Not having much fun Learning to Foil

[Regis-de-giens]

I have experience of long mast and no wings on the very first session. My expectations were too high: I thought it is just a big rudder, so I will be able to ride the board at the very first session like a surfboard. Needless to say, this plan didn't work:
viewtopic.php?f=196&t=2395761
On afterthought, this was productive session lowering my expectation. After I set wings back I found the board behaving better, which could be either genuine contribution from wing lift, or growing experience (most likely a combination of both factors).

Hi,
It is always hard to judge a first session since you have discovered this new support , while this very punctual feeling disapears on the second session . For most of us, the fist session seemed "Catastrofic ", with ou without wings anyway.
Great to hear that you seem to finally be happy of this first session without wings. My personal opinion is that it should only help at the very start to go on the board, i.e for the firsts waterstarts attempts = one or half a session only (and specially in case of onshore wind with shallow water); then as soon as you can get up.on the board and ride 5-10 meters (so approx 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on people), you need to put the wings back in place to start learning a correct muscle memory of foot pressures.
Just my opinion of course , knowing that it is not the "common one".

[nothing2seehere]

It seems to me that the key to having an easier learning experience is to have the right conditions - this is exactly the same as learning to kiteboard. People talk about lessons, having the right gear etc. but to my mind having the ideal conditions eg. Hatteras with steady, clean wind, shallow water & lots of space is the most helpful thing. Onshore wind, waves, deep water, gusty wind - forget about it.

Same with foiling. It's probably worth going somewhere with ideal foiling conditions in order to make the learning process easier.

This!

It makes it feel better if you imagine that everyone who learns quickly has excellent steady winds and flat water. For the rest of us, the slog is worth it as on the rare day of steady wind and flatter water, the progress jump is immense. I dare say for every person zipping around up and downwind within 6 hours, there are a bunch of others taking a lot longer. For one reason or another, it took me about 18 months since buying the board to clock up 6 hours of water time and I've still a long way to go until I can say I'm proficient.

[juandesooka]

Everyone on a different timeline for sure.

I had a carafino back when foiling wasn't cool. All my friends tried it with mixed results.

I fell awkwardly on first attempt then put it away for a year. Eventually bit the bullet and learned. Took maybe 10 tries....15 to 20 hours. Took another 3 sessions with stringy foil to get it to work.

One friend was just barely able to make it work first day but never tried it again.

Another no progression first day and dropped it.

Another able to hold ground first try, up on foil fairly consistent 2nd try. Bought the foil and on it.

[salvino]

I've noticed that the ones that stay with HF (and progress quickly) are the ones most familiar with riding a surfboard