Beginner Wingfoiling Get Flying, Stay Flying

Introduction

Once you are standing on the board and taxiing efficiently, you are about to experience your first flights on foil. Warning: you are about to become fully addicted; you will be hooked on the unique sensation of flight.

This lesson is focused on helping you to get to the point of take-off and to maximise the time on foil once you are flying.

In a nutshell (tl;dr)

Getting the board onto foil is primarily a function of board speed. As you get faster, the aeroplane-wing like qualities of the foil create lift, raising you out of the water. To get flying and stay flying, keep these core principles in mind:

Bear away to build speed: trying too hard to stay upwind is a barrier to taking off. Turn slightly downwind as you feel a gust.
Front foot pressure: Most beginners (especially those with a windsurfing background) put too much weight on the back foot. Focus on front foot pressure and keep the board level to avoid tail drag.
Rig big: You aren’t efficient with powering the wing yet. Use the biggest wing you can manage in the conditions.
Power up, don’t pump excessively: In early sessions, pumping the wing hard can ruin board stability. Focus on sheeting in as a gust hits the wing instead.
Take off in steps: Don’t try to climb too steeply, you will kill your speed and stall. As soon as you feel the board lift, apply front-foot pressure to level off, build speed, and climb a little higher.
Fly with subtle movements: The foil is very sensitive. Use small shifts in weight distribution rather than big, exaggerated movements.
Heel the board slightly once flying: The foil feels more stable and locked in when it is heeled over slightly. Lean your body and the foil slightly to heel-side balancing against the pull of the wing.

Let’s look at the stages of taxi, takeoff and flight, with tips for each.

Building Speed – accelerate to take off.

To get the board flying, the foil needs to generate lift. Much like an aeroplane taking off to generate enough lift you need enough speed. To be clear, the speed needed to take off is around 6 to 8 knots (7 to 9 mph) for most riders on a beginner foil. That is a brisk jogging pace, which hopefully makes it feel more attainable.

Your goal during the taxi is to keep generating speed until you feel the foil engaging and trying to lift you and the board out of the water. Do not be tempted to try and bounce the board up too early, this will kill speed you will crash back down from any initial climb.

Get into an efficient upright taxiing position.
Sail in a beam reach – at 90 degrees to the wind.
Watch the water ahead, looking for a gust. The water will be darker and more rippled as a gust approaches.
Keep your front hand straight and slightly raised so that you are presenting as much of the wing as possible to the wind and generating lift and drive (as you practised on land).
As you feel the power in the wing increase in the gust, push the wing forward and press with your toes to bear away.
Pull the back hand in to sheet in and generate a burst of power. Don’t over-sheet you should feel as if you are pulling against the power of the wing.

Keep weight even on the board. If you place too much pressure on the back foot the board tends to plough through the water. Tilted back the tail of the board creates drag and so does the foil.
Hold the board down until you can feel significant pressure trying to lift you. You’ll need to build feel for this but in the beginning, when you think there must be enough to take off keep the board down and accelerating for a few seconds longer.

Top Tip 1: Most riders initially ride with too much back foot pressure. Keep the board flat on the water by shifting enough weight onto the front foot. If you need to move the back foot slightly forward to make this comfortable, then narrow your stance.

Top Tip 2: Avoid the temptation to try and take off too early, this will kill your speed and the board will stall.

Below is a list of issues and solutions for the pre take-off phase.

Board ploughs through the water nose up and fails to generate enough speed.	Balance weight between the front and back foot. Keep the board level with front foot pressure. If necessary move the back foot slightly forward to narrow your stance.
When I sheet in the board turns more head to wind killing speed.	Avoid throwing weight back on your heels as you sheet in. Balance the power in the wing by leaning the upper body from the waist keeping balanced weight through the feet. Concentrate on front foot toe pressure.
I can't gain enough speed even though other riders are flying.	More experienced, skillful riders may be foiling with smaller wings for the conditions than a beginner will need. Rig big in the early sessions, you need all the power you can get.

Controlled Take Offs

Once you have enough speed to take off you are ready to fly. Your main focus should now become controlling the foil. The foil is far more sensitive to changes in weight distribution than the board, relatively small shifts in weight will have a big impact.

Once you feel the board wanting to lift from the water, try to hold it down for a second or two longer building even more speed.
Initiate take off with a little bounce down onto the front foil using a sharp push of the front foot.
You should feel the foil recoil against you, shift your weight back slightly by shifting your hips back and let the board lift off.
As soon as the board breaks contact with the surface shift your weight forward slightly to level out flight.
Power the wing to generate more acceleration and as the flight becomes more stable climb a little higher.
Try to keep the foil fairly level with respect to toe heel lean. Too much weight heelside will turn you upwind, overdo it toeside, and you’ll turn downwind.

