SUP Foil 101: Tips To Make Sup Foil Surfing Easier

Learning to foil surf can be both frustrating and intimidating. Here are a few tips from my own experience that helped me progress my skill level really fast.

1. Be comfortable on a SUP

Make sure you are comfortable stand up paddling into and surfing waves. This will be one less thing to think about when you have your foil attached to your board. Having the board lift out of the water and trying to balance it on the sweet spot is enough to think about. So, practice paddling into and surfing waves on your stand up paddle board until it becomes second nature.

Photo: Alex Mauer

2. Start behind a boat

First learning to foil behind a boat or jet ski allows you to learn the balance in a more controlled environment. Practice keeping the foil low and in control. You’ll want to keep your weight on the front of the board, slowly moving it towards the back of the board until you start to lift. Then, put your weight back over the front of the board to push the foil back down. Practice this until you are comfortable enough to balance the foil out of the water the entire time.

Photo: Alex Mauer

3. Try it on a wave

After you get comfortable flying from behind the board, you can then add in the challenge of a wave. Learning to surf the wake behind a boat provides a more controlled environment, deeper water and more time on a wave. Having more wave time per session will allow you to get comfortable with how the foil reacts in a wave and moving water a lot faster than you would in the ocean.

Photo courtesy: Alex Mauer

Learning to foil surf in this order made it really easy to transition into the ocean. Because I spent so much time behind a boat learning to foil surf. I was already comfortable with how a foil reacts in the waves. Adding a foil to my SUP was a natural transition and foil surfing in the ocean is my favorite thing to do.

For more foil tips, click here.

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