In this edition of the winter training series we talk about tacking.

Personally I used to consider tacking too basic a manoeuvre to pay much attention to, I've been sailing xx years, surely I can tack OK by now... until I saw how much faster a pro-racer can tack compared to me!

A few important points I've learned:
Land the board flat - avoid heavy railing
Maintain as much speed as possible (sounds obvious)
Helps keep the water flowing over the foil for early flight
Fast feet around the mast - less steps - land where you need to be
Pull the sail forward and place the hands where you need them to be
Don't pull the sail too far forward - or suffer the consequences....
New Front foot into the front straps asap.
After pulling the sail forwards on the new tack, squat down to sheet in
Head a little further down-wind than 45? to accelerate, increasing apparent wind flow, then point higher


I've also noticed that my FMX has a tendency to sink the nose if I don't have my front foot well behind the mast when pushing the nose off the wind on the new tack.



Oh and my sail has a tendency to split if I push my knee through it too many times...

Anyone have anything else to add???

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berowne said..
In this edition of the winter training series we talk about tacking.

Personally I used to consider tacking too basic a manoeuvre to pay much attention to, I've been sailing xx years, surely I can tack OK by now... until I saw how much faster a pro-racer can tack compared to me!

A few important points I've learned:
Land the board flat - avoid heavy railing
Maintain as much speed as possible (sounds obvious)
Helps keep the water flowing over the foil for early flight
Fast feet around the mast - less steps - land where you need to be
Pull the sail forward and place the hands where you need them to be
Don't pull the sail too far forward - or suffer the consequences....
New Front foot into the front straps asap.
After pulling the sail forwards on the new tack, squat down to sheet in
Head a little further down-wind than 45? to accelerate, increasing apparent wind flow, then point higher


I've also noticed that my FMX has a tendency to sink the nose if I don't have my front foot well behind the mast when pushing the nose off the wind on the new tack.

Oh and my sail has a tendency to split if I push my knee through it too many times...

Anyone have anything else to add???

Very cool. Some inspiration to work on tacking.

Because I'm a stupid noob, tacking fast on my foil board has progressed a lot (I have my foiling gybes, btw). I have learned that I can carve into the wind while still somewhat foiling/planing, once the board slows down, I jump to the otherside, throw the sail forward (even over sheet when somewhat on the front of the board when coming around), shuffle the feet to get the board to turn on a dime and immediately get speed for the take-off. I'll see if I can get footage on this.

I tear up watching movies with sad endings. (Sorry about your sail).

Nice video. I still take way too long to get around and a smaller nose isn't helping. I appreciate the inspiration to go out and work on them.

Nice tack at 43s
www.facebook.com/william.huppertFRA330/videos/493910238070508/

www.facebook.com/watch/?v=185863076170771

Or this... wow!
www.facebook.com/windfoilzone/videos/909200189604924

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berowne said..
Or this... wow!
www.facebook.com/windfoilzone/videos/909200189604924

220+ liter board makes a huge lot of difference. That thing has about 100L in front of the masttrack, the nose wouldnt even sink if you sat down for a coffee half way through the tack. The speed he comes out of the tack with is magnificent though! Very good technique and the easiest gear to do so makes the dream work.

And a fully planing tack onto the foil...
www.instagram.com/p/CEUsFyujHiX/?igshid=1j9yceak7wv8l

Yet another tack better than yours...
www.facebook.com/107073829315646/posts/3408070462549283/?vh=e&extid=TCyaH3d5LSFWhvvO

These planing tacks deserve a special mention.
I've now got a new life goal!!

www.facebook.com/groups/1377152212346239/permalink/4023425614385539/

Yeah super impressive, particularly the second one. The Olympic training will push this stuff to another level.

The world championships at silvaplana showed some amazing techniques. like this one.

fb.watch/7H5evpJMRL/

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berowne said..
The world championships at silvaplana showed some amazing techniques. like this one.

fb.watch/7H5evpJMRL/

Goyard's tacking in the final heat definitely, imho, played a part in his victory. I remember watching his first from port back to starboard and he just nailed it while under immense pressure.

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berowne said..
In this edition of the winter training series we talk about tacking.

Personally I used to consider tacking too basic a manoeuvre to pay much attention to, I've been sailing xx years, surely I can tack OK by now... until I saw how much faster a pro-racer can tack compared to me!

