I’m about 10 hours into my flat water paddle ups and I’d say you are doing way better than me. My board is smaller and shorter and I weigh a lot more so that’s my excuse (195lbs with wetsuit and a 7’4 108L board).
Like foilmad, I’d say you are basically there as you seem to have no trouble paddling straight, getting up to lift off speed and keeping your balance. Your primary issue is that you are stalling at lift off from not getting enough weight forward and not able to keep paddling during lift off.
You can correct this by keeping your weight forward and making sure your catch is nose to toes even as you are pumping during lift off.
Your stance is fine assuming you can do that, everyone has a different preference, even the pros - I’d only adjust if you really can’t get the down pump correct after trying. Some people do move their front foot a little after they get to lift off speed. If anything you just need more weight on your front foot during the down pump and catch of the paddle. You can also try moving your bottom hand closer to your top hand so you get more forward extension on the catch and keep the paddle submerged as you continue to paddle after the initial lift off.
I also don’t think your mast should be farther forward as you are already too far back on the foil as you get lift which is contributing to the stall. If anything, you might move it back to delay the lift until you have more speed but I’d start by seeing if you can improve your technique or move your front foot forward since you are already keeping the nose from diving.
You’re not going to believe this but if the board is lifting up in front of you, you need to move forward, haha.
The other thing is you (and anyone) are physically unable to pump the board hard enough. There is no “too much.” Keep that in mind. You need to be literally jumping into the air. It doesn’t look like it to watch a flat water paddler, but I promise you it is the intention.
Watching your video, you are not pumping the board enough. There is one telltale sign you can look for on the water. Your back heel needs to be coming up after every pump of the board.
Thanks mate. Great comments indeed in this thread but some conflicting advices too. I’ll try to get over the front as I get lift. Seems to be the main issue.
That happens when wingfoiling too on light wind take off, when the board lifts into a stall. Applying front foot pressure usually allows to glide into it and gain momentum. Hopefully the same can apply here.
Quick update: I’ve played around with mast position, going back in the tracks gradually as long as I could get an easy lift off.
Surprisingly mid track works well and I can feel that I get more controlled time on foil paddle/pumping, so I think I’ll keep it that way. It felt right, as did having front froot more perpandicular to the board, around the centre line. I reached 16.4 km/h yesterday (smashing previous record). That tells me that the foil is engaging. Thanks again for all the great advice on this thread.
