does anybody else get totally screwed up after regular surfing?

[steamroller]

the wind has been GREAT in so cal the past few days and ive been kite surfing the heck out of the place....then i got back on the foil...oh hell no!....lost ALL my foil skills what few i had...after about an hour of beatings i finally was able to keep it sort of under control again but not really


is it just me or do you guys have to  relearn everything all.over again on the foil after you go regular surf for 3 days?

 

[Califoilia]

Mine was just the opposite. Been working on foiling for the past several months, and  decided to take the SUP out just to have some fun in some decent size swell we finally got in last week. Well after going from my 7'3x28"x4" foil specific board, I jumped on my 7'8"x30'x4.25" Simsup shape that I was always very comfortable on...and struggled just trying to stand on it, and once in the wave had a difficult time controlling it because it seemed just way more skatey and skittish than I ever remembered it.

It got so bad, and frustrating that after just half a dozen waves...I paddled it in, grabbed the foil and board, and had a blast feeling much more comfortable on it than I ever did before. So much so, that it almost felt as if I had a breakthrough on it, and felt more  under control than I had been previously, even getting it to make some turns when I wanted to, and not just when it did.

That's all a great thing, but now has really got me thinking that I may be thinning out my SUP quiver to make room for maybe another even shorter foil board.

This foil stuff's addicting!! 

[sharksupper]

We have lots of wind up here in Norcal too, 25-30mph+ for the past several days.  I windsurf, so what I did was put my GoFoils on my old windsurf board and just got used to them that way.  When the wind would die I would pump it like I was surfing.  Now it should be natural to go back to just surfing the foil...   You should get a foil for your kite!  It looks/sounds kick ass!  .. and you won't lose your foiling skills   

[PonoBill]

is it just me or do you guys have to  relearn everything all.over again on the foil after you go regular surf for 3 days?

 

Yup. Can't surf, can't foil. I think when you get really soild at foiling you can go back and forth, at least that's what folks tell me, but until the difference are firmly in what I guess is muscle memory it's hard to swtich back and forth. Most people I know don't go swtich back and forth for just that reason.

[Beasho]

Yesterday I foiled for the first time with straps on a 6' 6" Easy Foiler.  It was the shortest, narrowest (27"), lowest volume SUP-Foil 115L I had ever attempted AND with straps AND in 12 to 20 mph of on-shore wind in 7 foot waves at 8 seconds.  Naturally I was the only kook out and I sucked!!!!!!!

Back to the beginning.  HTF am I going to get me feet in the straps?  In my head all the negative thoughts creeped back in.  "OMG I suck. . .  I'm taking these straps off tomorrow . . . I might be able to get my front foot in but NO way the back foot.  . . .  these conditions are terrible for learning . . . . . "

7 waves later and I figured out how to get my front foot in the strap, just place my back foot too far forward, and centered, until I could fly in the flats and get my back foot in.  By my 10th and 11th wave I was riding over 100 yards.  Still feeling like I sucked but I figured something out.

For those of us in this stage of life, I am assuming there is no-one under 35 reading this forum, the necessary plasticity to
1) Get into SUP and heaven forbid FOIL
2) Embrace and overcome a painful learning curve going right back to the start
3) Persevere and appreciate true, step function improvement

Keeps us young and healthy.  As a mentor recently said "Stasis is Death."

[Beasho]

Answer - YES and NO.

I was recently on an anniversary trip to Fiji.  I debated whether to bring my Foil.  My wife, having planned the trip, added to my crush on her saying "What would Laird do?"  So I brought the foil.

The conditions went from good, to great to OVER THE FREAKING top.  We went to Frigates it was 7 to 12 feet on a blistering reef break.  I started foiling but after 10+ waves realized this was either 1) a Novelty in the conditions or 2) I still had much to learn.  So I switched back to the regular SUP mode on my same 8' 2" L41 foil.  In my head I went from sheepish and meek to 'I am going to crush this place' with regards to my confidence on a SUP on a Fiji left reef break. 

Check out my foot position in the first 2 shots shown in chronological order 1) on the Foil  2) on the SUP with quad fins.

They are identical.

