Foil Surfing: How To Pop and Wave Selection
Hydrofoil surfing, also called prone foil surfing is an absolute blast and a logical progression for many wake foilers who are looking to expand their skills. It turns out that foil surfing will improve your wake foiling skills and vice versa. But before you head out into the ocean, here are a few tips to help you do a great job with wave selection, body position, and your pop up onto your feet.
What is Prone Foiling
Prone foiling means to lay on the foil like a surfboard and paddle into a wave. You are lying prone as opposed to standing up, being pulled behind a boat or pumping from a dock start. With prone foiling, you are going to paddle into a wave, pop up and glide through the water.
Roughing in
The first thing you want to do is make sure you have selected the right wave for your level. The best wave for any beginner is something that is not too intimidating, not too big and where the wave has already broke with a little white water. This is called roughing in, it’s one of the building blocks of learning to prone foil. You don't want a quick takeoff where everything's happening so fast that you breach the foil. You want something slow, that you can control the board and take your time.
Be Patient
When paddling into the wave, don’t catch it too early. You don’t need to stay high in the green water like you would surfing. Be patient and let the white water pull you forward. This will allow you to stay in control of the board, wait until it is stable and give you confidence to pop up.
Body position
When you're catching these waves, you want to be further forward on the board than you think. Lay on the board as you would a surfboard and move up an inch or 2. You may feel like you are too far forward, but you’re not. The foil underneath you will act like an anchor and keep you from nosing in or pearling the board. If you are too far back, the board is going to lift out of the water and send you flying.
You will also want to make sure that your arms and hands are moved up an inch or 2. This will ensure that you are stable on the board and have solid balance when getting up. A good drill would be to catch some waves on your stomach and make sure that the foil isn't lifting you and that you can keep the board stable.
Riding the wave
Before you pop up, you will want to make sure you are stable and moving with the wave. Paddle towards the beach while catching the white water. Be patient here as well, wait until the board is stable before popping up. You want to feel the foil engaged, once you feel that, everything becomes a lot more stable.
Go Straight
Once you feel like everything is stable, you’re going to stand up on the foil and go straight. You want to control the elevation and go straight, no quick movements or sharp angles. You are going to find that foiling is way faster than the wave itself. So just make easy angled turns.
Weight forward
When you pop up, you want to make sure that your weight is forward. It's counterintuitive to surfing because in surfing everything comes off your back foot to engage the fins. In foiling it's your front foot that controls the board.
Again, keep your movements to a minimum, go straight or at slight angles and have a blast.
Falling
One of the biggest issues where people are falling is when they get the foil parallel to the energy of the wave. This is why it's best to start out going straight. When the foil gets parallel with the wave, the water will push the foil up and the board will likely launch you. If this happens, don’t fight it, don’t try to recover, just get out of the way of the foil. Also, try to stay behind the board, whenever possible wherever the energy is carrying it, just get away.
Dave Kalama
“With the foils you don't want to stick around until the party ends”
Disclaimer:
Please remember that foil surfing is an adventure sport and as such seek out professional coaching and lessons. Information here is provided purely for your entertainment and general information and is not a substitute for proper instruction. Hit the water at your own risk!