Wing foil is one of the easiest ways to get into wind sports. It is relatively less gear to wing foil compared to windsurfing or kiteboarding. The ability to harness wind power to cruise around a very large playing field is freedom. There are a lot of easily accessible launch spots in the East Bay: Alameda beach, toll plaza, Emeryville Marina, Berkeley Marina, Albany Bulb, Marina Bay, etc. One could get into a dynamic water sport without having to cross a bridge to get to the coast in the San Francisco side. Wing foiling opens up opportunities to wave riding 1 and deflate sup foiling downwind. I have seen people winging up to Treasure Island and then SUP foiling downwind back to Berkeley Marina.
What I learned
Here is a list of lessons in the order that I encountered them. I will come back to update and add more in the future.
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Wing skateboarding. I went to a large parking lot to wing skateboarding. This taught me how to hold the wing, transfer wind power to my legs, and go upwind in both directions.
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Wing supping. I installed a large fin on my regular, large sup board, which allows the sup board tracks upwind easily. I wing-supping a few sessions until I was fully comfortable going upwind on water. I had to do the walk-of-shames during the first session. In most of my second session, I was able to maintain upwind ground. I was able to get in and out at the same spot without needing to walk. By the third session, I was able to cruise around and get to wherever I wanted on that stretch of beach.
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Wing foiling but really just wing dragging. I swapped out my sup board with a foil board. It felt different. The balancing was different. I wasn’t able to stay upwind as much. The balance was different. It took me about 1 full session to be able to gain upwind ground in my strong direction (riding goofy). It took me at least 2 more sessions before I was able to comfortably gain upwind ground on my switched stance (riding regular). At this point, I had not attempted to learn toe-side yet.
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My next challenge was learning how to get up on foil. There was a lot going on. The most important thing was speed, and learning how to handle board speed while holding the wing was not intuitive. I spent time just focusing on getting more comfortable riding with speed without allowing my foil to fly. Once I was able to maintain speed with control, I could engage and disengage the foil. I learned foiling comfortably without sketchy moments that way.
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Foiling is different from a riding surfboard. Once the board rises above the water, the board is very tippy left and right because the board’s foam is no longer counter-balancing on the water. It is a lot like riding a bike. The side-to-side roll is sensitive. My feet and body have to constantly balance to keep the board tipping over on the side. The moment the board left the water, it is a completely new boarding experience. I felt weightless, speed, and out of control.
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I intuitively learned how to feel the wind. It was a strange feeling. Once I get enough water time, maybe 5-7 sessions in, I could feel the wind direction, wind strength, and sometimes even kind of feel the gust pockets. Obviously, I cannot see the wind. It is possible that I could hear the wind. It is definitely more of a feel. I could tell on an instant that it’s 8-10 knots or 12-15 or whatever just having the wind touching my face. The weirdest is the ability to kind of predict that a gust is coming through, or being able to tell that a gust might last long enough for me to gain speed. I couldn’t describe any explicit physical signs. It is the overall feel while holding the wing with feet on the board.
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I was reminded again and again that it is not really about “knowing” how to do a certain thing. It was all about muscle memory. My body had to learn to do it, not my mind. The best example was that I knew how to do one thing goofy, but just couldn’t bring myself to come close to doing the mirror direction. I knew exactly what to coach myself and understood what I was doing wrong. But my body kept repeating the same mistakes. It took time for the muscle memory to kick in. It was both frustrating when I was failing and the best feeling when my body intuitively knew what to do.
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Learning in low wind. Learning to foil in low wind is difficult to impossilbe. I made this mistake many times. I was frustrated during those sessions. However, my wing handling skill was a lot more advanced compared to otherwise. In a roundabout way, I am much better prepared for windy conditions, say 25-35 knot conditions. I am comfortable handling the wing to sail without foiling and maintaining upwind ground. Even in strong wind, I could just stand there and pull in only as much or as little power as I need to go where I want to go. As long as I am able to do that, I feel safe and comfortable in any condition. This peace of mind allows me to go and have fun regardless of wind conditions or shoreline hazards.
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It is best to learn in medium wind conditions. 15-20 knots are probably best. Anything less than 15 knots, one has to pump to get up on foil. Pumping works best with both wing and board combinations. Once the wind approaches 25, the wing could feel over-powering. I would drift downwind quickly unless I am up sailing. It could be overwhelming to someone who is not experienced.
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I started learning on Alameda beach because the unidirectional wind is always blowing onshore. I walked along the beach to gain upwind ground when I was not able to return to the same spot sailing. Once I was comfortable maintaining upwind ground, I started going Berkeley Marina. It is a windier spot. It has nice facilities for me to set up and clean up before and after wing sessions.
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Jibing and riding toe side. Riding toe-side is completely different. I once thought that once I learned to ride heel-side both directions well, I should be able to ride toe-side easily on my goofy stance. I was wrong. Riding toe-side requires completely different balancing skills even though I know how to hold the wing and ride in the direction that I want to go. Toe-side riding requires yet another set of muscle memory. There is no shortcut.
Footnotes
- The best being fort point. ↩