​Bio - Eric L. Mihelbergel is an intermediate/advanced windsurfer, kiteboarder, and foiler living in the Great Lakes Region of New York State who enjoys sharing about windsports and fitness.

Windfoil Wave Technique
(Written September 2021)

The sport of windsurf wave foiling (WWF) just keeps getting better and better. Every two to three sessions my skills improve significantly. Yesterday was a breakthrough day in 30mph wind, 2.7m sail, small wavefoil wing, and some of the biggest and smoothest waves I've ever seen on Lake Ontario. It was a day burned in my memory. As such, I'm moved to finally put in writing the things that have worked best to help me ride waves on foil. Below is what works for me. We all learn differently, so take whatever you want from my experience and leave whatever you don't want. Good luck!

Wave riding on WWF gear is its own sport. It's very, very different from wave riding on traditional windsurfing gear in the onshore conditions of the Great Lakes. With traditional windsurfing, proper wave turns are limited to breaking waves (not swell) as the steepness of the breaking wave is needed to keep speed and facilitate moves. With WWF, waves turns are generally focused on swell rather than breaking waves. Breaking waves are very short-lived, making rides very short and also infrequent as you have to struggle back upwind after each wave ride. On the Great Lakes with our onshore conditions, a breaking wave only lasts a few seconds. A wave swell, on the other hand, lasts from the time you find it until it hits shore. This can be many, many minutes or even hours in certain conditions if the swell travels the entire length of the lake. Traditional windsurfing on swell requires the sail to generate power going into the wave and/or while on the wave in order to facilitate a turn. The convex shape of the swell is just not steep enough to allow the board to overcome the friction of the water without the help of the sail. Without the power of the sail, a traditional windsurf board comes off plane when riding swell. When on traditional windsurf gear in onshore conditions, swell is generally ridden only backside, as frontside slows your kit to a halt very quickly as you must come back into the wind for a frontside turn. Frontside is possible on the concave shape of breaking waves when traditional windsurfing on the Great Lakes, but this is a very advanced technique in onshore conditions and rides are quite short.  With windsurf wave foiling, on the other hand, the sail gets the board up on foil and increases speed to the desired level, but then the foil carves on to a wave and the force of the wave is used as power after that. The sail is flagged out and no longer used for power. This is the essence of WWF. You use the wave for power, not the sail for power. Once you're on the wave it is more similar to surfing than windsurfing. It's all about the wave!

In a recent previous article I discussed how windfoil wave riding and windfoil jibing go hand-in-hand. The wave riding teaches you the jibing, and the jibing teaches you the wave riding. The techniques and skills are largely similar. You can read more about that relationship between the two in the article Wind Foil Jibe - Flagging Technique. Use them together and you will improve much faster in both areas. Study the article thoroughly, if you have not already done so, before proceeding in this article. It will help you greatly!

The Technique: For purposes of discussion, let's use wave-turn terminology that parallels traditional wave windsurfing so that we can break the turn down into parts. Frontside, backside, top-turn, bottom-turn, etc. This makes it easy to discuss since we already have a visual understanding of these basic parts of the turn from our traditional windsurfing experience. However, please note that the movements are very different between the two sports.

   1.) Backside Top Turn: The waves we seek for WWF are swell, not breaking waves. Generally, you will approach the wave from the side to initiate a backside top-turn or you may approach from the trough of the wave as you head up the wave coming out of a backside bottom turn. You can initiate the backside top turn with a very brief and deliberate sheeting-in of the sail as you start to carve off both the front foot and back foot, or you can just gradually sheet out like you do in the wind foil jibe flagging technique. As you go into the backside top turn it helps to slightly tip the sail to the inside of the turn just as you do in the jibe. Your back foot is slightly across the board to give enough leverage to engage the inside of such a wide foil wing and board. As you throw the board downwind with the toes of your feet release all power in the sail by quickly moving both hands up the boom so that they are right next to the mast. You may end up with one hand on each side of the boom next to the mast if your turn is sharp. As you are flagging the sail, pull the mast a little closer to your chest. At this point you are free of power from the sail and you are riding the wave. It is extremely important to pressure the heel of the front foot as you level off the board and begin to ride down the wave. Your front foot should be far forward because the foil will generate great lift as it accelerates down the wave. Compare this movement to the the first part of the foil jibe in my previous article Wind Foil Jibe - Flagging Technique. It is a very similar movement, which is why the foil jibe flagging technique and foil wave riding skills go so very well together. Foil jibe skills develop your foil wave skills, and foil wave skills develop your foil jibe skills.

