foot switching - all the video's are photo shopped, right? advice please

[papasmerf]

, i am talking foot switching when my board is on the dang water,, let alone up on the foil. so,,,i can stay on the foil riding regular,,(by the way,, i am talking snowboarder terms here,,, regular is right foot back,,, goofy is left foot back doesn't matter if you are heelside or toeside), do a heel side to toe side downwind gybe easy now,,, cruise away still on the foil (thanks kamikuzi for advice on that) go how ever far i want really on toeside,, and then do a toeside to heelside gybe while on foil even easier,,,,,,BUT!!!! my goal is not to get wet so i figure all i need to do is either do a foot switch when riding toeside, so i can go back to my heel side when riding goofy,,,,that particular foot switch i never even come close to,,,,so i just water start going goofy,,,and i figure ok,, all i have to do is a foot switch over to my toe side,, which i already know how to ride toeside on my regular side,,,,so not even on the foil,, just plowing thru the water,,, i got this one maybe 4 times out of 20 ish attempts.

i have watched (the obviously photo shopped) video's,,,i can't figure out what i am doing wrong.

what i do is come down from the foil and do a "landing" i slow down a bit,, try and keep my kite high to hold my weight a bit,,and crap, i don't know,,,going from regular toeside to goofy heel side,, i generally fall forward, well ahead of the board. i think i am jamming board down into water with front foot weight. i thought this particular switch going to my heel side, which i am very comfortable on both ways,, goofy and regular, would be easier but not so.

i am using a sliding j-bar dyna bar,, which makes it more interesting.

i tried pointing board downwind so i am not on edge,,,also not working great.

i am scared to death to try it while on the foil after trying it on the water,,,,

do people drop speed or keep speed the same,,,, keep the edge or go flatter down wind,,, use the kite power to unweight you a bit? how much front foot weight?

any tips or tricks out there in experienced foiler land

i am on a 17 or 18 cabrinha double agent 145 board with stock foil,, i am 195 lbs and i have been well powered when trying these.

[MattyM]

I feel your pain. I can remember my 'ass-in-the-water' gybes. Seemed inconceivable that I could ever actually switch feet on the foil. Yet now it's rare for me to fluff a gybe or even touch down momentarily. That's foiling for you. Keep trying - you'll get there with a bit of bloody-mindedness!

[davesails7]

I felt like those flat, thin boards (double agent and the LF fish) make it hard to do transitions on the water. When I first tried them, I was doing surface transitions on my board (large volume, rocker in the nose) no problem, but couldn't do them at all on those boards. There seemed to be very little margin between too much board angle causing you to lift off on foil and too low board angle causing the nose to go under.

Have you tried learning the foot switch without the foil first?

[jakemoore]

You have to make two distinct steps. Back foot forward. Forward foot back. Sounds easy right? But just practicing that dance move in a small space on land the size of the board can help a lot.

Also it helps to have your feet closer together starting with the rear foot more far forward. There is less change in pressure on the board. For surface foot switch working on a surfboard or race board helps a lot.

I do think touch-down jibes are tougher with a big wing that flies at slow speed because there is only a tiny margin between planing on the board and flying the foil.

[purdyd]

I feel your pain but the foot switch can be done, no photoshop required.

The good news is that you can work up to it. And as my wise friend said, in foiling, it will tell you when you are ready for the next move.

Forget the surface gybe, this is how to work up to going on foil.

If you haven’t watched it checkout kainani drexler on footswitch. Watch how she narrows her stance and slides her feet.

About 3 minutes in



Here is my step by step plan for you

First you have to be comfortable toe side. If not keep practicing that.

You should be able to pump your foil. If not keep practicing.

Start by moving your feet. Slide your back foot up and then back. Doesn’t have to be much.

Slide your back front up a bit and then slide your front foot back a bit. Then back to your original stance.

Do this both on heel side and toe side.

The goal here is to narrow your stance while staying on foil and be standing over the sweet spot. Keep this up until you can maintain a reasonable speed,

If you want you can work up to having your feet side by side and then just keep shuffling and slide through.

However, at some point before this when your stance is a bit narrower and you are maintaining a reasonable speed, you are ready for the switch.

One thing you learn with narrowing your stance is to control the pitch of the board by weighting your toes and heels. Because as you narrow your stance you should also be moving your feet more parallel to the board with your toes forward and heels back.

If you do get to the point where you ride with feet side by side, that is how you control the pitch.

With your new narrow stance capability, raise the kite up, keep some speed, (having some speed is your friend as it keeps things steady, not too much though) and look for a bit of swell and on the way up that swell, quickly and confidently step forward with back foot and forward with back foot.

Some people mentally think of jumping and twisting the hips. A true jump where both feet leave the board is in my opinion bad as the foil rises up.

A note on going up the swell. This effectively causes you to put a bit of weight on the back foot and raise the nose. As the board nose is coming up you make the switch. You can do this without swell by doing the same thing on flat water. If done properly, they board doesn’t change.

