118 JULY 2019
FOILING TECHNIQUE
TWO PITFALLS OF THE FIRST TIME FOILER
Don’t go out totally underpowered.
Wind foiling is for light wind...but only once you have some
technique. When you first start out you want to have enough wind to get
planing on your normal gear. For their first time, I send people out on a half
metre smaller than they would use on a regular board. You can eliminate a lot
of variables if you are not completely underpowered.
Do not push against the foil mast, as if it were a regular fin.
The biggest problem I see with first time foilers is they push downwind,
against the foil’s mast like they would their normal fin. Instead, all their foot
pressure needs to be going straight down to the bottom of the ocean and into
their front wing. Any pressure against the “fin” like a classic windsurfer will
cause them to swing wildly upwind and downwind once they take flight.
If you lean out upwind over the water and into the harness like a classic
windsurfer you will definitely be pushing downwind, across the board, against
the “fin”. Instead, you need to stand straight up over your feet, keeping the
harness lines taught and pressure in the sail, but you must not lean out over
the water relying on your harness and sail for balance. Stand up straight over
your feet!!!No matter how well someone understands the concept of not pushing
downwind, across the board, against their “fin”, their years of windsurfing
muscle memory will make them do it. It is a really hard habit to break.“WIND FOILING IS FOR LIGHT
WIND...BUT ONLY ONCE YOU
HAVE SOME TECHNIQUE.”
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I teach windfoiling at my La Ventana windsurf centre, Pro-Windsurf La Ventana, Baja, Mexico every day. Most people are
getting 50 metre flights on their first session. If you can jibe a normal windsurfer, you can learn to windfoil quickly. The
crashes are nothing we haven’t all experienced a hundred times....and usually they happen at a much lower speed than we
are used to. Here are my tips for getting started.
Wrong – no windsurf stance allowed! Correct - stand up, over the board, in foil stance with your foot pressure going to the
bottom of the ocean.