, but as a pointer for foiling I's say that my 9m2 Duotone Neo did a good job from 8m/s, while the 9m2 Ufo is great from 6m/s. And have a fantastic drift, and reacts instantly.
Feels like cheating, only better.

Next steps

This post does not take you through all basic bits and pieces, but lifts some special considerations I have not seen too much about elsewere. And you are left on your own for now, to the steps after basic foil riding. For instance the lovely foil jibing.
If you have a surf foil, or can borrow one at times from a friend, you can get your head around those jibes and tacks a lot faster. (much more time saved with the surf foil in this context, compared to initial foiling)

Convenient information

Yes, your friends at the beach will give some tip now and then but not overwhelm you. Free YouTube videos (there are a few) can show you some cool shots, and maybe lean you something. But did they say it all? Did someone give you the big picture for putting it all together? Insight when you are left to watch yourself out there?

If you're not obsessed with having all your information totally free, do consider spending USD 31 to get Progression's superb quality 3 hour instruction video library.

I'm not affiliated in any way with the UK-based Progression Sports Ltd. But I like to mention their offering, as their products have been of great value to me (also the kitesurf and kiteboarding series), and I don't think similar options exist. Maybe it's just my view of the world today, I think we are drowning in inefficient and low-quality ad-based information, so the marginal market of monetized learning resources often does not work well. I want to see a lot more, like the Progression initiative.
I have even worked through chapters about things I thought I knew, and found Rob's friendly voice point out essential things I had never heard, clearly lifting my abilities next time out. (that's the beauty of not being a champion, your own improvement can strike you)

Before you go:
I'm assuming you have read and accepted the general risks with this activity!
Have a good one soon!