What was your approach to learning tacks?

[lovethepirk]

My #1 goal is to be able to change directions right now without having to fall back in the water. We have shit wind now so I have to blend some riding enjoyment vs improvement when I get to ride.

That being said, I've taken too many shin strikes on the jibe, so I am only interested currently in working on the tack. I feel I am on the path to just learn the move slowly, by trying 10 or so per sesh if the wind permits. I've actually worked on the move a lot while on the beach just doing mock backrolls with a redirect.

Did any of you treat the move as a fun learning experience and wish you spent more time focusing on it vs riding? Did you put all your energy into it instead? Was one tack direction much better than the other, and how long did the bad direction catch up to the better direction.

Today, I was able to see some light right foot forward, but left foot forward I did some goofy shit lol. I'm actually trying them at some speed, but I learned today I was going way too fast left foot forward. Just curious how yall approached building this skillset and how you would go about doing it again if you could?

[plummet]

Do you mean tack or jybe?
jybe = switching feet turning and turning downwind to complete the turn
tack = turning upwind and doing the footswitch 180 thing.

I haven't even attempted tacks yet.

But I can tell you my process on jybes which appears to be working after a freaken long time.

Watch all video you can find. Gunnar's videos are the best.
Find some flat water if possible.
Practice, practice, practice.
I would suggest dedicating a whole session every now and then and parts of a session each time.
When practicing go maybe 100m between gybes. basically gybe one after the other until you get it.

Water conditions play a big part in how difficult it is t surface jybe.

[Pedro Marcos]

My #1 goal is to be able to change directions right now without having to fall back in the water. We have shit wind now so I have to blend some riding enjoyment vs improvement when I get to ride.

That being said, I've taken too many shin strikes on the jibe, so I am only interested currently in working on the tack. I feel I am on the path to just learn the move slowly, by trying 10 or so per sesh if the wind permits. I've actually worked on the move a lot while on the beach just doing mock backrolls with a redirect.

Did any of you treat the move as a fun learning experience and wish you spent more time focusing on it vs riding? Did you put all your energy into it instead? Was one tack direction much better than the other, and how long did the bad direction catch up to the better direction.

Today, I was able to see some light right foot forward, but left foot forward I did some goofy shit lol. I'm actually trying them at some speed, but I learned today I was going way too fast left foot forward. Just curious how yall approached building this skillset and how you would go about doing it again if you could?

To gybe its much easier then to tack.

It took me about 10 sessions to learn to gybe, i still do some touchdowns in lightwinds but i can consistently change my feet when foiling (its easier if you are well powered, harder with a smaller kite)

To tack, well, ive hundreds of attempts, it is much MUCH harder then to gybe, its all about kite position and timming.

[gmb13]

My #1 goal is to be able to change directions right now without having to fall back in the water. We have shit wind now so I have to blend some riding enjoyment vs improvement when I get to ride.

That being said, I've taken too many shin strikes on the jibe, so I am only interested currently in working on the tack. I feel I am on the path to just learn the move slowly, by trying 10 or so per sesh if the wind permits. I've actually worked on the move a lot while on the beach just doing mock backrolls with a redirect.

Did any of you treat the move as a fun learning experience and wish you spent more time focusing on it vs riding? Did you put all your energy into it instead? Was one tack direction much better than the other, and how long did the bad direction catch up to the better direction.

Today, I was able to see some light right foot forward, but left foot forward I did some goofy shit lol. I'm actually trying them at some speed, but I learned today I was going way too fast left foot forward. Just curious how yall approached building this skillset and how you would go about doing it again if you could?

Hi Dude,

Learning tacking and gybing takes a lot or practice. I would dedicate a few sessions just to learning them. One side is always going to be easier than the other. The important thing when learning these manouvers is to go in with commitment. Going slow it usually where the accidents happen. If you go into the tack or gybe with decent speed, then they are a lot easier and safer, as if you crash you get pulle away from the board instead of falling on it.


Here is the link to the videos if you have not already found them: https://www.youtube.com/foilingbasics

--
Gunnar

[windmaker]

Tacking on a foil is going to be easier if you can already do them on a surfboard. As said previously it is going to be easier on one side especially if you do not practice both sides right from the start.

Tacking is much harder that jibing, it took me quite a while to achieve them on both sides, up to 50 attempts per session...

[davesails7]

I thought foiling tacks were easier to learn than foiling jibes, but I think most disagree. Touch down jibes are the easiest transition.

I agree, learn to jibe and tack a surfboard first.

I've heard people say that learning back roll transitions on a twintip really helps with getting the tack timing down. I didn't know about this at the time, but makes sense to me. The motion and timing is the same.

Gunnars videos are by far the best, ive watched those a few dozen times!

[cglazier]

Gunnar's videos are great.
Here is another one on the foiling tack that that I find valuable.
https://vimeo.com/205693914
CG

[Mossy 757]

I love this one because it's proof that even one of the sport's most elite riders crashed all the time while learning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXV3Wdu_Ms4

[Peter_Frank]

Ha haa, you are right Mossy, but dont forget this video is 4 years old, and the very first and early times he was out on a max performing fast foil - I think it is max class being able to ride like that without having much time on it

Today he and others on his level, can do "everything"

PF

[Pedro Marcos]

I love this one because it's proof that even one of the sport's most elite riders crashed all the time while learning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXV3Wdu_Ms4

He looks already pretty good to me