Sup-Foil or Surf-Foil?
I Kite-Foil for 2 years (small kite, big front wing, strapless) and would like to foil also when there's no wind. I never surfed with a surfboard or a SUP and would like to read your advices regarding the following questions:

1. Which will be easier and safer for me to start with?
2. Better to practice without a foil first?
3. The phantom 1480 by F.One would be good to start with (weight 65kg)?

* Hoping to get comments from people who had a similar (lack of) background
** Hoping to get comments from people who do both

I think the consensus is if you don't know how to SUP surf already don't bother trying to learn to SUP foil first. You already can kite foil so prone foiling would be the easiest to pickup IMO.

Really? I'd say prone foiling is the hardest of the disciplines to learn? I had never supped before and Sup foiled first. Had that big board, could eventually get onto fatter waves earlier, stable platform especially on waves - can get yourself in position before the wave hits - already standing.


Proning you are always taking off in a much more critical section of the wave and you have once chance to pop up on the right place on your board.


even then you have a smaller less stable board that has much smaller margin for error.


Also doesn't take long to get a normal Sup and learn the basics on it. That's why so many bingo surburban non water people can take it up. Surely that translates. Learning to surf can take a lot longer.

that being said a prone board does allow you to chip more easily into an already crumbling wave with whitewater. Much harder on a Sup to do that.

Add foil to whatever sport you can already do.If you haven't done any sport , learn one without the foil first.
If you can do all sports then: Kite/SUP/Wing/Prone in order of easy to difficult

SInce you duplicated the topic, I copy here my answer I made on the other one
( www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/Foiling/Sup-Foil-or-Surf-Foil- )
so that it can be deleted:

Well, an interesting question.
I guess both paths will prove a quite challenging learning curve. I do not know if we can predict which one will be the easier for you.

In my opinion, it will depend on:

- your age/fitness: the younger you are, the easier it is to learn the prone surfing takeoff. Plus you will have more athletic capabilities to later learn to pump for a long time, which is where surf foiling shine [1]. Hips and hamstring flexibility are critical for prone takeoffs.

- your temper: efficient SUP paddling requires watching tutorials and understanding how to better your technique. prone surfing is more instinctive. Especially, efficiently paddling the short SUPs that are fun for foiling takes hundreds of practice hours.

- your spots: surf foiling requires that the wave breaks, at least a bit, for takeoff, when a good SUPer (which takes a long time to learn) can take off on non-breaking waves. Also SUPing in chop is very hard balance-wise [2], whereas surf foilers can enjoy onshore conditions more easily. And going in and out the water is easier without a paddle, and with the lighter surf foiling boards. And SUP boards get destroyed more easily in whitewater due to their bigger volume [3].

This said, in general I would advise surf foiling over SUP foiling if you are not already a good SUPer because of [1] and [2].

My background: windsurfer, surfer, SUPer. Quit surfing due to hip stiffness (I am 60), learnt to SUP foil (50 sessions), but not foiling anymore because of [1] [2] [3]. I have more fun SUPing than SUPfoiling in Hossegor (powerful whitewater) where I live. However, I guess I would be still surf foiling if I was physically able to make a prone takeoff.

PS: in answer to eppo: learning to SUP a big board is easy, but learning to SUP a board short enough to be fun foiling (pumpable: less than 7'), with enough paddle power and efficiency to take off on non-breaking waves, is a very different game.

Select to expand quote

kobo said..
Add foil to whatever sport you can already do.If you haven't done any sport , learn one without the foil first.
If you can do all sports then: Kite/SUP/Wing/Prone in order of easy to difficult

Most, even non water people, can efoil with 1 hr during a professional lesson.

Select to expand quote

warwickl said..

kobo said..
Add foil to whatever sport you can already do.If you haven't done any sport , learn one without the foil first.
If you can do all sports then: Kite/SUP/Wing/Prone in order of easy to difficult

Most, even non water people, can efoil with 1 hr during a professional lesson.

Select to expand quote

warwickl said..

kobo said..
Add foil to whatever sport you can already do.If you haven't done any sport , learn one without the foil first.
If you can do all sports then: Kite/SUP/Wing/Prone in order of easy to difficult

Most, even non water people, can efoil with 1 hr during a professional lesson.

Select to expand quote

warwickl said..

kobo said..
Add foil to whatever sport you can already do.If you haven't done any sport , learn one without the foil first.
If you can do all sports then: Kite/SUP/Wing/Prone in order of easy to difficult

Most, even non water people, can efoil with 1 hr during a professional lesson.

Efoil is totally irelevant to this conversation

Well so far you've heard both sides. SUP or Prone?
If it was me if I hadn't done either, then I would have to make that decision. So before I learn't how to SUP it would have been Prone.
After learning SUP it is SUP foiling.
Now it comes to your ability, age etc.
At 65 kgs I think you are young enough & capable enough to do both.
If so. Then it comes down to expense. Prone foiling is cheaper. No paddle needed & less board needed.
So if you haven't a problem paddling by hand which in my view is more tiring than paddling with a paddle. Then maybe Prone is the go. And with experience your performance & pumping will be better than SUP foiling.
For me at age 61 years who finds prone surfing more difficult, I'm much more comfortable SUP foiling and I'm not too bothered in having to keep pumping back out to the break just to catch another wave. I'm happy enough to take my time paddling my foil SUP back out to the break.
But I have since purchased a Foil SUP that is small enough to Prone paddle my body weight of 80 kgs. It is 6ft 8" in length by 26 inch wide at 95 litres volume.
Although I haven't used it yet to Prone foil, I have used it mainly for Wing foiling & to a lesser degree for SUP foiling in my location which is a little choppy.
So maybe get something for both SUP & Prone that may also do for future Wing surfing too. Which is what I use my smaller foil SUP for.
Since you're a kiter you are one step ahead to wingsurf because of your switchfoot ability.