Speaker A
Now you're a wing foiler. You're up out of the water, and you're sustaining flights. It's time to look at how to progress.
Learn how to progress in wing foiling with tips on smaller boards, pumping, gliding, jumping, and tacking techniques.
Key Takeaways
- Use wing volume and stability to ease transition onto smaller boards.
- Proper weight distribution and wing positioning are crucial for lift and control.
- Pumping the board effectively maintains speed and lift during glides and jumps.
- Jumping technique involves speed, stance compression, and foil angling for lift-off.
- Tacking requires depowering the wing and coordinated hand and foot movements.
Summary
- Progressing in wing foiling involves mastering transitions, moving to smaller boards, and improving control in high winds.
- Using the wing's volume and stability helps beginners get onto smaller volume boards and start foiling.
- Maintaining proper weight distribution and flying the wing above the head are key to lifting the board out of the water.
- Straddling smaller boards and using knee positioning increases stability during initial foiling attempts.
- Pumping the board like a seesaw helps maintain speed and lift, especially when gliding on bumps or waves.
- First jumps require building speed, compressing stance, and angling the foil to lift off the water safely.
- Landing jumps involves keeping the back leg soft and extended while maintaining wing position overhead.
- Tacking is best done by steering downwind first to depower the wing, then carving upwind while switching hand positions.
- Releasing the wing early and driving it forward and up helps maintain control and lift during turns.
- Gliding on bumps and waves can eventually allow wingless surfing, enhancing overall wing foiling skills.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to Progressing in Wing Foiling
- 00:27Challenges with Smaller Volume Boards
- 00:46Using Wing Volume for Stability
- 01:10Foot Positioning and Weight Distribution
- 01:50Straddling Smaller Boards for Stability
- 02:28Getting the Board to Surface and Foot Placement
- 02:49Pumping the Wing and Generating Float
- 03:09Gliding on Bumps and Maintaining Speed
- 03:23Pumping Technique for Glide and Lift
- 04:19First Jumps: Generating Lift and Control
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
This might be through transitions or moving down to smaller boards. It may even be starting to get the board fully out of the water and towards jumping and more control in high winds.
Speaker A
One of the biggest barriers to moving down to smaller volume boards is actually being able to get up to our feet and get foiling.
Speaker A
So there are a few different skills we can use to make this easier. The first is we can start to use the wing's volume and the wing's stability to help us get onto the board.
Speaker A
We can pull our way along the leash and grab hold of the neutral handle, driving the wing into the water using its size and its volume to give us more stability on the board.
Speaker A
It's now important to get power early and fly the wing above your head. Putting a little bit of power into the wing will also start to help the board rise out of the water and enhance its volume.
Speaker A
With a little bit of speed and a little bit of power, get the front foot up and keep your weight forwards.
Speaker A
Then use the power and the speed of the wing to get your back foot up.
Speaker A
Again, keep your weight dead center over the board. As we go down even smaller, we can straddle the board to put ourselves in the most stable position, with one leg either side.
Speaker A
We can now move with both knees on the board facing forward. From this position, fly the wing above your head and start to get some forward movement.
Speaker A
With some speed generated by the wing, the board will come to the surface. As the board comes to the surface, get your front foot up followed by your back foot.
Speaker A
As with all water starts, keep your weight over the board. Keep your head up and keep your arms extended.
Speaker A
On smaller boards, they'll often want to spin into the wind. So drive the wing forward and keep the front arm extended to keep yourself more balanced.
Speaker A
Keep your weight over the front foot. Bend your front knee. Push your front knee over your toes.
Speaker A
This way, that'll keep the board off the wind and keep it more stable. As soon as you have enough wind, pump the wing to get more float out of the board and get you moving.
Speaker A
As soon as the board has speed, the stability will return and you'll be off and away.
Speaker A
One of the best parts about wing foiling is gliding on bumps, and it doesn't need to be a big bump to build this skill.
Speaker A
We're going to look to accelerate, release the wing, and go back to the neutral handle.
Speaker A
And then see if we can maintain board speed by catching bumps and pumping the board.
Speaker A
For your first glides, accelerate downwind as if you're entering a jibe. As the wing goes light, release your backhand onto the neutral handle.
Speaker A
With the wing released, keep your weight central over the board. Let the board glide.
Speaker A
After a short glide, we're now going to pump the board in the same way we did to first get foiling.
Speaker A
Remember, the pump is like a seesaw. We drive down through the back foot, but then we flatten the board off with the front foot to help it accelerate.
Speaker A
The back foot increases the lift. The front foot adds to glide. After a few pumps, move your front hand back onto the power handle and bring the wing back up into a powered position.
Speaker A
The better the bump or the windier the conditions, the longer we can stay off the wing.
Speaker A
As we move into the waves, we might not even need the wing at all, and we can surf the wave until we turn off it and start to head back out.
Speaker A
For our first jumps, we can use the same pumping action we've used to get the board going, but this time we're just going to generate the lift rather than the glide.
Speaker A
Build speed and compress your stance. Head slightly upwind. When you're ready to jump, drive down on the board and weight the back foot.
Speaker A
Angle the front wing of the foil up, and this will drive us out of the water.
Speaker A
As the foil breaks the surface, bring your back foot back up underneath you and keep the wing over your head.
Speaker A
Keep looking forward underneath your front arm. As you come down to land, keep your back leg extended and soft.
Speaker A
As the foil comes back into the water, keep it flat and then pump the board again to get back off and away.
Speaker A
To start with, jump slightly towards the wind. It will help you gain control and make sure that as you jump you'll turn slightly off the wind and make the landing easier.
Speaker A
Over time, you can start picking a piece of chop or a ramp to take off on.
Speaker A
The key is to keep the wing high in the air. Once your feet are switched, the best way to tack is actually to steer downwind first to depower the wing.
Speaker A
So accelerate downwind, sheeting the wing in until it goes light. Carve upwind hard, looking upwind.
Speaker A
As you approach, head to wind. Release your back hand, drive the wing forward and up, bringing your old back hand onto the front handle and moving your front hand onto the back handle.
Speaker A
Keep the pressure on the foil. At this stage, you may need to pump to keep the board foiling and keep coming out the turn. The trick to this move is releasing the wing early, making sure the wind always
Speaker A
hits the leading edge first and driving the wing forward and up so the wing drives and lifts you round the turn.
Topics:wing foilingfoil progressionsmaller boardspumping techniquewing handlingjumping foiltacking wing foilwing foil tipsfoil controlbeginner wing foil