Top Tip 1: The most common fault for beginners is trying to take off too steeply and stalling. By deliberately trying to take off in a series of little hops you are automatically re-weighting the front foot. Front foot pressure is crucial.

If you look at the video above, you can clearly see me level out the initial climb and then gain height after I have gained some more speed. I am pumping quite hard in this video as the wind was quite marginal. Beginners will need more wind, but the concept of “hopping up” is shown quite well.

Board takes off climbs steeply then crashes back down onto the water	The take off costs you speed. The steeper you take off and the higher you climb the more speed you expend. Try to take off through a series of small hops, climb, level out, acclerate, climb...
The take off becomes a violent roller-coaster of steep climbs and dives back onto the water	The foil is sensitive to weight shifts. Try to avoid very big movements of weight, shifting the hips should be enough. A narrower stance may help as it automatically keeps weight more centered, shoulder width is wide enough.
As soon as I take off I veer downwind losing power as I turn more onto a run	The foil is tilted over towards toeside. Much like a banked aeroplane wing the banked foil turns in the direction of lean. Keep your weight more to the heel side. If this problem persists it may be worth simplifying your stance so that both feet straddle the centre line until you get a better feel for foil control. You can then move back to the offset stance(see previous lesson).
As soon as I take off I veer upwind losing power as I turn more head to wind	The foil is tilted over towards heelside. Much like a banked airoplane wing the banked foil turns in the direction of bank. Keep your weight more to the toeside. Again it may be worth simplifying your stance.
When I Sheet In I seem to lose power in the wing and fail to take off	Don't oversheet the wing. Try to push the front hand out in front of you and up so that you are "scooping" the wing back towards you pulling against the force of the wind. Practice on land to get the feel of generating power.

Controlled Flight

Most people when they first start to take off on foil experience moments of panic and a sense that the foil has a mind of its own and will go where it wants to. Gaining a feel for how the foil reacts takes a little time but gradually it will become more instinctive and comfortable.

There are two elements of control to focus on:

Pitch control. The extent to which the foil is climbing or descending. Riding in a level flight at a consistent height is a key skill to master.
Directional control. Once you are foiling the primary method of steering is tilting the foil. Lean the foil backwards to heel side and the board will turn towards the heelside. Lean toeside and the board goes the other way.

Clearly, you need some skill in both these aspects. I would argue though that for first flights, the most crucial skill to work on is pitch control. This is because learning to ride in level flight without breaching the foil or crashing back down onto the water is critical to increasing flight time. The longer flights you get, the quicker you will gain more of a feel for the foil and more confidence. For that reason, I recommend simplifying the directional control problem, getting comfortable in one stance until your pitch control skills are fully dialled in.

Directional Control

The simplest and most stable direction for a beginner foiler is to be on a beam reach, weight slightly in the heels board and foil tilted slightly to heelside using the pull in the wing to balance against the lean.

Once you are up and flying sheet out slightly to depower the wing and gain control.
Lean back towards heel slide slightly so the board is tilted slightly to heelside and the foil is banked over slightly.
Simultaneously sheet the wing in again to create a feeling of balance against the lean.
The tension between the edged over foil, which wants to turn upwind, and the sheeted in wing which is trying to turn you downwind creates a more locked-in feel.
Look in the direction you are going, pick a point on the shore or horizon and foil in a straight line.

The photographs above illustrate me riding in this way. Don’t overdo the lean, a fairly gentle angle is enough at first so that you can more easily correct if the wind suddenly drops.

This technique provides stability for two reasons:

The lateral pressure in the heeled foil creates a sideways force similar to the keel or centreboard of a sailing boat.
The wing pulling away from you is balanced against your weight. You have something to hold on to to help you balance.

One final point regarding stance. Your body angle should be in a relatively straight line to the foil mast. That lines you up with the foil under the water, so your weight is driving straight down against the lift and turn that you are generating. Getting yourself at an angle to the mast inevitably leads to a fall.

Pitch Control

With direction control simplified and parked for now, you can concentrate on pitch control. At first, focus on keeping flight level by keeping your weight evenly distributed. If the board starts to rise, shift your hips slightly forward; if it starts to descend (assuming you have not lost speed), shift them slightly back. Try to gain a feel for how small movements have a big effect.

An excellent drill that I would highly recommend is the touch-and-go:

Get flying at a comfortable steady height.
Push your weight forward to descend. Note that you may feel the board accelerate as the foil descends “downhill”.
Keep the descent going, level out just as you touch down so that the board kisses the surface.
Shift weight back slightly to take off again.
Repeat until you have achieved a target number (between 5 and 10) of touch and goes without falling in or coming off foil for a prolonged period.