A few important points I've learned:
Land the board flat - avoid heavy railing
Maintain as much speed as possible (sounds obvious)
Helps keep the water flowing over the foil for early flight
Fast feet around the mast - less steps - land where you need to be
Pull the sail forward and place the hands where you need them to be
Don't pull the sail too far forward - or suffer the consequences....
New Front foot into the front straps asap.
After pulling the sail forwards on the new tack, squat down to sheet in
Head a little further down-wind than 45? to accelerate, increasing apparent wind flow, then point higher


I've also noticed that my FMX has a tendency to sink the nose if I don't have my front foot well behind the mast when pushing the nose off the wind on the new tack.

Oh and my sail has a tendency to split if I push my knee through it too many times...

Anyone have anything else to add???

Thanks, well done! As for not splitting the sail, I would start with a sail that was 100% X-ply like Aerotech Freespeeds, I have hit the sails many times with knees and hands and have not split a sail panel yet, but my hook has punched a small hole through the sail which it was easily repaired with Gorilla clear tape (both sides).

Just wow.
www.facebook.com/groups/187817192640290/permalink/585573736197965/

And a year later we have confirmed airings of flying tacks!

Impressive. Interesting footwork: the front foot does not step in front of the mast at the start, and the back foot stays well behind the mast while the front foot goes around the mast. So he limits pressure in front that would drop the nose down even with footwork as quick as his. I bet we'll see plenty of other racers copying this!

Yes, I would like to formally retract any statements I've made previously in other threads about round the mast foiling tacks not being physically possible. I severely underestimated the cat like agility of youth.


this lad is from Fremantle Sailing Club too. Well done Harry.

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boardsurfr said..
Impressive. Interesting footwork: the front foot does not step in front of the mast at the start, and the back foot stays well behind the mast while the front foot goes around the mast. So he limits pressure in front that would drop the nose down even with footwork as quick as his. I bet we'll see plenty of other racers copying this!

It took moth sailors ages to do a foiling tack. But once one did it everyone learned his technique, now they're common place.

That is precisely what racing does for any sport.

Racing is always leading edge. We need it for equipment, technique, and performance. We all benefit from it.

This is efing epic!

Notice that in addition to the sail being really raked back it is also leaning to the inside of the turn. That is what keeping the board turning during the weight transfer.

Other races are already replicating it

Looks like the game changer was seeing the demo and the right technique

Great example of what racing does for us all.

By September dozens of windfoilers will be tacking on the wing. Maybe only dozens. It looks pretty hard.

Ive raced this guy and he wast fast enough in his tacks before he was fully foiling. Looks like i'm gonna lose 200 metres on him per tack now instead of the normal 100..

This has the edges smoothed off. Probably not his first. Perhaps it is the first that he posted now that someone else let the cat out. That's pure speculation on my part.
It looks like a fast VMG, there is not much bear away on the new tack.
www.facebook.com/AmadoVrieswijkNb20/videos/734234734601866

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utcminusfour said..

Probably not his first.

I can guarantee that... He's 19 which suggests bigger guys can pull this off, too. I wonder if there's a weight limit? It might be interesting if the lighter guys have an advantage. Given the heavier guys do well in windier conditions, this might equalize things somewhat and broaden the range of athletes that will be competitive - a good thing, imho. However, give the skills of the bigger guys, I'm not counting them out.

Paducah, That's Amado NB20 in that clip. He is not small or a teenager. He also looks really good at a move that was shown as a "first time ever" by somebody else just a few days ago.

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utcminusfour said..
Paducah, That's Amado NB20 in that clip. He is not small or a teenager. He also looks really good at a move that was shown as a "first time ever" by somebody else just a few days ago.

Agreed. He did this before the other guy.. almost certain. My guess is that he is around 200lbs.

I don't know for sure about Amado, but many top level freestylers are also extremely good at light wind freestyle on small boards. That's very good training for moving around the board without sinking the nose.

Amado's tack looks very smooth, so it's quite possible that he has done this for a while already. But on the other hand, he is the reigning freestyle world champion and a top level foiler. Compared to more advanced freestyle tricks, the foiled tack looks quite simple, so I would not be surprised of he learned how to do this in his first session after he saw the other movies.