Basically a little pump on the back foot, weight on the front as you lift the back and bring it forward and then a little pump again on the new back foot as it goes back.

A little pull on the bar also helps.

This may takes months, don’t give up. It will be like a switch and one day you will get one. If you are already making the occasional surface switch you can do it on foil.

The hardest part is mentally committing to that footswitch. I know in the videos they show really good riders making flawless switches with their feet wide apart. Forget that nonsense and work up to it as outlined above. As you get better you can switch with a wider stance.

Good luck and as kainani says, I believe in you!

[edt]

There's at least a dozen ways to switch your feet. Just keep practicing that's all. I have seen so many ways to do this I even saw one guy just slowly shuffle his feet until they were side by side then slowly shuffle them out. Very weird looking to me but hey just figure what what kind you want to do and practice it. Some very good riders just go heel side toe side all day and never switch.

Keep practicing. The worst is when you are practicing your foot switch and the water is ice cold. If it's warm not a big deal getting dunked 100 times in a day while you figure it out.

I always ride two straps so I can boost on my hydro foil so I don't do that close stance shuffle. Just pull one foot out plant it right in the middle then switch the other foot from one strap into the other strap.

If you think about it when you switch your feet that means one foot will have all your weight for a while. Where do you want that foot to be? Probably right in the middle. Anyway that's what I do.

These pros make it look easy but that's only because they don't show you all the times they failed as a beginner. Nobody is born knowing how to do this stuff.

[nixmatters]

...
do people drop speed or keep speed the same,,,, keep the edge or go flatter down wind,,, use the kite power to unweight you a bit? how much front foot weight?
...

Actually the opposite - higher speed will create more lift to the point when almost all your weight will be on your front foot. That's a good moment to bring your right (back) foot forward and your left aft.
I haven't mastered it yet, the key I feel is to first get comfortable riding a short distance with all your weight on the front foot.

[taiguy]

I spent days trying to get foot switches with my board on the water. At the advice of friends I started trying them while in the air. It's easier in the air. I wish someone would have told me that at the start.

speed = stability

also lifting the back foot up while the foil is rising is another key piece of advice. weight the back foot, start the rise, back foot can now go up front while it's "weightless".

I'm still hitting only a fraction of my foot switches, but those were two big fundamentals things to keep in mind.

[fluidity]

If you haven’t watched it checkout kainani drexler on footswitch. Watch how she narrows her stance and slides her feet.

She's very cool.
When she says "Now let's recap" she reminds me of that kid's educational programme: "Dora the Explorer"

[papasmerf]

I feel your pain but the foot switch can be done, no photoshop required.

The good news is that you can work up to it. And as my wise friend said, in foiling, it will tell you when you are ready for the next move.

Forget the surface gybe, this is how to work up to going on foil.

If you haven’t watched it checkout kainani drexler on footswitch. Watch how she narrows her stance and slides her feet.

About 3 minutes in



Here is my step by step plan for you

First you have to be comfortable toe side. If not keep practicing that.

You should be able to pump your foil. If not keep practicing.

Start by moving your feet. Slide your back foot up and then back. Doesn’t have to be much.

Slide your back front up a bit and then slide your front foot back a bit. Then back to your original stance.

Do this both on heel side and toe side.

The goal here is to narrow your stance while staying on foil and be standing over the sweet spot. Keep this up until you can maintain a reasonable speed,

If you want you can work up to having your feet side by side and then just keep shuffling and slide through.

However, at some point before this when your stance is a bit narrower and you are maintaining a reasonable speed, you are ready for the switch.

One thing you learn with narrowing your stance is to control the pitch of the board by weighting your toes and heels. Because as you narrow your stance you should also be moving your feet more parallel to the board with your toes forward and heels back.

If you do get to the point where you ride with feet side by side, that is how you control the pitch.

With your new narrow stance capability, raise the kite up, keep some speed, (having some speed is your friend as it keeps things steady, not too much though) and look for a bit of swell and on the way up that swell, quickly and confidently step forward with back foot and forward with back foot.

Some people mentally think of jumping and twisting the hips. A true jump where both feet leave the board is in my opinion bad as the foil rises up.

A note on going up the swell. This effectively causes you to put a bit of weight on the back foot and raise the nose. As the board nose is coming up you make the switch. You can do this without swell by doing the same thing on flat water. If done properly, they board doesn’t change.

Basically a little pump on the back foot, weight on the front as you lift the back and bring it forward and then a little pump again on the new back foot as it goes back.

A little pull on the bar also helps.

This may takes months, don’t give up. It will be like a switch and one day you will get one. If you are already making the occasional surface switch you can do it on foil.

The hardest part is mentally committing to that footswitch. I know in the videos they show really good riders making flawless switches with their feet wide apart. Forget that nonsense and work up to it as outlined above. As you get better you can switch with a wider stance.

Good luck and as kainani says, I believe in you!

I just want to clarify to everyone . (Since you suggested forget the surface gybe) I am not trying a surface gybe. I am only trying the foot switch while traveling somewhat straight Once or if i can do the foot switch. I could get back on foil and gybe