Foil SUP Practice Day 2 - seventh day on the foil - video

[clay]

Hellooooooo!

Second day on a boat, great time and another reminder for me of how amazing it is to have a shared group surf experience.

I think this time I learned more on the boat than I did on the foil, seeing everyone else ride and hearing there feedback was very instructive.



A couple days before this I did another foil attempt in some micro surf.  I made some really small improvements and at the end of my session I was feeling very frustrated and struggling to see any light at the end of the tunnel.  This boat trip renewed my optimism and hope for understanding and progressing on a foil. 

[TonyGring]

That board looks tough to learn on.

[SUPcheat]

Heh, Heh, looks like the best way to learn before going back to open ocean swells.

Obviously a steep learning curve, depending on individual balancaciousness.

I wonder if a "Jason" style hockey mask or a Mexican wrestling mask with a Gath could replace the fencing grill.

It looks like it is necessary to maintain the 'squat' position. Keeping the nose down seems to be a major obstacle.

[surfcowboy]

Dude, you are totally getting it.

[Night Wing]

Kind of interest to watch your videos and Robert's (of Blue Planet) on his foil board . I know you both will stay at it.

[clay]

Thanks for the feedback and comments!

[Subber]

Appreciate the vid Clay!

Were you able to feel the difference foiling in the propeller wash and not
being in the propeller wash?

[clay]

That board looks tough to learn on.

Interesting, can you give more detail on what you are seeing?  I sincerely want to know as I am still just guessing at this point in my foil progression.

For me the question is what board is ideal for learning to foil?

I was watching video on here at http://www.foil-academy.com and on their really small wake foil board they were burying the nose and doing face plant crashes. Looked painful and reminded me of learning to jump the wake on a wakeboard, headache (concussion?) city!  So I was thinking wow I'm glad I am on a longer board with a slow speed foil so I wont face plant at high speed.  And at the same time having a small board that can be water started looked pretty easy, although probably very tiring if one is falling every few minutes?

Then I rewatched this Alex Aguera video and see they are on rough water and lifting outside the wake and prop wash.  It looks like a 8-9ft sup surf style board they are on, which makes sense to me as they can surf the board to get outside the wake and then try to lift.  And with a somewhat pointy nose and some rocker they can avoid pearling in rough water and if they do fast foil drops it might not pearl either?  I wonder how hard or easy it is to water start with a board this size, do they start standing up or kneeling? or like wakesurfing apply heel pressure and rope tension and then pop up that way?


Here is what I have experienced so far learning to foil on a Downwind board:
1- stable - very easy to go from parallel to surf stance, or even start in surf stance.  Helps with correct feet placement for flying.
2- fast - easy to get up to speed and catch waves or swell.
3- thick - this is something I hadn't thought of as being good - I suspect I could cut this board down to 7-8 feet and still be very stable on it.

4-soft and thick rails - this makes it hard to learn on behind a boat.  No edge or rail to lean on for steering and counteracting the forward pull of the rope.  I learned on this boat session how to steer by moving the rope side to side - one side of the board or the other and this was a huge help to stay in control.
5-long length - this is obviously bad when flying, and at the same time good when crashing as it seems to slow down and minimize the harshness of a fall.

FYI - I used to have a 10ft SUS nose rider, big round nose.  The few times I surfed it in offshore winds the nose would lift like an airplane wing, scary and even dangerous.  This 12ft foil board has a real pointy nose and the few times I have surfed it in offshore winds it doesn't get blown around and I feel much more in control and safe.

Most of my above comments have questions marks because I don't know yet.  I am sharing what I suspect I know and hoping any feedback will expand the pool of knowledge and educate me on how to progress and eventually master the foil. 

[clay]

Appreciate the vid Clay!

Were you able to feel the difference foiling in the propeller wash and not
being in the propeller wash?

Thanks!  I don't know, I am pretty sure I was inside the prop wash the whole time.

[SUPcheat]

The couple of times I went with friends to try water skiing many years ago, I never got up.  I just wound up falling and getting dragged around and water logged. After one session, I had bruising all up and down the side of my body turning purple and yellow over time.  That's kind of what I think of when I watch this wake foiling.  However, Clay's group is clearly more talented in getting it early on.