Learning wingfoil transitions with Canada Sail athlete Arie Moffat !
Arie has been a member of the Canadian Sailing national team since 2022. He sails 49er boats, and we're proud to have him as an ambassador at 30 Noeuds!
Having started wingfoiling just two years ago, Arie has used his sailing experience to progress quickly and become a very skilled rider. In this blog, he shares his best tips and tricks to help you perfect your first jibes and tacks. Enjoy!
Are you stuck trying to land your first foiling gybe or tack? I know how you feel! I have been racing fast boats for many years, but I have just taken up wingfoiling in the past two years and the beginning stages are still fresh in my mind. I am fortunate that my sailing experience has taught me ways of training more effectively which has helped me learn to wingfoil quickly. In this article I will share some of the tricks and mindset that make hard maneuvers easier.
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Separate the skills. In a difficult maneuver like the wingfoil tack, there are several movements that need to take place at the right time. For someone that has never completed a foiling tack, you cannot expect your mind to keep up with everything that needs to happen in a few seconds of time. We need to find ways of isolating the skills. If you struggle with carving your board all the way through the wind while also switching your hands on the wing, set a simpler objective. Say “I don’t care if I switch the wing, my only job is to pass head to wind with the board still foiling”. You will obviously not finish a foiling tack if you let go of the wing, but if you repeatedly carve the board through the wind, this aspect of the maneuver will become automatic and will no longer hold you back.
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Visualize or practice ashore. Foiling around on the water is why we love this sport, but the time we can actually spend on the water is limited. Even if you are blessed with good conditions every day and time away from work, fatigue or daylight will reliably put today’s session to an end. But who’s stopping you from jumping around on your board ashore, or thinking through your foiling tacks while on the bus? This tip goes hand in hand with separating the skills above. I recommend visualizing or rehearsing specific movements when ashore so they feel just a bit more natural on the water.
A particularly effective time to rehearse is right before you go on the water. Before I go 49er racing in a breeze, I know that strong maneuvers are the main key to success. Every mistake or capsize takes away energy and confidence, encouraging more mistakes to come. By rehearsing my boat handling beforehand, I give my brain the chance to warm up before I add the physical strain and high consequence of doing the maneuvers for real on the water
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Get your head wet when you get in the water! To make progress in a sport like wingfoiling, you will inevitably wipe out so it is better to embrace the crashes than try to avoid them. If you have already dunked your head, a face full of water seems less daunting when you are up and foiling.
With those concepts established, here are some suggestions for exercises you can do on land and water that will help break down the skills you need to make the next breakthrough.
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Skill You Want to Learn |
Land Exercises |
On-water Exercises |
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Control while foiling |
In an area with undisturbed wind, practice powering and depowering the wing. Lower your forward hand to power the wing and notice the force pulling you forwards. Then raise your forward hand, allowing the wing to come overhead and flap in the wind. Notice the force come off your body. |
When you are foiling, try powering up the wing. Feel the board accelerate and shift your weight to maintain your height on the foil. Then raise your forward hand to bring the wing above your head, letting it flap in the wind. As you slow down, shift your weight again to maintain your height as you slow down.
Practice shifting your weight towards your toe side and heel side to roll the board. This will allow you to turn which is the first step towards tacking and gybing. |
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Foiling Gybes |
On the water it is important to be able to swap hands without thinking so you can focus more on carving the board.
Difficult to learn on the water, swapping feet is the final step to completing a foiling gybe. Once you do this, you know the gybe is over and you can celebrate! |
To learn to control your board when gybing, don’t worry about the wing. Enter your gybe with speed, then let go of your back hand or even hold onto the neutral handle. Focus on looking towards where you want to go and smoothly carving the board onto the new angle. Then glide as long as you can and lower yourself onto the water. |
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Foiling Tacks |
Like in the gybe, you want hand and foot swaps to be automatic so you can focus on the precise timing and balance required to carve the board. This is even more critical in a tack because you lose speed much quicker. |
Due to the rapid speed loss in a tack, the biggest challenge is to carve all the way through the wind before slowing down too much. Enter the tack with plenty of speed on an upwind angle. When you are ready to tack, let go of the back hand to depower the wing and bring your front hand close to your head. Now, simply try to carve the board as far past head to wind as possible, always looking where you want to go. You may fall many times into the inside of the turn but this is how you will learn to carve efficiently. If you find yourself on the new tack with some speed, you can now rely on your hand swapping practice, put your hands in their new positions, power up the wing and foil away! |
I hope these tips help you as much as they have helped me! Now go get prepared, get wet and trust the process. Maybe your next session is the time you finally put it down!