   2.) Speed and Position: Now you are riding the wave, and it's time to think about your speed and position on the wave. Your speed is very important. If you are going too fast you will outrun the wave, and if you are going too slow the wave will go under you. If you are going too slow there are two options. One is to cut back across the wave, as if you were doing a backside bottom turn, and engage the sail. The other is to pump the foil with your legs to gain speed and position on the wave. Generally, pumping the foil with the legs is the better option because you can avoid engaging the sail while you enjoy the wave ride. To pump the board with your legs in order to gain speed on the wave I find that pumping with the front leg works much better than pumping off the back leg. By pumping with the front leg you will drive the board down the wave thereby gaining more speed on the wave. If you pump with the back leg you will find it more difficult to gain speed because you are driving the nose of the board up into the air rather than down the wave.
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Positioning yourself on the wave is going to take time to learn because you have to look around in order to know your position on the wave. It's very difficult to look around as a novice windfoiler because you will be hyper-focused on paying attention to the height control of the foil. As you build muscle memory for foil height control you will be able to look around at the wave more and more. What are you looking for? You are looking to see where the best parts of the wave are located for what you want to do. Since we have just completed the backside top turn in our discussion here, let us look at the frontside bottom turn to continue in a complete wave ride turning sequence.

   3.) Frontside Bottom Turn: So you are on the wave, you are looking around the wave while riding it, and you decide that you want to go frontside because the wave is extending in that direction. How do you do it? Well, you simply follow the same technique that you followed for the second half of the flagging jibe that I discussed in my previous article referenced above. 
                    (Text taken directly from article Wind Foil Jibe - Flagging Technique)

1. When the board is downwind about 90 degrees, start to tip the mast slightly to the outside of the turn. As a beginner/intermediate, THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART TO KEEP YOU FROM FALLING IN.
2. As the sail comes around the other side and you are near switch stance, tip the mast slightly toward the rear of board (closer to your chest) while it is still tipped to the outside of the turn. At this point it is extremely important to pressure the heel of the front foot for control. This helps to counter-balance the pressure from the toes of the rear foot thereby creating stability, and prevents you from falling in. It makes a huge difference in control. And, as always, bend the knees a lot.

That's all there is to it. Remember to pressure the heel of that front foot for control. Now you're in switch stance on the wave.

   4.)  Frontside Top Turn: The frontside top turn has taken longer for me to learn than any of the other parts. The obvious reason is because it is the last link in chain. You must become competent and proficient at all the other steps above before you can even get in position to attempt the frontside top turn. The key for me in doing the frontside top turn is to hold onto the sail with only one hand while using the rear foot to turn the board back down the wave and sit down just like doing a heel-side turn on a snowboard. With just one hand on the boom the sail turns naturally and is not disrupted by your hands influencing sail rotation. It's a delicate turn when you're first learning. My natural inclination was to try to drive the board into the turn with the front foot, but it doesn't work. The weight on the front foot drives the board downward and drives it around too quickly. The rear foot allows you more height control on the foil while being able to apply strong turning pressure at the same time. SIT LIKE A SNOWBOARD HEEL-SIDE TURN!!! This makes a HUGE difference.

5.) Backside Bottom Turn: This happens naturally. There's not much to think about. The frontside top turn requires so much thought and focus that, by the time you complete it, you are already well into the backside bottom turn. Simply stay seated like a snowboard heel-side turn and traverse the wave to whatever entry point you select for your next backside top turn.

Summary and Tips: Remember to keep heel pressure on the heel of your front foot from the end of your backside top turn through the frontside bottom turn. And keep the mast near your chest as you complete the backside top turn. Once you become competent in all of the above skills you will be able to ride the wave back and forth as much as you want. Don't forget that your foil jibe skills develop your foil wave skills, and your foil wave skills develop your foil jibe skills. They go together!!! Have fun!