I have been learning to flat water paddle up on a foil board the past six months. The internet makes it seems as if this is just the first step to downwind foiling. My initial guess was that I only needed 3-5 sessions to be able to do it. Only after 30+ sessions I was then able to finally paddle up the first time. It was not a moment of celebration. It was a huge relieve! My effort was not in vain. My physical ability is not so far below averaged compared to any of these foiling youtubers. And at last, I do not have to tell my wife every time I come back from paddling: should I give up?
There are some key lessons that I learned along the way that I wish someone could have told me. These are not prevailing theories from the various youtube videos I have watched. I have watched probably 100+ paddle up related videos.
For the many months that I toiled in the uncertainty if I could ever get to flight, I had many doubts. I questioned my overall physical strength and flexibility. I asked all the question one could ask about equipments. Is my board skinny and long enough? Does my front wing has a sufficient low end? Is my paddle blade big enough? Is my mast too long? Is my foil setup too far forward or too far back? Other than changing my downwind board, I had tried almost all other combinations of equipment variables that were within my control. I had doubts about my techniques. Do I hold the paddles too low or too high? Am I catching forward far enough? Is my stance too wide or too short? Should my back foot be placed directly on the mast, further back, or more forward? Do I shift my feet in the stages? Do I slap the board down with my front feet or should I emulate the foil pumping motion more? Do I do small pumps or do I attempt to go high as soon as I feels that the board starts to release? Should I paddle with or cross or against or the current? Should I get a bit of downwind assist? The internet provided some answers to my questions, but overall, I had to answer my own questions or be at peace of not having answers.
I was not a total beginner to foiling or supping. I wing foil. I am not good at it, but I could ride the foil comfortably and complete 50% of my jibes. I sup surfed on and off as well. I sup surfed 3-5 ft SF OB. I thought that my background was sufficient to allow me to learn the flat water paddle up, and it would become a fun thing to do when I don’t have time to go surfing and there is no wind to wing1. I was not expecting it becoming a journey2.
For much of my journey and during the session of first paddle up, I was using this Naish kit: 2024 105 liter downwind board, S27 Carbon 35 mast 75cm, S27 HA stabilizer 280, S27 HA front wing 1800, and a paddle with 95 cm surface area blade.
The motion of paddling up looks easy: paddle straight, pump and paddle, get on foil, and pumps away. The whole process takes less than 10 seconds. This 10 second sequence of movement is one of the most challenging physical techniques I have ever attempted to learn. If I were to learn this again with the hindsight knowledge that I have now, I would break down the sequence of movement into key stages.
The technical stages is a topological tree. It is not possible to learn some technical stages unless you already have the prerequisite techniques. For example, I did not realize that I was not a proficient pump foiler when I was giving my 110% to attempt at a successful full sequence. I foolishly believed that my background, with experiences in supping and foiling, should allow me to get at least one successful paddle up after 3-5 sessions. For months, I was sprint paddling and kind of emulating the motion of slapping down the board. I was getting better at paddling and getting stronger. My planing speed was getting faster and faster3, but I was not any closer to a successful paddle up.
I had to use other foiling disciplines to help me to learn the technical stages in isolation. A successful paddle up requires the ability to pump with at least some proficiency. I was thinking that I would use a flat water discipline to help me to learn pump foiling. That was a problem of chicken and egg. My wife had many laughs over my naivety. At some point in my journey, I realized that I have to go on some side quests. For example, I had to learn pumping first4. I chose dock-start as my side quest to accomplish that. I believe I could have done that with SUP foil surfing or e-foiling.
On-flight paddle-pump is an interesting stage that is not often talked about. This technique is critical to the transition from planing to flight. The paddling with the board being grabbed by water tension is a lot more stable than paddling with the board being out of the water. At one point, I was at a stage that I could generate good speed from paddle-and-pump while most of the board is on the water. Every time I started the on-foil transition, it was hard to maintain my acceleration. I realized that I had to isolate that stage. My solution was dock-starting holding a paddle. My practice hack is that I jump into foil pumping, slows down and touches down, and paddle back up to foil pumping. This was actually quite easy to learn in isolation. It took me 2-3 sessions to check off this technical stage.
The table below shows what I would consider to be entrypoints for skill acquisition. It should be noted that even though a foiling discipline might require a skill, that discipline is not necessary a good way to acquire the said skill. For example, I think it is hard to learn wing foiling or dock starting if a person has never ridden a foil before. That is best done towing behind a boat or through e-foiling. Wing foil uses a lot of pumping, but it is much easier to learn that skill through dock start or foil surfing.
| Foil Riding | Pump Foiling | Paddle-Pump | On-Flight Paddle-Pump | Sprint Paddle | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tow Foiling | ✓ | maybe | |||
| Wing Foiling | maybe | maybe | |||
| SUP Foil Surfing | maybe | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| E Foil | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Dock Start | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Footnotes
- I would also like to do some of these downwind runs. ↩
- The podcast and youtube discourse misled me about the degree of difficulty for flat water paddle up. For example, these videos showed how people learn the paddle up (A and B). I suspect that these youtubers are semi-professional. They do multiple sessions a week all year. They are already really good at auxillary disciplines such as sup foiling or dock starting. They probably also have access to all the kits and toys (e.g. boats, e-foil, jet skis, etc) to help them progress. They painted a much rosier picture than what I went through. These videos are more helpful to the true average joes (A and B). ↩
- In hindsight, I was probably hitting an asymptote. ↩
- I have this unverified theory that there is an version of paddle up approach that is more advanced and efficient. It crucially focuses on pumping as the key source of power generation, and the paddling is only auxillary. I noticed that two instruction videos keened on this fact. Jeremy Rig and this Chinese instructor 紅燒. They are able to paddle up with far fewer paddles and what appears to be less effort compared to other instructors. For example, Jeremy was able to gain flight in just 5 paddles. Insane! These two videos also lend evidences to the theory that proper pumping is much more important than paddling (A and B). ↩