Introduction
Once you get sustained flight you can celebrate and enjoy your hard-earned success. It is very tempting to use your “locked in” foiling position to blast back and forth in a beam reach, simply enjoying the sensation of flight. Whilst you should take some time to enjoy this, you do need to push yourself beyond your comfort zone and become comfortable on all points of sail. In particular, it takes some time and effort to get comfortable running downwind.
Working through this stage of your foiling journey is a prerequisite to learning the on-foil gybe. This is the last stage of your beginner journey, so let’s look at what you need to do and why.
In a nutshell (tl;dr)
Foiling in more of a downwind direction is less comfortable at first, because:
- There is less support from the wing: As you head more downwind, the apparent wind in the wing reduces. With less drive in the wing, you have less pressure to balance against. One of your points of stability has been removed.
- There is less lateral resistance in the foil: Heeled over in a beam reach, the foil is providing lateral resistance as well as lift. The more downwind you are travelling, the less lateral resistance the foil has. The foil has a looser, more reactive feel, and you have lost another point of stability.
You need to become comfortable with this point of foiling for several reasons.
- It is a prerequisite to gybing: When you gybe you are going through the downwind point of sail. If you are not comfortable at this point of sail, it is hard to concentrate on completing the gybe.
- Initiate your first gybes from a broad reach or run: It is hard to gybe from beam reach to beam reach. As a beginner, you will want to be travelling more downwind when you initiate the gybe.
- This is a step in learning to ride the foil and glide: A key to many wingfoiling skills is learning to ride the foil without relying on the pull of the wing. This is critical to transitions but also to catching waves, pumping the foil and freestyle tricks. It is also a fantastically addictive feeling and one of the key benefits of wingfoiling over other watersports.
The good news is that learning this skill is one of the easier progressions.
- Gradually reduce your reliance on the wing for balance: You can reduce your reliance on the wing through drills that allow for gradual progression.
- Gain feel for the foil gradually: Once you start to be less reliant on the wing you can still use a little surge of wing power to help you ride the foil.
- Work on your weaker side too: Everyone is better in one stance than the other. You need to practice your weaker stance too until you can complete these exercises. It is possible, it just takes time.
I highly recommend going through the following exercises before you spend too much time trying to complete your first foiling gybe. In the reflection section, I will tell you what to look out for when it is time to move on to that.
Exploring all points of sailing
As someone who spent many hours frustrated that I could not get onto foil, I do understand the desire to maximise time on foil once you gain basic mastery. The “locked in” beam reach position will become increasingly comfortable, sustained flight is highly enjoyable and the “walk of shame” is a thing of the past.
The temptation to blast back and forth on a beam reach, “mowing the lawn” might seem overwhelming, but you need to force yourself to spend time getting comfortable on all points of sail.
Top Tip: Mix “having fun” with progression. If you have two sessions planned spend some time developing skills in the first and enjoy a simple blast back and forth in the second. Only have time for one session? Then split the session into two, in the same way.
Exercise 1 – Close hauled to broad reach
Once you have mastered basic flight, this first exercise is intended to help you balance the pull of the wing against the angle you are heeling the board and steering by tilting the foil. By starting off heading up closer to the wind and then bearing away to a broad reach, you start to gain a feel for what you are trying to learn whilst maintaining some drive and balancing force from the wing.
- Start foiling on a beam reach. Gradually tilt the board to heelside turning the board more upwind to a close reach/close hauled.
- Balance the heelside lean against the wind in the wing.
- Sheet in harder to keep power in the wing.
- Try heeling further to heelside so that you are foiling even more into the wind (closer to head to wind) until the wing loses power.
- Glide like this for a second or two before pushing with your toes to bear away and power up the wing.
- Try to concentrate on steering by leaning the foil rather than using the wing to steer.
- Use bursts of wing power to maintain enough speed to foil. Intersperse with gliding on foil by sheeting out and depowering the wing.
- Do not turn downwind beyond broad reach for now as it becomes harder to maintain foiling speed.
Top Tip: The aim of this exercise is to get the feel of riding on the foil and steering with it whilst having little drive in the wing. Setting your downwind directional limit as a broad reach means that there is sufficient apparent wind to grab a quick burst of wing power whenever you need it. When you are going fast enough to glide for a few seconds, sheet out and feather the wing overhead to lose the drive in the wing. Get used to gliding along for a few seconds, then gliding with a slight turn up or downwind by leaning the foil to heel or toe side.
| When I turn into wind and try leaning to heelside with an unpowered wing I fall backwards | Keep your weight more centred over the board, so that you can lean more to heelside without the "comfort blanket" of the wing to lift you. The purpose of the exercise is to break your reliance on the wing. |
| Whenever I want to bear away I instinctively reach the wing forward and sheet in to pull myself round | Using the wing to steer is fine in most situations but here you are trying to learn a new skill. Sheet out so the wing is depowered. Lean the foil and drive it to turn downwind with you toes. Level off then sheet in to match the new course. |
Exercise 2 – Getting Comfortable Foiling Downwind
The closer you get to running directly downwind the less pressure you have in your wing. This is because the wind and the board are travelling in the same direction. Therefore, the wind you experience (the Apparent Wind) is the actual wind speed less the board speed. In a 12 knot wind, if you are doing 12 knots, the apparent wind is zero.
