The Lift 150 Surf V2 should make the pop up easier. However, if you have the Lift setups in the back of the tracks, I doubt you a are putting a lot of weight on your front foot. Once you pop up, your front knee should be over your foot and your chest over your front knee.
You should get video of yourself. Your center of gravity is probably shifted too much towards your back foot.
Looking back on my foil progression, dock starting/flat water pumping is a lot easer than pumping in the surf.
If I was starting all over again, I would’ve spent more time learning how to dock start and flat water pump, then only go for prone sessions when conditions were ideal for a beginner prone foiler.
I need to test how I’m placing my weight forward next time I go out. I’ve seen a lot of “front foot pressure” suggestions, but I suspect my chest is still somewhat centered. Instead of front leg pressure, should I just be shifting my whole center of gravity over my front knee?
If your board doesnt have any tail rocker, try shimming under front of mast plate so the foil isnt lifting as you paddle into the wave.
Pull your hips forward as you pop up so you dont unweight the nose.
I’ll see if I can find some to borrow and test. Is Foilparts the only recommended provider?
Getting up on foil after I’m already up sounds easier. If I’m remembering correctly, its often happening around the same time right now.
Just watched the omen video on how this works. Is this something I’ll likely be tweaking with more experience?
You can use a Bondo spreader. Slide it under base until it hits screws, mark and cut. If this helps, then get a fancy shim. The more experience you have, the more you learn how/when to pop up, and what is causing the issues set up wise! The Omen videos (and foils) are great.
I feel like this thread got super overcomplicated regarding your gear. You probably just need to get better and keep practicing.
If it’s a gear problem, have a good foiler you know ride a few waves on your set up and they will be able to tell if something is horribly messed up with the angles as they will immediately be able to tell.
I agree. I kind of think what you’re experiencing is normal and you just need to learn how to control it
Yep. Not only in terms of wave riding but also wave selection. Crappy crumbly waves are your friend to start., Regularly breaking waves will blow you out of the water. Its crazy how much power is packed into even just a small breaking wave vs picking up some foam.
My learning cheatcode was (still is!) a Foil Drive.
Yeah, it’s definitely beyond my pay grade at this point. I think that’s because I don’t have video footage. There’s a lot of real helpful dudes doing their best off my written descriptions only. I appreciate the fact that I didn’t jus’t get: “Did you try doing it better?”, which is kinda true though.
This is a really good suggestion. It would put to rest any gear questions and remind me to just get good. My foil buddies are off island, but it’s probably the friendliest water sport. Someone might be down test my setup on a couple waves.
You have no idea. The first time out I was dropping into waist to chest high “bombs” and was getting ejected all over the place. My buddies were telling me to stop sending it, go inside, and be more afraid. Just slowing my pop-up down has been a struggle.
Saw a ton of uncles out on these the other morning. They looked like they were having a blast, no stress. One dude in the water said he was struggling for well over a year until he bit the bullet and got a foil-drive lesson and it unlocked prone for him. I’m not there yet. Gonna grind for a while.
This is the best “how to foil” video that I’ve seen. I wish it was out a few years ago when I first started out. There a section dedicated to the prone pop up.
Agreed! This video made some really helpful points. I’ve been re-watching periodically to brush up on mistakes.
I wanted to do a quick update if there’s a beginner who goes though something similar.
About a week and a half ago, I got a really good deal on a 150 v2 Surf, so I took a chance on it. Pitch control was pretty much fixed immediately. No bucking or weird elevation pops, just smooth rise onto foil (when I do everything right). I don’t feel like I’m fighting it anymore and I can tell when it’s something I’m doing wrong.
The tracks on my board are definitely further forward than most prone boards. Balancing my foil to the board puts the mast pretty much at the back of the box, so that’s where I’ve left it.
There’s a few problems I’m consistently having right now, a couple of which could have been avoided I think.
Haven’t felt comfortable asking anyone to ride my board yet, but a generous foiler on-island reached out to see if I wanted to tow with him sometime. I think I’m gonna try and find an intermediate level rider to test my board because a “bad” setup to the guys I used to paddle out with seems to follow a different criteria than me. Stable and slow in a straight line seems like the definition of unrideable to them.
As a very gear driven sport, it’s been hard to rule out poor gear choices and me just needing to practice. The 150 v2 was definitely worth the change though. Sorry for the long post. Hopefully it might be of use to another beginner.
I am 185-190 lbs. I started with a 4’7” x 36 L board, although it felt smaller. For several sessions it was always choppy and I had very little luck with pop-ups. I then went one day with no wind and glassy perfect waves. I was able to get on foil several times and have good rides. The smooth water helped with the small board.
I did get a 5’0” x 42L to help when conditions aren’t so good. I think once I get it dialed the smaller board won’t be as bad. Also, I accidentally used my smaller foil twice and that seemed to work better due to less lift.
Agreed, the smaller foil made a day-and-night difference. I could have done without the increase in speed, but totally worth it.
Did you find your 5’0" a worthwhile addition to your kit or kinda unnecessary in retrospect? If I ended up with a mid-length it would have probably been something much bigger like the Amos Kruzer 5’8" 40L or the Armstrong Midlength 5’5 55L. Dropping into unbroken waves sounds pretty amazing, though I’ve seen guys do it on tiny boards with good technique.
Is the board stiff? At your weight esp a bad board would cause those issues. It might not be cracked, just flexy at the boxes.
Nope, the board is brand new. I doubt it’s the boxes.
Got in the water today. Smaller than it’s been and windy, but minimal people out today. I got a bunch of 5 second rides, which is above average for me. I tested out a 33 Carve with fuse extender for the first time. I need a couple more sessions to confirm, but I feel like there was an immediate difference in yaw stability compared to the 48 Surf. Not day-and-night, but I never felt once like the board was skating back and forth uncontrollably.
Today was the first time I’ve been out where I consistently understood where my ride went wrong and why.
Stabilizer’s that have vertical wingtips provide stability in yaw.
I had similar struggles leaning on lift gear, getting bucked off with take off. Went on for months and months. Mostly used 150hax and 170. Switched gear to code 980 and the problem resolved instantly.