Wing foil sessions - beginner

[surfcowboy]

Bigmtn called it. (You are my spirit animal.)

Admin, thanks, that video sort of says the opposite. I’ll post it and you guys can see.

Obx, I have a buddy who’s waiting to take me out in a dinghy. I am glad to hear that won’t be a waste. I was down for the novelty anyway. I’m really patient and want to learn things the right way, so I appreciate that.

Pono, I can go upwind now but I’m in that weird stage where I’m just not sure that I’m doing it right. And yes, not having wind surfed it’s all weird. I think these things are too forgiving. You can get by doing stupid stuff. Add to that the lack of lessons available and I’m concerned that I’ll have bad habits. I need to record some video to let people analyze.

Thx!

[Admin]

Here is a nice image of a guy modestly pointing.  This is pretty much textbook.  He is looking where he wants to go, his shoulders are open and his hips are twisted into it a little.  His arms have dropped back a little.  He is edging in lightly on the upwind rail.  He is just trying to hold or gain a little ground to turn and ride waves.  He has plenty of wind so no super steep angles required.  That is a great place for you to start.  Start with really mellow upwind angles.  Too steep upwind and you will stall or have to redirect downwind. 

[surfcowboy]

Thanks guys, I went out this am in 15+mph and hard a ball. Long rides across the lake and ended up farther upwind than I've done yet. Also maintained my altitude and direction on foil better than I have to date. Really great session. I can feel the progression accelerating. Still not getting up and staying up switch but riding back switch comfortably now. Getting on foil a little but that will take a while. In good news is be able to ride switch on foil which is great to learn from the start.

Today I was able to turn a bit on foil and also drive the wing to accelerate or ease up which was new. At the end of one run I had so much speed I dropped the wing behind me and pumped a few times. My surfing friends talk about surfing with the wing looking hard but it really wasn't in my way. If I can do that at this stage, downwind surfing will be doable for sure.

Interesting thing. When switch I seem way more back foot heavy. I can't seem to get my weight centered when switch. But that's what the next session is for.

Thx to all who are helping here. It's coming!!

[Admin]

SWEEET!

[PonoBill]

Where are you finding wind? Any idea where some might be tomorrow? I'm dying to get my wings out.

[surfcowboy]

Keeping this going.

I forgot to log that I also played with my stance. I kept slowly veering to heelside when on foil the last few sessions so I started playing with my stance based on seeing strap setups and hearing people talk about moving their back foot a lot. I accidentally found the right position once when I first flew in session 4-5. I just locked in.

Here's what is working. First my foil is all the way forward and my back foot is just in front of the mast and maybe 2" offset to toe side rail. My front foot is about 24" up and my toes are touching the center line (basically like the straps on every wing board.)

I saw a video on stance from MacKite and they say they when using a big foil wing you need to offset your stance. Surfing offset would be weird as a beginner but for winging it's necessary. I'm guessing that with the extra speed you get more stability/wing resistance. Anyway, it worked so I want to report it.

[surfcowboy]

Where are you finding wind? Any idea where some might be tomorrow? I'm dying to get my wings out.

Pono, I found a weird little lake in the grapevine called Castaic. There's a lower lagoon where they are cautiously allowing winging as a trial. PFD, helmet preferred though not required. Because it's in that mountain pass it gets a bit more wind than normal. Forecast is 13-18mph tomorrow but it's a hike. But you might check out big bear or arrowhead? Not sure if the temps work but you're pretty hardy.

I did think of another spot. Frank Bosall park. In San Dimas. Not sure of the forecast but same thing, LA County so should be same rules. If you go this week buzz me, I'm on a light work schedule. I'll message you.

[Hdip]

Pyramid lake is only another 20 minutes and seems to have wind whenever I drive by.

[surfcowboy]

Def gonna try Pyramid but I gotta get good enough to dodge the good ol' boys in boats and jet skis. 😂

[surfcowboy]

Taking a work break this week and snuck out for a mid day wing.

Conditions were 10mph gusting to maybe 13-15. And just as you all said, I can pop up during a gust and ride through the lull. Low wind is actually fun too. It's fun to tear off at 100mph but chilling in low wind is fun too.

The lake is about 350 yds wide and with an NE wind I now back and forth across it. I'm consistently making it across on foil heelside regular stance and then shlogging back switch on the water. I got up on foil switch for 5 seconds and could have made kook of the day. I know it'll come.