When I got back on the SUP my front foot went right to the pad takeoff spot on the 'Foilboard.'  This can not be right.  Probably too far forward . . . . too centered . . . . 

3) My view of what the wave looked like down the line over the reef: No room for Sheepish and Meek.

Long story short I was trying to impress the locals (Photo 4), impossible to do, and went down in true Icarus fashion up to the sky and then rolled by a 9 foot face on to the reef.  Came up to find my L41 severed in 2 and then took a few more beatings.  Tried not to cry and limped back to the boat.  The only thing the locals were impressed by was how I took to the broken board "Like a man."

[Beasho]

The last day comes.  My foil board is broken.  My spirits tattered and the forecast comes in: "Looks like the Cyclone is at least 36 hours away but the waves are 6 feet so it should be a step above what is was last time (above) at Frigates."

6 feet - How bad can that be?

So I grab the only SUP at the Matanivusi resort.  It's a 12 year old circa generation 1 SUP, 9' 6" X 27 inches (who makes these things anymore) with chips and plenty of road kill all over the rails.

I went in confident but hesitant.  The board was TIPPY and there was 8 - 12 knots offshore breeze and it was more extreme than I had predicted.

In a pinch I figured it out.

I am no superhero.  I learned to 'surf' on a windsurfer on Cayuga lake in upstate NY.   I bought magazines and saw what Robby Naish and Maui Meyer were doing and dreamed 'I can do that.'

Today I watch Kai Lenny, and Austin Kalama and dream 'I can do that.'  I surf with Jeff Clark and watch him switch feet and dream 'I can do that.' 

Monkey see monkey do.  All of our Super Heroes on SUP and with FOILS are better off switching back and forth.  Keep at it you'll figure it out. 

[norcom]

I have some much different gear for kiting, windsurfing, sup and bike that this always happens. It takes longer than a few days though. I completely forgot how to ride one of my kite foils. Last summer thist pareticular foil was my all-time-favorite but I didn't ride it for months after I started kiting with my SUP foil. I finally rigged the old one and could barely get going let alone do all the stuff I was doing.

Having lots of gear is nice but I quickly develop a preference for something and stick with it. Then either out of necessity to fix the preferred ride or "hey I haven't tried this in a while" I rig something else and realize how much different the designs are. It's fun to try different designs. I learn a lot this way because you have to get out of your comfort zone and adjust while realizing the others highs and lows. Some toys I ride for months before it hits me on how much I prefer one design over the other, even though I my not fall in love with it it at first.

[Califoilia]

Back to the beginning.  HTF am I going to get me feet in the straps?  In my head all the negative thoughts creeped back in.  "OMG I suck. . .  I'm taking these straps off tomorrow . . . I might be able to get my front foot in but NO way the back foot.  . . .  these conditions are terrible for learning . . . . . "

For what it's worth, I had the same thoughts when I first tried a front strap (don't have a rear, and not sure I really want/need one...yet), and did in fact take the strap off for a session...but reinstalled it after talking with a couple guys that use them, and tear it up with them on (couple have front and rear).

Their suggestion that I found worked for me, was to get your front foot in the strap before you turn for the wave, and with the shorter boards (I'm on a 7'3"x28") I found this very doable, and I'm even able to paddle around with foot in strap somewhat normally even when I'm not just trying to catch a swell...although it does limit your horizontal stability with your foot dead center in the board, so I don't do that a lot, just saying that it's possible.

With the strap, I do like that my front foot is always in the same spot, and it's just one less thing I have to think about, so that only gives me my rear foot to play with, and make adjustments with it fore and aft depending on wave size, and how much lift I'm getting/needing or not.

While it might seem strange, and uncomfortable at first, I'd personally give it a few more sessions of seeing if you can paddle into a wave with your front foot already in the strap, and then see how having to get only one foot in the other strap feels....or just remove the rear strap to begin with, and give that a go.

It might sound odd, but I now feel I have more security with the front strap, as I do find myself even pulling up on it from time to time in order to get just a little more of a pump to the board when necessary...although you, and I surf in completely different conditions, and you probably have more than enough energy to get all of the lift that you'll ever need compared to a lot of the smaller mush I'm foiling in.

Just a thought.