Hey everyone, I’m an avid wakefoiler looking to branch out into the prone space. I’m very comfortable behind the boat but am struggling to catch waves in the surf at 5’9/190 lbs. Is there any value in continuing to train behind the boat if my ultimate goal is prone? Unlike most people in the forum, I have zero surf background and learned foiling on lakes. Any gear recommendations or progression tips would be greatly appreciated.
Current setup: 4’4 40L board w/ Lift 200HA & 32 rear glide
I think you will need to learn how to surf before you can prone foil, that process may take some years, but I’ve seen a video of someone prone foil the wave of a boat. So if you had a strong enough of a wake that you could paddle into that may help accelerate the process. However, that doesn’t teach you enough about surf lineups that you want to prone in as well as etiquette, this honestly will take a couple of years. If you don’t want to commit 3 years to learn prone, the shortcut is just to get foil drive and find locations where there are no surfers around you. Yes that’s the kooky way of doing it, the hard way of doing it is learning to surf for a few years minimum then transition to the prone. Good thing is if you keep foiling behind the wake that could seriously accelerate your on foil skills as you learn surfing, so in 3 years you could be actually pretty good at prone foiling , by putting 1 and 1 together
Hey Dan! Your foil setup is definitely enough to learn prone with. If your board had more volume, it would be easier to learn on given that you don’t have a surf background. I say give that board a shot. Having surf knowledge is helpful when it comes to wave selection and paddling technique, but it’s nothing you can’t learn without a lot of dedication and practice. To give you an example, I’m 93 kilos and have been surfing for 20+ years. I prone on 31L but learned on a 34L Lift (4’6). 34L still took a lot of dedication for me. If you really struggle with your board, 50L+ would help. I think you should keep foiling wakes too. Even if it doesn’t directly correlate with your prone pop up, it will prepare you for when you do successfully pop up prone. With the frustration of learning something new, it will be spiritually helpful to keep up with something that you already have dialed. I would recommend finding a buddy to take on the challenge with you, and finding an isolated spot away from the lineup. Good luck
Thanks anaerobic! Okay, that gives me more confidence knowing what kind of volume is necessary for heavier guys like us. Nothing more frustrating than hearing “it’ll take years to master” nonsense. Learning to foil behind the boat/jetski definitely took me some time, but a couple months…not years, LOL. I’m certainly willing to put in the work, but want to see if anything is holding me back gear wise prior to putting in the reps. Also wanted to get your thoughts on whether the boat was a waste of time or not, but put into perspective I guess it’s not totally useless.
Behind a boat is great. Time on foil is what’s most important, so you understand what a foil is going to do and when. Being able to use the wake gives you a good simulation of riding on the curved surface of a wave.
If you could tow into surf you’d be foiling waves no problem already. It’s probably just the sitting in the lineup and having to paddle into a wave, then pop up that’s giving you issues. So yes, a mid-length with more volume will help. No reason you can’t learn on what you have though.
I did the same transitioned from wake to prone. Obviously the pop up is the most complicated part that wake does not help for. And the push from the wave feels completely different than wake. It sounds kookie but catch some broken or mushy breaking waves and boogie foil them, just lay on the board and get a feel for the lift by moving your weight front to back. That feel helped me a lot through the pop up.
Your gear sounds perfectly good.
It’ll take a few sessions but it’s manageable.
found the below YouTube helpful too
What aspect are you struggling with? It might be easiest if you can find a small foamy section deep enough to pop up on and then you can pump off of it once you are up. Popping up in the critical section can be tricky with a big foil like that and requires decent paddle speed. Catching foamy waves is hard to mess up (aside from hitting the seabed)
Okay great, so I guess time on foil (even if it’s just behind a boat) isn’t completely useless if your ultimate goal is proning.
Right on, thanks for the video! The “boogie board” technique you mentioned sounds like a good way to start, I’ll definitely try that!
When you go out, remember to stay away from the surfers/swimmers.
Whitewater is your friend - use it to push you forward. Once you get speed, you’ll be able to stand.