We have lift off - Kite foiling is here to stay
There’s no going back now. The amount of kite foiling pictures, movie and talk in the media is insane, Kite foiling is here to stay, and it’s going to be the new norm for cruising.
We said it first, expect to see more foils at your beach than twintips in the next few years, as cruising along over the waters surface is a whole lot more fun than bouncing around in the chop. All it needs is for someone to develop an auto leveling system like the Moths have, and we’re set.
Right now, things are getting really easy though. The latest batch of foils from Kite Foil Australia are allowing riders to get out in winds over 15 knots, which until recently has been a big challenge. The problem becomes going too fast for the foil. At these high speeds you get all kinds of weird things happening, like foil twist and excessive lift production.
You also get less time to correct ride height problems, resulting in some spectacular crashes.
It’s a common problem in the aviation world, pilots call it PIO, Pilot Induced Oscillations and it’s lead to more than one, shall we say – harsh landing. What happens during a PIO is a deviation in ride height of increasing size.
You start with getting a little high, so you push your front foot forward to lower the foil, but you go too far, so you pull back hard to prevent nose-diving, and then of course you go too far again and you find yourself feeling very wet.
As hydrofoils improve, this annoying little habit seems to be disappearing thanks to some ingenious developments in the foils. So give it a few months, maybe a year and these foils will be as stable as standing on your dinner table. Kite schools will be teaching on the things! Ok maybe not that far, but they’ll be easy.
Don’t belive us? Or do you think it doesn’t interest you? Watch this movie where Damien LeRoy, Jon Modica, Patrick Rynne, Brian Kamilar, Brad Funk, and Anthony Kotoun are having a whale of a time flying around.