About a month ago I wrote a blog post called The #1 WWF Drill On The Water. Go back and read that post if you have not already done so. In that post I explained that, by far, the #1 drill you can do on the water is wave riding with the sail flagged out and one hand on the boom for at least 5 seconds with glide. Do that drill for 100 sessions and it will save you years of time. Not only will you learn to ride waves, but you will learn to jibe, you will learn to ride switch stance, and you will learn pitch and roll control. It's like magic! It is the very first drill and skill you should learn. If you are a beginner, get a half dozen sessions on flatwater and then IMMEDIATELY get in the waves and practice this proper wave technique. I was fortunate enough to take this advice in my beginning season. You can learn that proper wave technique in my article Windfoil Wave Technique.
This blog post is about the #2 WWF drill on the water. That drill is simply to ride more sensitive foils. While I embraced wave riding in my first 10 sessions, I did not try riding more sensitive foils until the end of my first season. Looking back I wish I would have started in the middle of that first season. I did 63 sessions on the Maliko 200 in that first season, and then I spent the last 2 sessions (3.1%) of that season on the Iwa which is a more sensitive wing due to its smaller size. In my second season I spent 20.7% of my sessions on the more sensitive Iwa and the rest on the Maliko 200. Again, looking back, I wish I would have spent more time on the Iwa. In my third season I spent 51.8% of my sessions on the more sensitive Iwa, but I also added 3.6% of my sessions on the even more sensitive EZ1600 and 10.7% of my sessions on the most highly sensitive RS1300. That third season saw a MAJOR improvement in my skills. All my skills popped! In my fourth season I spent 74.5% of my total sessions on more sensitive foil wings as follows: 25.5% of sessions on the Iwa, 29.4% on the EZ1600, 13.7% on the RS1300, and 5.9% on the EZ1800. As of the time of this writing we are almost halfway through my fifth season, and I have spent 37.5% on the EZ1600, 37.5% on the EZ1800, 17.5% on the NL's, and 5% on the RS1300. As you can see, this season has been almost entirely on high sensitivity foil wings. It makes a huge difference in skill improvement.
If I could go back in time I would have started riding higher sensitivity foil wings sooner. It is a fantastic training tool, and it will help you improve much more quickly. In addition, it is a training tool you can use to improve your WWF skills when you do not have access to waves. When you're on flatwater use the most ultrasensitive foil wing you can get your hands on. It will improve your skills more than any other flatwater training tool. That was the initial reason that I purchased the RS1300. I bought the RS1300 as a flatwater training tool because at the end of that season, when the weather was cold, I wanted a training tool that I could use when confined to the safety of our harbor. When you get back in the waves after using a high sensitivity foil wing in flatwater you will notice improvement. But don't limit yourself to using high sensitivity foil wings in flatwater. They have amazing glide on the waves. They do not grip well, but the glide is a fun experience. Commit to using them in the waves as well. You will be very glad you did. Your skills will improve much faster than you ever imagined!
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