This exercise is useful in terms of purposefully getting a feel for the foil’s behaviour. Because you are looking to cause the foil to descend, you build good front foot awareness that is vital when you are looking to glide the board through a turn.

As I speed up it becomes impossible to keep the foil from breaching the surface.	As you gain speed the foil will generate more lift. Shift even more weight forward to hold the board level. If necessary, sheet out to lose some wing power and slow down that way.
When I touch down, the board decelerates sharply and I fall off.	Touchdowns will happen. Choppy water or a sudden wind drop will cause the board to touchdown. Try to anticipate the touchdown and level the board out as you land. If you have the speed, take off again using the same technique as the touch-and-go exercise.
Gusts pull me forward and I fall off or put weight toe side and veer downwind uncontrollably.	Anticipate gusts by watching the water ahead, manage the power in the wing by sheeting out and flattening the profile so that it is more across the wind. Practice managing gusts on-shore as one of your wing handling drills.
If the wind drops, I lose speed and crash down violently and fall in.	If you feel you are losing power and the board is slowing, shift weight forward so that the board is in a shallow descent. This generates additional speed which may help you foil to the next gust. If there is no gust, try to glide all the way to touch down in a controlled way. The touch-and-go exercise helps here.
If the wind drops, I fall backwards to heelside and crash.	The angle of lean should constantly be balanced against the power of the wing. Anticipate lulls by looking ahead and as you feel power in the wing reducing try to sheet in more or bring your weight more upright towards toe side.

Post Session Reflection

Actively thinking about how a session has gone will help you focus on what to improve and make greater progress. If you use a tracker look at your statistics to celebrate successes. For example:

Highest speed to date
Highest average speed to date
Distance of longest leg continuously on foil
% of time on foil (The Waterspeed App calculates this)

The problem solution tables for each section of the process above may also help. I would suggest that you try and focus on the part of the process that you are realistically stuck at. For example if you are spending a long time taxiing without getting flying, focus your time there. Then start to worry more about the take off once flights become more frequent.

Reality Check: This is hard and there is no silver bullet solution

As I have proofread this article, it made me reflect on how hard this single lesson is to fully master.

Foiling is hard to learn

If you have had significant foiling experience in other watersports or you are a superstar athlete, you may crack the skills described in this lesson in a few sessions. For the rest of us “Average Wingfoilers”, the process is much slower.

These are hard skills because:

It takes skill and effort to generate enough speed to take off. You will get tired generating the few opportunities to fly in any one session.
As you take off, everything changes quickly.
The transition from riding the relatively large surface area of the board to the relatively small surface area of the foil is huge. The foil is very sensitive and reactive to your weight movements.
Sustaining flight is hard at first; you will fall a lot.

The combination of tiredness limiting session length, limited numbers of flights per session and relatively short flights at first mean you will need a lot of sessions to get comfortable. It took me several months of being on the water several times a week.

This is not to discourage you. The first flights you get are exhilarating, celebrate every little success and enjoy the process.

There is no silver bullet solution

You will undoubtedly come across advice either online or from someone at your spot that recommends tweaking the position of the foil mast and/or adding a shim to change the angle of the foil.

It is very tempting to listen to their siren voices proclaiming how transformative this can be. After all, after weeks of struggle, who wouldn’t be delighted to find that by moving the mast forward 1 cm, suddenly foiling was easy?

I fell into this trap and spent a couple of sessions moving my foil mast back and forward before putting it back to roughly the centre and persevering.

My recommendation if you have got suitable beginner gear is to set the foil approximately central in the foil track and leave it there. My rationale for this is:

The board designer probably knows more about fluid dynamics than you do. They designed the mast track the way it is for a reason.
You can easily create the same effect as moving the mast by moving your standing position a little further forward or back. Assuming you are not using footstraps (which you should definitely not be at this stage) this is way easier than continually making adjustments to mast position on shore.
If you are seriously concerned about your set up, ask a more experienced rider to give it a try. They will soon tell you if anything needs to change.

Time on the water getting more and more time on foil is the only recipe for success. Believe me, it is worth it.

Other Sources – Useful videos

There are a number of videos available. This one from Tonic Magazine is by two very experinced instructors. It explains everything in a very calm way with good illustrations.

There are plenty of other videos out there so you may well find one that works even better for you.

If you have found other videos useful, or if you have other tips that can help others, or if you have a question on something I have missed please comment below.

If you are now experiencing first flights then I’m sure you are now addicted. Once you can foil with control it is very tempting just to blast around having fun. But to get to the next stage, turning around, we are going to have to get out of our comfort zone again. But that is the next lesson, for now enjoy those flights , let’s Go-Wingfoil.

Beginner Wingfoiling: Get Flying, Stay Flying