Just had to share on this forum my ePPPPic level UP - stoke I had yesterday..
Ive just started on my journey foiling, maybe 5 hours total board time in up until yesterday. Really couldn't get the waterstart and first turn down at all. Sketchy wobbles, keel line breaks, foil porpoising, super inefficient .. etc. It was a struggle to say the least. Humbling, a well needed ego check.. eating @#$! really had me questioning whether I was going to make this step. Ok Ok, back to basics.. hunting in this forum and youtube vids surfaced a few key things to revisit and fully understand and commit to.
FIRST- Philosophy. The foil is powerful beast that needs to be respected. I didnt fully commit to the power that it generates. Meaning, as I rose on the water start if I didn't get up on the board, the foil would generate a ton of power in the wrong direction. Rising on the balls of my feet with front foot pressure was a leap of faith I need to get my head wrapped around properly.
SECOND- Habits. I need to consciously break the muscle memory of back leg, TT like pressure, its weird how the muscle memory just takes over. Even the SB, mako type of FF pressure was no where close. The balls of my feet tip was HUGE for me.
As a result of my reading there were also two key gear changes needed: larger front wing (had a 690, went with a 1200cm as my weight is 215 or so) and lost the back strap and went with a free back leg which was the clincher. The stock back foot placement had me chasing the delicate mid point of the foil. When my back foot was free to move to find the balance point, she sat patiently for me! As a result the waterstart was easier.. a quick transition to the balls of my feet getting on top of the foil, and then trusting the foil underneath me while setting the upwind line had me rocketing upwind, in control! The board came alive and was freely allowed to play in the rolling tide, and on the upwind sides I was a missile. Free floating missile. The weightlessness, the silence was just awesome. I had time to look around and appreciate the view (which just happened to be incredible- beautiful BC baby!) and the feeling of being in control. Things were starting to click with the foil in terms of efficiency, when to open up the kite by sheeting out & conversely leaning into the power dive into a line that was controllable .. I could really now see how guys my weight were on muuuuch smaller kites. Simply by being more efficient. I even starting to hunt around my back foot aiming the foil and releasing downwind into parts of the wave that I wanted to be in.. I could feel the foundation of my foiling being putdown. I was able to nail consistently releasing the foil down to a lower level. Controlled taxis abound. Two firsts - longest on foil run (like 40 seconds) and first heel to toe side jybe into swell.
Needless to say it was a stoke that I haven't put down yet. I was honestly mystified at how delicate and difficult the foil seemed to be but little did I know I was really only a couple of tweaks away from the freedom that a foil delivers on. Yesterday, I was the guy on the water laughing my ass off.. foiling feels like some kind of weird magic. Like a glitch in the matrix. Its the fleeting moment of a proper POW day but all the time. I am, how you say, hooked. Fully completely.. for my Canadian brothers.
Now my mind goes to the levels in front me: better kite control with foil freedom, generating speed and power with my foil in conjunction with wave position. Jumping, etc..
Just had to share
Hopefully this helps someone just before things click. Keep at it. Soooo worth it.