I have a good friend who has transitioned his time away from the slalom ski over to the hydrofoil. While I constantly refer to the sport as the retirement option for skiers, calling it a rocking chair instead of an air chair, there are people out there set to prove me wrong regarding it’s position in the sport.
This week we saw the record being broken for the most consecutive flips in a one hour span on a hydrofoil. I am not sure I can quite comprehend what it means to flip 826 times in one hour, but Geno Yauchler has set a new record, shattering the record set only in 2008 by Greg Gill who had 529 flips.
While I do want to point out that the fact that anybody could physically do that within an hour, obviously makes it less demanding on the body than slalom skiing, it was a damn impressive display of which I get dizzy thinking about.
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While I thank the author of this article for posting and commenting on the record, I do want to say that doing a flip on the foil, VS just riding it, are two very different things. I was in the best shape of the last 20 years of my life for this record, doing cardio exercises for over an hour strait in preparation, and I was still pretty whipped when I finished. Doing a record like this is very taxing on the body, and I doubt that just anybody could even do 500 flips in an hour, given the poor state of health our world is in. I challenge all who read this to jog for an hour strait, and look up at the sky 826 times while doing it, so you may have a taste of what it takes to do what I did.
Sure, I didn’t flip a slalom ski 826 times, and I know from experience that riding through the coarse is taxing. But so is climbing a mountain. These are just two very different things.
Anyway, I am not trying to sound whiny, I just want people to know that riding a hydrofoil is not just a lazy or old persons sport. There are real athletes that ride, and if you look at the ones that take it to the limits, they are all in great shape. Just like many other sports.
Geno
Geno,
You are right on the mark. The references to performing hydrofoil maneuvers as if they did not require physical excursion was intended for a much smaller audience. When the site started, it was only a handful of friends bantering ideas around.
In particular one of our good friends within this ring had become more fond of riding the hydrofoil and we missed him on the slalom course. So there was an undertone jab to our friend that would have not been interpreted by anybody reading it outside of our ring. Looking at the post now, it is out of context for the rest of the world. Thank you for reminding us that we are not alone out here.
Stephen