But the big news is that I did a 170⁰ gybe on foil before crashing. This is doable. That's where I'm at. Also, with the gusty assed wind I'm used to I'll be rock solid when I get to some steady wind.

For those wondering, if you want to learn to surf, and don't have a boat or efoil, winging will get you time on foil. I'm getting several minutes on foil every session and soon I'll be getting an hour or more. I'll still have to adapt some skills to the waves but I'm learning how a foil works in a way that would take months in waves.

The only bad thing is that none of my surf buddies care at all , so this is the only place I can share how stoked I am. 😂

[Hdip]

Do I still need to read this thread since you ha e these guys to cheer you on cowboy? 😀

Just kidding. I’m not going to castaic though.

[surfcowboy]

Haha. I'm just rubbing it in now. But these wingers have gotten me over the hump for sure.

But dude, come on, a spot so close to your house! I'm honestly just stoked at the real estate options this sport opens. I can move home to the South now and get 100 acres on a lake for $12. 

Oh but just wait, my prone sessions are starting soon. Then you'll have to witness that here, and in the water.

[surfcowboy]

Showed up with 2 buddies today at the lake spot. I can now get the instant take off that you see in videos (and I'm sure you all already enjoy) at least on my heelside. Heelside foiling also feels good and I can angle hard upwind and am working on my form (back and shoulders.)

Did another half assed jibe and am starting to try to contort myself to ride normal stance toe side. I'll need to run downwind to get that I think. I think the efoil time has really helped my foiling but it may just also be TOW overall.

On the switch stance side of things, I got on foil again for a bit and while it doesn't feel "good" yet, I think I just need to go for it, suffer the falls, and figure it out.

It now is fun, even on the water returning switch is comfortable. Though I have a few more skills to work on, I feel like a wing foiler and I think I'm over the most painful part. I came home and had energy to spare, what?

For those tracking, or considering the sport, I'm on session 12.

Things that helped:
Everything in this thread that others said.
Patience and limiting my session time so I don't wear myself out.
3, 10-15 min sessions on efoils
Switch stance practice on a skateboard
15 mph wind

[surfcowboy]

Updating progression after 1-2 more sessions.

I’m now solid heelside with take off and flying. I’ve yet to dial topside but can get up on foil switch for a few seconds at a time (10-15 sec). Hoping to dial that soon so I can mow the lawn without crazy falls.


However, this sport tricks you as jut when you get over your crazy falls going straight, you want to start turning and then you go back to spectacular crashes lol. I can make a jibe almost all the way through but I fall off once going the other way. So I’m going to focus on getting toe side and switch riding solid before I jibe on foil. As was said, a big wing is nice because you coast through the turn without having to worry about wing power.

One tip about switch riding which I’m sure (again) kite guys know. My buddy told me to move my back foot towards the rail to offset the wind power instead of the front, which I was doing. Moving my front to the rail threw me into a weird wobbly unstable situation. This of course tracks with the fact that people ride with front straps a lot and obviously can’t move that foot. (Duh.) so thats next for me. Get stable and learn to crank upwind switch and then string that together with turns.

Again, I’m still seeing progression with every 1-2 sessions and my buddies who are learning are doing the same. Wild thing to watch.

[surfcowboy]

Session ~15 and I’m working on riding on “off” side, either toe or switch. After trying toe side I figured out that I need more room to learn that. In the lake I can’t really get far enough upwind yet to take the downwind angle I need to learn toe side. I’ll save that for larger lakes or for once I get switch. So I “switched” strategies and focused on foiling switch and got some short rides with no crashes. Did a lot of taxi-ing too to get the feel for weight distribution.

One challenge to practice is that the lean back then come forward that I’m using to pop up is slower switch so I’m practicing that and going back to the beginner method of letting speed put you on foil. It’s coming and 2-4 sessions should have me on foil solidly on my off side.

Once I can do that I’ll feel confident in open water. (I could go now but just taking it slow and I’d rather be able to go full speed either side in case I need to get back in fast.)

That should open the door to getting way upwind which will let me practice turns on long downwind reaches (is that the term?) And that, and my surfing should get me to a jibe on foil.

I really need to go ride with Pono in Mission Bay while he’s there too. Same conditions as the lake with way more room to run.