NEWS: TIPS AND TRICKS FOR YOUR BEGENNINGS IN WING !!!

As in any discipline, learning to wing foil will be punctuated by small key moments that will accelerate your progress or greatly facilitate your life. Most of these small gestures and tips are published in our different How To’s. Here’s a compilation of the first elements shared on our forum by different members 😉 .

The first to share his experience on our forum is sn0

• “Push your board upside down (a bit like a caddy, holding it by the stab) on the water’s edge, rather than carrying the gear to go upwind on the beach, especially when you start with a Zuma 6’9… Be careful though to only use this method in the absence of swell so as not to injure yourself with a violent movement of the foil and if there is enough water not to damage the deck of the board.
• Short masts are reassuring but not really useful. Finally, we fall more often than with a longer mast, so do not hesitate if the water depth allows it.
• It’s better to wait for the big gusts rather than get excited on your wing and run out of energy, with a little experience you quickly learn if a gust is strong enough to take off or not.
• Holding the front wing handle supine (palm of your hand facing up) can really help prevent the wing from touching the water for the first few sessions.”

Hecub’s advices:

• “For long trips the easiest way is to carry the board on your back, mast wedged against your shoulder, board on the windward side, kite downwind. To put it on your back, the easiest way is to put the board on its foil, foil on the windward side, downwind nose, then go get the wing and bend down to go under the board, put your hand free under the fuselage
• Do not rinse and do not dry your wing (unless …)
• At the beginning, you shouldn’t hesitate to go out overpowered, a wing that’s too large still holds up, it’s just unpleasant. In the beginning you will not be flying in the low range of your wing anyway.
• Don’t hang around on your knees, you better get up quickly !
• Put on booties at the start (a helmet and impact vest too).
• When you fall, let go of the wing, do not push on the rail of the board, always stay centered on the foil or if this is not possible, push gently forwards in the axis of the foil.
• Do not lend your Wing to a beginner.
• When you start to fly, when you come back to the bach, take a lot of headroom and always assume that there is hardly any water (otherwise the feet and ankles can be hurt badly, I have broken a foot bone like that).”

Fred06’s advices

• “You shouldn’t start with a board that is too long and heavy. It is counterproductive.
• The more you have a load-bearing front wing, the easier it is.
• With a large board (not recommended but if you only have that …), you can start standing and pull the wing by the leash as with a windsurf sail.
• The front strap helps a lot.
• If the wind isn’t sideshore, you shouldn’t even have to try.”

Climbmed’s advice

• “For beginners, it’s like in SUP, you have to stand as quickly as possible, you learn balance faster and then work in the light to develop proprioception and the ability to balance yourself. Afterwards, when it’s windy, it becomes easy.”