Back in 2018, two years before I ever rode or purchased any windfoiling gear, I began interviewing foiling athletes from the intermediate to professional level to understand what it takes to learn these foiling sports as my wife and I were interested in learning. At that time, these were mostly windfoilers and wake foilers, and a year later I added wing foilers to the interview process as that sport emerged. I needed to know how one improves quickly in these sports because I didn't want to spend 3 years falling in the water if I decided to learn WWF. I wanted to learn fast if I was going to do it. Now, I've been successfully windsurf wave foiling for 4 years, and I've interviewed over 80 foil athletes of different disciplines trying to find the quickest ways to improve as a WWF rider. As I've mentioned in previous articles and blog posts, I have very little natural talent when it comes to skill sports. I rode the bench on my high school basketball team. I was an average player in the town ice hockey league. It took me many years to learn how to snowboard at an intermediate level, and I'm still not much better than intermediate after 12 years of snowboarding. I played table tennis for most of my life until I finally reached an intermediate/advanced level by the time I hit age 40. My improvement in WWF comes by using my talents other than natural skill like persistence, creativity, innovation, and inquisitiveness. These talents led me to interview many athletes and that process led to the #1 drill to learn WWF quickly.
Through this interview process I found that the biggest challenge these athletes faced with foiling under the power of wind seemed to be that single moment when your board is headed directly downwind and you lose all power in your sail/wing like when jibing or wave riding. At that precise moment the board usually takes an abrupt small drop while at the same time you have nothing to lean against because the sail/wing is not engaged against the wind as it is flagged out, and athletes fall. I found that those athletes who had learned wake foiling prior to wind-powered foiling generally had better success with this precise moment probably because they were trained to ride unsupported by a sail/wing, and especially if they had practice learning to ride a wake after releasing the tow rope. This precise moment is very, very important because it is part of the jibing process in both windfoiling and wing foiling, and it is part of the wave riding process.
As a result of my early findings I made it a priority in my first year of WWF to focus on getting comfortable with that precise moment when the board is headed directly downwind with no power in the sail/wing and that abrupt small drop occurs. What was the drill that made all the difference? Very simple. The #1 drill to learn WWF quickly is wave riding with the sail flagged out and one hand on the boom. If you practice staying on a wave for 5 seconds or longer with the sail flagged out and one hand on the boom you will quickly learn all the skills needed for WWF. This one drill will save you years and years and years of time. I began wave riding on my 10th overall session after studying how the pros did it, and by my 13th overall session I began training with proper wave riding technique. This made all the difference. I see the exact same results with all other WWF riders. Those who learn to stay on a wave with the sail flagged out and one hand on the boom for at least 5 seconds improve soooooooooo much faster than those who do not learn this. Why? Let's break it down.
First, your body will be in that position for a long period of time giving your brain more time to develop the muscle memory. When jibing you are only in that downwind position for about one second, but when wave riding for at least 5 seconds you get at least 5 times as much time in that position and so you will learn 5 times more quickly. Once you can do it for 10 seconds you get 10 times more practice and you will learn 10 times more quickly. By learning to ride a wave directly downwind with the sail flagged out and one hand on the boom you physically put your body and brain in the position to learn muscle memory for an extended period of time. Second, you won't fall as much because after you ride the wave for 5 seconds you simply head back upwind and either do it again or set your board on the water and tack out of it. There's no need to fall in the water especially if you have a big board that you can tack on. Eventually you will extend your wave ride into the position where your body starts to go frontside. By going frontside on a wave you are training your body for the jibe, but you won't fall in as much because you are only going as far frontside as you feel comfortable and then you go back to your original tack. This process literally saves years and years of learning because you learn at a rate that is 5 to 10 times faster than trying to jibe alone as you put your body in this proper position for a longer period of time. You don't get nearly as fatigued or frustrated from falling in the water giving you more energy to train longer, and you have an absolute blast riding waves. Third, you will quickly learn to anticipate that small abrupt drop that occurs when you are directly downwind in the middle of a jibe or wave ride. You will expect it to be coming, you will anticipate it, you will learn to overcome it quickly, and you will no longer be afraid of it.
Whether you are just beginning to learn to windfoil or whether you've been doing it for a while commit to learning to ride a wave with the sail flagged out and one hand on the boom for at least 5 seconds and do that drill hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times. After interviewing over 80 foil athletes of different disciplines I have found this to be the #1 drill to learn WWF quickly. It will save you years and years of learning time. You'll be doing downwinders very quickly, and you will be jibing years before other riders who do not practice this #1 simple drill. If you would like to review the wave riding technique you can read this article called Windfoil Wave Technique. Have fun!
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