This creates two key sources of discomfort:
- You have a less stable wing to hold onto. One of your balance aids has been removed.
- If there is a lull in the wind, you are on the least powerful direction of sailing. You may stall and come off foil.
Exercise 2 A – Beam Reach to Training Run
To start with, you should repeat Exercise 1 but with the turns being downwind.
- Start foiling on a beam reach.
- Sheet out to reduce the power in the wing and simultaneously lean the foil to toeside to bear away to a broad reach.
- Level off the board and sheet in to accelerate with a burst of power.
- Depower the wing by sheeting out and simultaneously bear away onto a training run by putting pressure through the toes.
- Glide like this for a second or two before leaning back to head back to a broad reach, powering up the wing as you do so.
- Repeat the exercise, trying to get longer and longer periods of downwind glide.
- Use bursts of wing power to maintain enough speed to foil, depowering the wing by sheeting out to get the feel of gliding on the foil.
The benefit of this approach is that it allows you to start experiencing the feeling of running downwind with the safety blanket of being able to head back more crosswind if you feel unstable or start to lose speed. Once you feel that you are fairly comfortable going downwind, you are ready for the next exercise.
Top Tip: At the beginning of the exercise, limiting yourself to the training run angle gives more scope for recovering if you lose speed and want more crosswind pull from the wing. As you become more comfortable, you can point more deeply downwind onto a pure run.
Exercise 2 B – Running Downwind
Once you feel you can maintain foiling downwind:
- Gain ground upwind by doing a long leg close hauled.
- Bear away to a broad reach.
- Gradually bear further away to beam reach, then training run and run.
- Pick a point on the horizon or shore that is close to directly downwind and try to maintain a course towards it.
- If you feel your speed dropping towards stall speed try heading more crosswind for a few seconds and sheeting in to accelerate.
- Experiment with pumping the foil to drive it through lulls. Press on the front foot to make it descend, then as you feel the resulting acceleration level off and climb again. Repeat until you feel wing power come back.
Top Tip: As you bear away beyond broad reach you will feel that the foil wants to climb as the lateral resistance reduces. Keep the board level by shifting your hips forward and increasing front foot pressure.
| I lose speed on the run and come off foil. | If the wind drops and you lose power in the wing try to come more crosswind to regain power and accelerate. If it is a momentary lull, try pumping the foil with your legs pushing with the front foot to force it to descend and accelerate then back foot to climb again. Pump through the lull until the wind comes back. |
| I find it very awkward maintaining balance when running downwind. | Try to ensure your shoulders and hips are twisted across the board, look at a target downwind where you want to go. Especially for foilers over fifty, open up the stance by shifting the back foot to toeside and turning it slightly forward. This offset stance helps those of us with less flexible hips. |
| I find it very difficult to maintain balance without help from the wing and I crash. | Gradually increase your confidence of riding the foil without help from the wing through exercise 2a. Don't rush to exercise 2b it is better to run for 5 seconds feeling the glide then use the wing again than to ride 10 seconds and crash. |
Dealing with your Weaker Side
Everyone is better on one side than the other. You will either feel more comfortable riding:
- Right foot back with the wind coming from behind you. This is called port tack (because the wind comes over the port rail of the board). It is also Regular stance.
- Left foot back with the wind coming from behind you. This is called starboard tack (because the wind comes over the starboard rail of the board). It is also Goofy stance.
Regardless of why one side is more comfortable, you need to get confident and competent in both. Trying to ride in just your more favoured stance is too difficult and limiting. It is also very physically challenging to ride for a very long time in one stance without switching, especially for a foiler over fifty.
- Practice the drills above in both regular and goofy stances until you are able to complete them in both.
- Set realistic goals. You are not looking to feel as comfortable in your weak stance as in your good stance. You are looking to become competent in your weak stance and confident in your ability to complete the exercise.
- If the weaker stance is presenting a real challenge, use post-session reflection to consider whether you are doing something fundamentally different. In particular, check foot placement.
- If you are stuck, try to get someone else to watch you or better still, video you to see what you do differently on your weaker 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:
- Review your course and see how well you have followed a downwind course.
- Look at the downwind leg analysis, how far off the wind were you able to foil.
- How long did you manage to maintain glide.
Other Sources – Useful videos
There are really not that many videos that cover this topic. Most link it with the gybe; however, this short video from Duotone Wing academy covers most of the basics. Ignore the glib way they throw in gybing as a step though, that is very much what comes next.
If you come across a better video, leave a comment below. If you found this article helpful and would like to buy me a coffee then thanks!
If you are now feeling comfortable heading downwind you have developed the base skills needed to move onto the Foiling Gybe. This is another big step, and it is not easy. Get ready to be challenged again, let’s Go-Wingfoil.