SUP foil paddle up in stronger current

Downwind Foil
21

there for sure is. someone who can explain it should chip in lol

22

You look like you are doing great. If you had any wave energy you would be popping up easy!

23

Also “nose to toes”, you’re paddling too much behind you, it helps the most when you start getting onto foil (clip 4) to keep paddling well in front of you, what happened right here is your weight went back. If you keep forward then you would be in the sweet spot. The easiest way to achieve this is by paddling nose to toes.

It is very difficult, but you are close. Keep trying, and be a bit more explosive with the pumping. Practice pump paddling, the combination is incredibly effective.

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24

Nice technique here (see the video):

https://www.instagram.com/p/DB_9SeuIO8q/?hl=en&img_index=3

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25

These small waves are counterproductive to your efforts. If the board is longer than the wave period, you’re always climbing uphill. Just do what you’re doing in any wave period at least double your board length.

You just need some downhill :nerd_face:

26

Really strongly disagree, for two reasons

  1. The bumps can allow the board to disengage more easily

more importantly

  1. They also give you a feel for timing bumps. You can see at 00:5 that bump is more than big enough to paddle up on the 1300 without much effort. Once you get going, bumps like that can be enough to glide.

People spend too little time in bumps

27

I do agree that people spend too little time in bumps and waste too much time and risk injury trying to flat water paddle up. The board is MUCH less likely to disengage though, while the front third is centered over a bump. Perhaps in attempt 1 there’s a chance with perfect luck and timing. It starts out well but then he runs into the aforementioned scenario. 2, 3 & 4 are essentially flat water with a little tail wind.

I also see inadequate stroke rate and just plain effort (something I’m also guilty of). When you compare to something like the video below. I think I just don’t have the gas to lay down this many full power strokes all the while maintaining perfect form. Start from 3:00. Gawd, he’s averaging about 22 strokes to get fully off the water. In any kind of decent swell if I average 10 it’s a lot.

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28

Thanks for all the input so far. Local conditions will not change for me so I will just need to put up with what I got.

Occasionally a better swell comes in what gets me to lift off easier. But then the board just shoots up out of the water. I am unable to keep enough pressure on the front of the board, I think.
I am not in the stage of pumping out yet.

Lately, I went for a tow behind jetski. Granted that png1300 is a big foil for towing, but as soon as I had around 7 knots of speed the foil shot up again. I had to move my both feet position significantly forwards to prevent the foil from overshooting and to keep any glide.

But then, when flat water paddling, there is no chance I could paddle up with that forward stance as the board nose just goes under water and I have not enough leverage on the back foot.

I am kind of lost on the feet position on the board. Or do I need to look into shimming the mast to reduce the lift?
The foil tracks and the fuselage are completely parallel as I checked that.

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29

Try spend some time on the jetski adjusting the position of the foil, and maybe negative shimming.

Here is a process you can try which maps to some steps I did to get first paddle ups:

  1. There is a standing position on the board where your paddling is most efficient, you need to try adjust the foil around where that is. Important, this is the position when moving, and leaning slightly forward, not static balancing.

  2. Once you’ve found that, then move the foil so that it lifts gently when standing in that position while being pulled very slowly behind the jetski.

  3. You can try adjust with a shim. I think the 1300 is fine without a shim, but I’ve had success negative shimming it to reduce the lift. If parallel, this likely isn’t necessary, but can help.

  4. Get comfortable behind the jetski, dropping off foil at slower and slower speeds. Also practice driving slowly pumping the foil up before it lifts on it’s own. Nothing will be more useful than drilling this skill. 5 knots is fast enough to pump 1300 off the water. Get very comfortable with the moment of release from the water.

This will help with understanding what feeling you are looking for

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30

Thanks Matt. Have you had any experience with foil drive to practice pumping and improve foiling on DW board in general?
I have limited access to jetski and it costs me quite some money, so would rather think to get foil drive assist and be independent. I think I could also convince my wife for foil drive :slight_smile:

Any thoughts on that approach please?

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31

You can see in the James Casey videos that he adjusts his stance during the paddle up sequence. so you probably need to try that? but maybe the mast needs to be moved a bit backwards to make it less abruptly lifty

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32

Foil drive generally seems to be a good idea. It will unlock something different, which is more time on foil, so generally positive.

I will say that you are close, and will be rewarded by perseverance, but will definitely need to keep pushing.

Foil drive will take you down a different path of zooming around :smiley: eventually it will probably converge and you can combine the two paths, but I have yet to see someone who uses it specifically to learn SUP DW, they just start doing FD DW! Maybe for the best.

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33

So, I’ve developed some kind of shoulder impingement. Trying too hard is no good :frowning:

I ended up going out less often, changed to goofy stand so my other shoulder gets worked more. My sessions became less powerful too as I could not deliver same amount of power as with my other shoulder. This got me focused more on the technique rather than sheer paddle power.
And it is working way better :rofl: I can now lift off most of the times with less energy wasted.

I now know that paddle power can overcome many shortcomings in the gear or technique. But it is short lived when it comes to DW. I felt like I could lift off paddling like a maniac with a big paddle but then it was like hitting a brick wall. Not to mention risking yourself an injury.

I now also put 1deg shim to reduce the front lift. This helped too.
But I am realising that I need to improve my pumping technique by far. It is pretty bad. I know how to paddle pump to lift off but then thats it, and I very quickly end up back down.

Wasting energy to paddle up, just to have 3 sec flight does not feel to be very productive in here. I feel I have now no other option than getting FD to progress faster. Well, a Chinese version one as it is in my budget.

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