Better than an AirChair

Why not just take a couple sets behind the boat and drop the kite? Airchair feel but you get to use your knees and riding stance!



http://www.slingshotsports.com/Alien...etails_section

Magic carpet ride hahahah

Not gonna lie,that looks awesome! Air chairs not do much but that looks cool as hell

Flying the kite is half the fun plus you don't have to worry about finding a second or third. Always wondered why more wakeboarders don't kiteboard. It's a blast and the Delta is one of the best places to kitesurf. A lot of the kiting companies were started by ex wakeboarders.

That looks pretty bad azz! Laird Hamilton style right there! Think you could use it behind a boat?

I'd like to try that behind a boat. Looks fun. Doesn't really compare to an Air Chair - not going to be getting huge air or doing flips on that. Still looks cool, though.

The guys using the foils and kites are getting huge air and doing flips. Some are getting 30' of air

Originally Posted by peter19u

The guys using the foils and kites are getting huge air and doing flips. Some are getting 30' of air

30' of air on a foil board??

Haven't seen that yet.

I have been hit by a foil though. Cost me a whole crapload of stitches & some time in the hospital. And that was aluminum. Get hit with carbon fiber & it's going to be even worse.

Gooood luck.

After a quick search I found this guy: https://youtu.be/Ew-iAV7NRck

Pretty wild!

BTW, I'm hearing that a lot of the new kite foil boards are junk. Just not strong enough to handle the abuse of jumping & rolling them repeatedly.... much less knocking them on the bottom of the lake. Makes an expensive lesson. One that many of us sit down riders learned years ago with the old AC foils.

Looks like the sport is booming though. Apparently it's due to pass behind the boat riding really soon!

Originally Posted by peter19u

The guys using the foils and kites are getting huge air and doing flips. Some are getting 30' of air

I was talking mainly about the boards in this thread that don't have any foot straps - which you're not going to flip on or get big air. Even the ones with footstraps don't really compare to Airchairs. All they have in common is the foil, but how you ride and what you can do is a lot different. I was also thinking about these things (with no footstraps), and these would be dangerous around anyone else in the water with that big metal/carbon foil on the bottom. I wouldn't want someone falling off one of these and sending their board flying towards me! Hopefully anyone learning would use a leash, at least - and again, it be scary to fall in a big wave with this thing flying around you. I'd still like to try one behind a boat but never anywhere near anyone else.

The one linked above has straps, they are just sold separately.

You can ride either strapless or strapped in. People are getting huge air with the strapless as well. You just hold onto the board or push against it going against the wind. It is getting huge and more and more companies making foils. No leash but it's you are usually in a wide open area when you jump.

Yeah, I've seen the ones with straps and know kiteboarders have been doing that for quite awhile. I didn't notice that in the links above - just watched part of the video. I just hadn't seen the strapless ones like in the video before. It looks like fun, but with no leash, I can see one swimming for a LONG time retrieving their foilboard. That's why I think behind a boat might be better. You would still need to be careful falling around that thing, though.

Actually getting back to the board is no problem since you can go upwind and downwind with the kite. Nice thing is you don't need a third to get out on the water, just wind.

Originally Posted by brettw

I....... and these would be dangerous around anyone else in the water with that big metal/carbon foil on the bottom.

You make it sound like getting hit by a surfboard.... or worse, a fin.... is a picnic.

It's cute people are doing megaloops on these but like....if it's windy enough to where you don't need the hydrofoil and you want to do a megaloop
Ditch the straps
Ditch the huge ass handle in your board and grab a tona pop with some boots.
I don't get the push against wakestyle lol

Originally Posted by bill_airjunky

You make it sound like getting hit by a surfboard.... or worse, a fin.... is a picnic.

Yep, getting hit by a sharp metal foil would most of the time be worse than getting hit by a surf board. That's part of the reason those of us on Airchairs are strapped in so tight.

Originally Posted by brettw

Yep, getting hit by a sharp metal foil would most of the time be worse than getting hit by a surf board. That's part of the reason those of us on Airchairs are strapped in so tight.

Such a false sense of security. Especially after seeing so many stories about surfers bleeding out after being hit by the fin.
My LE38 isn't that sharp, when I got hit, I had a HUGE amount of bruising, along with the cut itself. It always amazes me to see guys tuning foils so sharp. Murphy & Mack taught us to dull them down quite a bit. Even airplane wings are not that sharp. But to each his own. Good luck.

North is actually using safety as one of the main selling points on it's foil
https://northwindkitesurf.files.word..._foilboard.pdf