Learning to gybe on a Kite Foil with Progression Kite Coaching in South Africa

A little about me, I am a large older man who has kite surfed on twin tips and Surfboards for decades and felt it was time to start a new discipline.

I bought a liquid force foil set up six years ago and have yet to get up on it. Years later, I had a slingshot (this was not that successful either) set up and then I stumbled across a Moses, now Sabfoil hydrofoil set up. The legendary Moses W633 is a broad, easy low, aspect front wing, and suddenly I could get up and foil.

I foiled in Whitstable, occasionally, three to four years ago, but I needed help figuring out how to gybe. I took the foil to Le Mourne in Mauritius (check the tides, those coral heads love to stop one foiling). I took the foil to Cape Verde, Boa Vista and had some lovely foiling. I fell off every gybe, which was exhausting.

Another couple of years go by, and some good friends say let's go to South Africa. My friends were just learning Kite foiling, so we decided to travel to Langebaan, flat water and usually windy, to help us progress.

It was then pointed out to me that Rob Claisse was based in South Africa for the winter months, working with High Palms Kiteschool, and is famous for doing the Progression DVDs and expert coaching

I have never had lessons in kite surfing. I learnt back when kites were air ram and did not relaunch. But after many years of trying to Kite foil, the time had come to learn how to gybe.

We met Rob after a few brief emails on the beach in Langebaan. Rob is very technical, which became apparent after our first meeting on the beach. The four of us instantly renamed Rob to nice Rob.

 The next day I was given a few pointers before even a lesson had been organised. Rob was just on the beach, collared me when I came in, and then I was educated on why I need both hands on the bar to put more weight forward.

A few days later, a two-hour lesson was organised. Rob gave me a two-way headset and then expertly foiled around me as I was told how to adjust my position. I was taken back a few stages and taught how to ride the foil flat. Then with slow expert tuition, I was told and demonstrated how to gybe, not on the foil. At the end of the session, I was starting to gybe.

As part of the tuition, I was enrolled in the Progression online portal, where I had an extensive collection of movies to watch. It breaks down every aspect of kitesurfing into tiny manageable chunks of information. I also have the option of kitesurfing tuition online. 

By the end of my trip, I was starting to crack foiling gybes, but as with all great kitesurfing trips, it ended far too quickly.

One of our parties had never kite foiled before, and Nice Rob had him up and foiling within the first two hours. All four of us improved a staggering amount, and I just had to write this blog post about what a great time we had with Rob at Progression.

Nice Rob is out coaching until the end of Feb and will be back next season, give him a shout if you want to improve your kitefoiling.

We loved South Africa, and it would not be proper not to thank Planet travel for recommending the Windtown Hotel and organising one of the best kitesurfing holidays I have ever been on.