I have really been enjoying the many new videos of surfers on prone paddle surf foils. They are ripping to the next level, going so fast and maintaining their speed with even minimal wave power combined with pumping. But the video nearly always cuts in to them on a 1' or smaller wave going mach 10, and the question is ... how did they get to that point?

Learning about the possibilities solely by watching videos, it would be helpful to understand this. I suspect half of them are towing in -- especially when the video is moving along with them, which is either a very skilled rider filming while also foiling or someone sitting on a jetski. Or maybe they are freaks who can find speed in amazing ways (which wouldn't surprise me, seeing just how much better pro surfers are than an average typical rider). Seeing the ever increasing number of running start foil videos gives some credence to the freak theory!

For me, I only have experience on sup foil and still at the barely competent stage ... I am surprised by how much wave power is needed to get up and going. Hopefully with more experience will come ways to gather and maintain speed.

Juan,

You are overthinking it. Just paddle into the wave. That's it. No matter how small..

You can do it.

I'm embarrassed to share this with you.. But these are videos of my 4th and 5th waves on a shortboard.

This one shows the full paddle in:
drive.google.com/file/d/1h0kcDmlkd29AhhHnYDc5QU2nB-wCn8Wr/preview

The next one shows getting up:
drive.google.com/file/d/1pANGAbSijjefcKDzISM5GvM1XgrZpt1v/preview


Turns out, you just get up like surfing. I am about 120 kg. I was worried where to put my front foot. But there was no real special sauce. Just a couple tries.

I was just learning... But taking off was not hard. I was pretty wobbly and my pumping was inefficient... those were my first few waves. Now all that is easy.

Sorry for the quality. A friend's wife was shooting her kids on the beach. These are the only two she shared with me.

Apologies for not having the videos embedded here... I'm not that smart.

Select to expand quote

juandesooka said..
For me, I only have experience on sup foil and still at the barely competent stage ... I am surprised by how much wave power is needed to get up and going. Hopefully with more experience will come ways to gather and maintain speed.

This is normal. You are still learning, and thus only using your paddle speed to lift the foil, so you need a lot of speed and the help of the wave power.

After some sessions (30, 40?) you will began to feel how rocking the board slightly, but in rythm with the wave underneath the surface, can provide you with the needed boost.
This is why I do not advise using too short SUPs for learning to SUP foil. For the learning phase, you need a board that paddles fast enough. Then, you can reduce the length to make this rocking motions much more efficient.

To keep going on a wave, just like surfing, avoid going straight to the beach and get stuck on the flats before the wave. Turn and try to follow the trim line, to go faster than the wave speed. Note that you should be higher on the wave than with a SUP/Surf, as the foil taps the energy well below.

Also, are you sure your wing has enough lift for your weight? Some foils are too small for non-featherlights on small waves.

Hi Juan,
I am sorry I can't offer any assistance(due to the fact that I'm wondering the same thing) but I am very keen to hear what others have to offer on your question.

Here's an example video www.instagram.com/p/BkoSf89H9Aa/?taken-by=westcoastfoilclub
Assume they are paddling in, but I maybe prefer to think of them towing in to explain why I am not doing that.

My own sup foil riding was coming along, just interrupted by a few months without surf. We're going to practice behind the boat this summer, I figure if you can ride the wake endlessly without holding the rope, carving around, then that should be a pretty solid progression to more aggressive wave riding.

I don't intend to try surf foiling until sup foiling is dialed.

Hi Juan,

I assume that is paddling in.

Three things...

1) Staying up is easier on the shortboard than the SUP. I haven't done it behind a boat like that, but I assume staying up without the rope would be easier on the shortboard.

2) I urge you to recalibrate your thinking... to this: You are flying a wing under water. You are not surfing on a board that is on the surface.

3) Piros has it right... SUP foil for chasing down peaks in river mouths and far out waves. Shortboard foil for beachbreaks -- because it's so fun! You use the same foil for both boards.

About point #2... When you forget about the BOARD catching the wave on the surface, and instead think about flying the wing underwater, it all gets easier. You know which waves to catch, and where to be to stay with them that's different than surfing.

About catching waves on a tiny surfboard...

You can definitely stand up on a wave that wouldn't allow you in by normal paddling on a tiny board.

In order to catch a wave on a shortboard, these days I try to bury the nose a bit while paddling. Somehow, when I do that, the wing starts to gain lift -- and that is the big moment. The wing soon becomes more efficient than your paddling stroke. That's the moment you're waiting for.

You want to create that moment on your SUP too. You can take a couple paddle strokes, and then as the wing starts to gain just a little speed, you can basically unweight hard like an "ollie" and be flying before you would start to make the drop the traditional way,

I unweight pretty hard and then once in the air I immediately press down on my front foot to set my flying trim or angle. Happens pretty quick... and you're off!

Hope those tips are somewhat helpful.

aha, maybe this is their secret tow in method!

here is one I assumed was tow-in, from an accompanying jetski that was filming her ... and then near the end she passes the camera to a guy foiling beside her....so there you go! Really nice video btw, well worth a minute of your day.

www.instagram.com/p/BlTajIFhe3Z/?taken-by=westcoastfoilclub

Last post for now ... these westcoastfoil guys sure post some nice videos on instagram. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to post a link to the latest one. They are ripping on tiny boards in small surf in Fiji ... and there are shots of them being slingshotted into the waves by the jetski (seems very rare to actually show this, versus cutting to the riding only). This partially answers my question about tow in's. Obviously paddling in is doable, lots of people doing it, as shown in the videos posted above. But these guys are going SO fast ... some of that power is not coming from paddling.

Not sure why you want to so desperately believe it's tow in.

No jet skis at San Onofre, but Kai Lenny is paddling in a 3'10"



Here's a clip of a guy paddling into small waves on a Naish 3'10" at 2:40 in this video. No big deal. A surfing shortboard takeoff.



I'm 120kg, shortboard paddling into ankle high waves, no big deal. I showed a video of that.

Man, it's just so much easier...

Grab my board in my garage and I'm in the beachbreak in 5 minutes. I can catch maybe 30 waves and be back at work with time to spare on my lunch hour.

A jet ski is inconvenient...

I don't have the time to waste to get a jet ski gassed up, get a partner, find a launch, get the ski in the water, get the car parked, have him get me in the right spot to tow into a wave... and then do all that in reverse. What a waste of time.

Maybe if I had a day to burn, and some buddies, and a rivermouth that is too far to paddle to. But hey, we can't all live like Piros! Ha!

It's no problem to paddle into a wave.

That's my last post on this.

I am not disputing that paddling into waves is possible -- and appreciate the links to the videos that show people paddling in, that's helpful.

My question was more about establishing reasonable expectations. The videos lately with the most "wow" factor are the westcoastfoilclub folks on instagram. They are absolutely ripping in nothing waves. I want to know if that's a reasonable expectation -- because when you watch enough of their videos, you see the jetski, and I think half of them are tow in. Which is still radical riding, but it's just not something I can aspire to ... so it's helpful to understand where that limit may be. Similar to the possibilities and limitations in big wave tow-in vs paddle-in surfing.

Certainly not looking to diminish your stoke or anyone else's. Keep on rocking -- I will be on it once our northern hemisphere summer swell drought goes away, pray for big rain! ;-)

I Foil with these guys a lot , check them out paddling onto micro waves and hand passing the GoPro pretty amazing . East Coast Foilers
www.instagram.com/eastcoastfoilclub_aus/

Good tip, quality riding and videos!