I have been on this journey for about a month now, with no prior SUP experience, and a basic wing foiling level (one year in - can jibe both stances both ways, getting into tacks).
Gear is Barracuda 8’2 112l 19.5 wide and I’m 72 kilos dry. Paddle is Axis (small blade 70 square inches), paddle to head high, 80cm HM carbon mast and North Pump foil 2050, 65 fuse and 238 stab.
Getting speed seems fine - I usually reach 13 to 15.5 km/h while pumping/paddling - the foil usually engages and I crash after a few meters as I either stall it or loose my balance, or both, as if I cannot get over the foil (I have tried many positions but mast of the way forward seems the easiest to get lift). From the video it seems like my nose is always up - so perhaps I need to get the board to dive to pick up some speed at each cycle?
Looking forward to hearing some advice from the community !
I wouldn’t move you foil or position on the board it looks pretty good. Your doing well for how long you have been at it and your close. Your equipment is working well considering how much room for improvement in your technique is still to come.
Reaching towards the nose for your catch will help you come over the top of the foil nicely as it lifts. This is the real technical part of the paddle up and where technique is everything. Its a feeling of reaching forward while being weightless on your feet. Your knees and waist are bending for the reach and keeping weight off the board momentarily.
The paddle with riggs drills are priceless and will get you there without bad habits.
I can see my paddling technique sucks as I don’t stack my shoulders with a vertical shaft (paddling a little sideways). If I can correct this and reach forward like you said I should see progress .
Agree with @FoilMad just be precise about padding and you’ll get over the foil. You have enough speed as you are standing and trim is good if you adjust your paddle technique. Smaller paddle is easier to keep accurate, you need smooth and accurate
Work on your leg pumps to sync with your paddling and you will need even less power.
Larger paddles are slower and more likely to hurt your shoulder. Smaller paddle blades allow a higher cadence which is the easier way to get off the water.
I think that your stance is a bit offset which will make pumping inefficient. I like my feet over the centerline of board and shoulders turned sideways, in line with stance. This will allow you to reach further forward and get your weight more forward. Its ok to lean further forward. You are too upright. A shorter mast made it much easier for me, like 60cm. Leave the board in water a bit longer for more boardspeed. This will enable a smoother, more gradual controlled lift off rather than popping up right at stall speed. Keep in mind that you likely only have 5-7 good attempts per session before you are gassed and all technique goes to crap. Make sure you warm up for 10 minutes with easy paddling before you try. Have fun! It is a fun journey to accomplish and then you probably won’t do it much after you check it off.
Thank you FoilyMcLipshitz for the insightful comments.
I have been playing around with my stance, trying to be centered but it felt unstable and unnatural. I came back to my wingfoiling stance, which is slightly offset indeed. I’ll try again.
I have a 55cm mast and a 72cm, both Aluminium. I’ll have to try with both but balancing gets harder the shorter the mast (unless the water is dead flat) and I worry about hitting the front wing - which should not be a worry if I was paddling in front of me ahah
To me this paddle up journey is a gateway to sup foiling unbroken waves, down winding and I’m also about to start dock starting . Maybe that’s a bit much for a 50 yo
For me, they call it flat water paddle up for a reason, the calmer the better. Any bit of chop threw me off when I started to pump the board.
Once you get the hang of it, it’s more of a bar trick. It’s actually easier to paddle up on a small bump or wave. Then, you don’t even have to pump the board until you try to connect.
I would also suggest being towed and then letting go of the rope and trying to pump without any waves. Once you can pump without any assistance for over a minute, then the flat water paddle up should be easy.
Final tidbit, concentrate more on pulling the back foot off of the board, hopping up and down with the back foot and and waiting until the board starts to point down, then only slight pressure on the front foot.
And of course, ride high! (That is with the foil just below the surface.)
with that board my experience you need to slam the foil all the way forward in the tracks. And even then it isn’t far enough forward, so you are going to need to scoot your feet XXforwardXX backward just as the foil engages and starts lifting. When you stand where the board wants to sit level in the water at slow speeds, your weight will be too far XXbackXX forward when the foil engages. Its not an ideal setup, but once you have the feel of shuffling your feet at just the right time, it works fine.
Thanks jondrums. It’s the V2 though, not the V1 where the tracks were too far back. But it still makes sense as it matches the experience I have had with it.
When winging or sup surfing it though I have the tracks right in the middle. Go figure
I have both and its the same problem for me. Same with the Gator as well.
I’m convinced that Kalama just doesn’t use foils like most of us.
The GoFoil has always had more distance from the lifting center to the centerline of the mast - meaning it fits further back on the board. And now F4 is the same way. A lot of the other foils have the mast closer to the front wing and thus need a more forward position in the board.
Or possibly Dave likes to paddle tail heavy with the nose attitude up until the foil engages. Who knows, but it’s a thing with Kalama boards.
Definitely no shuffling required on that board with the correct technique. If you are standing in the centre of buoyancy then you are standing way to far forward. Just maybe Dave knows how to paddle. Hahahaha
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. Maybe that’s a bit much for a 50 yo 
