Foiler's Toe

[Flyboy]

Err ... any infallible tips to accomplish the foot switch? This is proving more difficult than anticipated. Years of footswitching on a SB don't really seem to be much of a help.

[jumptheshark]

If your dropping your arch on either foot and riding in a really static stance for extended periods.... yeah things are gonna hurt. Move your feet and stand well. I rode most of this year in shoes. Mostly because of rocky exits but I don’t have a deck pad so it’s kinda nice on a hard deck. Would allow you to use an orthotic if you need one. Shoes suck for swimming, but are great at rocky spots.

[Kamikuza]

If your dropping your arch on either foot and riding in a really static stance for extended periods.... yeah things are gonna hurt. Move your feet and stand well. I rode most of this year in shoes. Mostly because of rocky exits but I don’t have a deck pad so it’s kinda nice on a hard deck. Would allow you to use an orthotic if you need one. Shoes suck for swimming, but are great at rocky spots.

Used to get pain the arches of my feet, now I don't. When I was using front straps only and even strapless. Don't know what changed.

Also used to get pain in my back foot's knee, from twisting it and driving the foil around ... now I don't. Still don't know what changed...

Although I did make a conscious effort to try and ride more square across the board, rather than twisting shoulders around. Very minor adjustment :shrug:

[Adventure Logs]

I noticed more rear foot fatigue since I’ve switched from a SS dwarftcraft to a Groove Skate. Miss that concave deck.

[tomtom]

I feel my feet while foiling, because riding strapless i tend to "hanging on" board - like ape on tree. I never had any pain though other than occasional cramps - which can be unrelated.
Nevertheless, i recently rode on surfskate which is pumpamble skateboard - it is a ton of fun BTW. Deck on this board is heavy concaved and meant for barefoot riding. Unfortunately i develop heavy foiler toe from this pumping movement on my front feet /left - im regular/. After seeing this is all have sense to me. Now i feel it on foil also.

Its pain in toe big knuckle and it hurts also while walking unfortunately - so there is definitely something going on...

[juandesooka]

I was concerned my toe/foot pain might be gout ior arthritis.. switching feet more is a lot easier prescription.

[TomW]

If you're in middle age or over(40+ ) then there's always risk of overuse. You should really concentrate on learning flying footswitch.
After going over to foiling 3 years ago, and subsequent increase in water time ( addiction + foiling allowed more sessions) I developed a form of osteoarthritis symptoms in my right ankle.
Went to physiotherapy and got some advice on exercise and stretching, and it's gotten better last 2 years.
There's no doubts that hydrofoiling puts a lot of stress on your feet.
My feet are in great shape now!

[alowishus]

I found riding toeside upwind pretty uncomfortable, even with the rope slider, and now tend to only go toeside when heading downwind, carving etc.

The main issue for me was in the rear leg after a long session, not toes, but I shuffle my feet around a fair bit.
After about a year of working on it I can make most footswitches on the foil... most of them... not quite 100% yet...

When I started foiling sometimes the bottom of my feet would go tingly ...

[TomW]

Err ... any infallible tips to accomplish the foot switch? This is proving more difficult than anticipated. Years of footswitching on a SB don't really seem to be much of a help.

There's a progression. Learn to ride with narrow stance and even with feet side by side.
Learn to move back foot forward to touch heel of front foot and back in super fast movement.
Learn to pump your foil.
Then go for it by switching to toeside into your strong direction going in straight line. Keep kite high but not overhead.
It's a 1-2 step: back foot forward, front foot back, fast.

[NYKiter]

Narrower stance upwind helps a LOT....been recovering now...load on both feet...