With foiling currently the next big thing in Kitesurfing and given such amazing performance in light winds I am super excited to be a part of it and join the Fastafoil Team. Over the next few months I will be documenting my progress so that everyone can see the real learning process, giving you all the tips I learn on the way. Here is Part 1 of my Foiling Diaries which covers my first two sessions :)

The set up- The foil is a Batwing Sencillo by Fastafoil and is designed to get you up and riding as quickly as possible. It is a modular foil so once you are happy riding the foil you can upgrade the front wing to the freeride model or race wing for full speed.

The board is a 165x56 freerace board which I had tubes put in by Rowsell & Morisson in Exmouth enabling the mast to be bolted to the board. To start with I am just using the front straps so that when I crash my feet come out easily. Any directional style board will do but it seems wider means easier and it really helps when you touch down.

On the water- My first session was in 6-8knts of wind using the 2015 North Dyno 13m at Marazion. I was pretty nervous after hearing how hard foiling is and some of the stories of crashes. Starting off I was doing my upmost to keep the board on the water while bring the power on. After a few short runs back and forth I started to give a bit of back foot pressure as the power came on in the kite and the foil rose pretty rapidly up out of the water before cavitating and I got slammed. This continued to happen for the next few runs but gradually I was able to stay with the nose coming down and bouncing on the water. Trying to figure out what was going on I concentrated on keeping my weight forward as the board lifted and I started to fly. The acceleration is really noticeable as you start to foil and as such you need to depower the kite. At first my adjustments were a bit too extreme and I would lose too much power and drop back down but after about an hour, I found the groove and started to fly upwind in total silence and approaching a speed around 15knts.

Now I was way upwind and had to somehow go back down! To start with I went back to keeping the board on the water which was hard as the kite kept trying to fall out the sky in such light wind. With more confidence I started to bring the foil up and the acceleration was amazing until I was hit by a massive 8knt gust and exploded hard. Back on again and up and away for a couple hundred metres before another explosion, but I was back downwind after such quick runs and able to ride upwind again. Now with confidence and my skill building, upwind was becoming easier with full foiling runs and dropping down to tack before heading back downwind.  This time going down I really concentrated on the kite and keeping more constant power delivery and made it around 500m only dropping down slightly a couple of times before a big gust again and I exploded near the beach grinning from ear to ear.

Session 2 – Marazion again and it was blowing 6-8knts cross shore with a little bit of off. This time with the nerves gone I managed to pump straight up onto the foil and fly upwind on the 13m Dyno, making small adjustments with the bar and keeping the speed as constant as I could. For this session my main aim was to get comfortable downwind and on the second run I really found the groove making small pressure adjustments through my legs to keep the foil level and I really started to fly at around 20knts in total silence but feeling comfortable, that was until a lull in the wind and a big crash. Dropping down to gybe I headed out to sea on the other tack before coming back upwind. 

On the way back upwind I started to try foiling tacks and to my surprise almost got round on a few but also totally crashing as well on some. Back downwind and now it was time to try foiling gybes, downlooping the kite I almost managed to stay up but just touched down, totally buzzing with being so close and getting straight back up and flying away before rounding up in the same fassion as you do on a race board. Upwind again and I almost made another tack but then on the next attempt I crashed flipping over the board and the kite fell out the sky twisting in the bridle. In such light wind it was impossible to relaunch even with the 5th line in such light winds. Luckily I was only about 200m out from shore so decided to swim in and call it a day, buzzing from another amazing session.

For sure this foiling is hard and the crashes are big but the rewards are massive and as long as you persevere you will get such a buzz when you start to fly. The Sencillo from Fastafoil is amazing and seems to be an easy foil to learn on as I was not expecting to be flying as quickly as this! 

Find all the info at www.fastafoil.com 

Stay tuned for more Foiling Diaries and video coming soon.

Lee ‘Pasty’ Harvey
www.pastyadventures.co.uk