Practicing with a Foildrive in a small pond (geothermal, great for winter practice) and having trouble with doing tighter turns. I find that I’m either leaning too hard and falling vs feeling like I’m going to taco, which I’ve done a few times. Also trying to maintain pitch control in the turn to keep the prop engaged. I haven’t figured out the pump yet.
I’m pretty new to foiling and Foildrive in particular. Would appreciate any thoughts/tips. For reference I’m 215lbs, 50L board, 220HAX on the front, flow 21 on the back. Thank you much!
I don’t think you will get tight turns trying to keep the prop engaged. To do tight turns you need to lean over & likely the prop will come out… Trying to turn tight so low on the mast is likely why you are Taco’ing… I would concentrate on learning to pump & glide high on the mast & turn tight using momentum & good technique without engaging the FD.
Try to keep your weight even side to side on the board… If you’re getting it right it feels like even pressure pushing up towards you on both feet.
Step the back foot back to turn
Don’t try to edge the board with your feet. Aka don’t steer with your feet like you would a skateboard or snowboard. You’re not turning with the edges of the board, you’re controlling a glider a couple feet below you.
If feet are on centerline it’s much easier to taco. If feet are offset side to side you’re more likely to fall away from the board
I initially learned with a (Gen1) FD in efoil position on a local pond…what position is the motor on the mast? And are the tight turns because the pond is small or are you working on them by choice?
There is only so much you can do if you are essentially efoiling, and can’t pump or use the wind or waves as a power source…having the motor higher up is great for most every other context except for efoiling, where it would seem to be a limitation.
Still awesome just to be able to get some time on foil initially…
Exactly that.
I’ve been Foildriving for years.
When you are motoring, it’s very difficult to do tight turns, it feels like catching an edge on ice whe snowboarding.
Sure you can manoeuver and turn, you can train do do it.
But you need to do large turns.
The prop will easily come out of the water as turning boosts the lift of the foil.
But turning remains hard.
What you can train to, is motor → popup → pump → turn hard (carve).
This works well.