Foil kook here evaluating and about to take the plunge into prone foiling.
The biggest thing I’m hesitant about right now is worrying about loosing my surfing. My strategy right now is that I will take the small/bad days to learn to foil, and of course foil them even as I get better. Then the bigger and more hollow days I will surf. Where I live (OBX, NC) most spots a pretty top to bottom once it gets bigger, so it isn’t ideal for foil surfing unless you’re towing from what I understand.
Is there anyone here that has experience surfing and can speak to how much of your surfing you loose, if you still want to keep surfing and foiling?
useful answer - yes, it is very bad! I tried to surf a midlength gun style board in small surf for the first time in a few years, felt like trying to stand on a slackline for the first time. Even paddling was a nightmare.
Doesn’t bother me that much, since I moved to the UK it has meant I surf more and don’t worry that the waves are terrible here
As long as you switch back and forth frequently, you won’t lose your surfing. Actually, they’re super complementary and you’ll find yourself unlocking new pieces of your surf game.
Expect one or two really weird/kooky sessions when you first go back after trying to learn to foil - don’t freak out! Surf again the next day and it’ll all be good.
The problem is…foiling is really fun and you may find yourself looking for foil sessions more often than surf. Too much of that and your muscle memory is going to shift to favor foiling. Just know that all you need to do is suffer through a few crappy surf sessions and you’ll get it back.
Good luck on the journey - enjoy the challenge and don’t get discouraged. Stick with it and it’ll click!
This is exactly the kind of tip I needed to hear. I don’t mind suffering through a crappy session or two before we get a good run of swell. I also don’t mind if foiling gradually takes over. My main concern is not being able to foil bigger days, but then also not being able to surf because the muscle memories shot. A big factor to me wanting to foil is getting more days in the water and I’d hate the opposite to happen if we get good waves.
I still do both as often as I can and alternate depending on the conditions. I don’t feel I’ve lost anything surfing wise, I have continued progressing in surf (and not at a slower pace I believe) while I picked up foiling.
You sometimes get a weird feeling going from one to the other when paddling (the foil stabilises the board quite a lot) but it only lasts a couple minutes and after a wave or two you should find your groove.
The annoying thing is now there are sessions where I’d go foiling and end up wishing I had taken a short board because waves are better than expected once I’m out, opposite also happens when I feel the conditions would have been amazing for foiling but I took out a regular board. First world problem I know haha.
Hah! A very good problem to have. It is great to hear that your surfing can keep progressing even after you start foiling, definitely something I want.
I’m on a over month long trip right now and I try to get in the water every day, with surf/prone/winging gear it is totally doable. Since I’m switching up basically every other day I feel like I basically get instantly in the groove of whatever I’m riding whereas during the rest of year sessions are further appart and I maybe don’t change support as often so it takes a wave or two to get into it.
For me, I just strayed from surfing a bit. When I first dabbled and sucked at foiling I mostly still surfed. When I got the basics locked in I started to foil a lot. 300 sessions later I’ve accomplished most of what I want to as far as learning foil maneuvers. I’ve done everything I can to make my foil feel like a surfboard and taught myself to foil like a surfer. Now, I’m wanting the balance again. Foil the days when foiling is good. Surf the days when surfing is good.
We do get multi day runs of storms sometimes up to a week long through the winter months. Nor’Easters blowing 30-40-50mph winds are conditions I avoid water activity in I will say.
If maintaining your surfing is a priority- you don’t have to lose it at all just so long as you keep doing it regularly. That said… my personal experience and what I’ve observed with friends is: Eventually there’s a good chance you will lose it because once you start foiling you might well become foil obsessed and lose the desire you once had to get on a traditional surfboard. 1. the difficulty of foiling is directly proportional to your obsession with improving 2. Once you can pump- connect- time riding waves goes way up. 3. Fun days, fun quotient of foiling is way higher- Crap conditions for “regular” surfing are transformed to super fun foiling. You will begin to look at waves, breaks with a completely different eye- see spots you drove by and never noticed or considered in a new light. 4. Hassling for waves goes way down. No need to go to highly sought after breaks, sit on the peak and paddle battle. A foiling line-up is a foreign subculture if you shortboard. The change in the sports dynamic transforms wave-mindset from competition for a very limited resource to- abundance with aloha, people happily share -stoke each other out on and off the water. Imagine this- you actually get out of the water happy, relaxed, de-stressed, stoked for more! 5. Prone foiling is a gateway drug and will eventually lead into other forms of foiling addiction that further displace / add cobwebs and dust to the shortboard quiver: Downwind, Wing Foiling, Tow in…
I guess it depends on how accessible/available regular surfing is to you. I started as a kid in the sixties and right up into my 61st year I swore I’d never give up (regular prone) surfing, even here in cold san francisco. But since my foil adventure began 3 years ago I’ve been back on a regular board once (hopeless!!) and I have zero desire to go back to sessions where a dozen 10-15 second waves was a win. So much more fun foiling and between Foil Drive, wing and learning to downwind there’s a good option every day. What a time to be alive!!
By East Coast US standards, I live in a place with consistent waves. I’ve been able to find waves almost every day since mid-May this year—for example. The winter is bigger generally but also is more fickle though because we’ll get long runs of onshore winds.
I’ll certainly take it as it comes and go with what I’m enjoying most, if that’s foiling and the conditions present themselves, and surfing when it doesn’t. Sounds like the best strategy is just to start foiling and see where it takes me and look for days to pick up a “normal” surf board when it looks fun.
In the beginning foiling is nothing like surfing but as you progress the movements and feelings start to overlap. Like everyone said if you switch back and forth your brain will figure it out. The one thing it does change is your perspective on surfing in a crowd. It used to be what I did in order to catch the best waves but now it is hard to look at a single peak next to a pier with 20 guys out and get motivated. You are lucky though, because when it’s barreling in the outer banks surfing is the way to go. Miles of peaks all to yourself!