Will I lose my surfing?

Prone Surf Foiling
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This is a great thread, and some great insights from seasoned rippers!

My experience is similar. Started prone foiling a year and half ago. I live in bali, but in an area where the daily waves aren’t as world class as the bukit.
Foiling has changed everything for me. After 4 months of helmet/neoprene taco salads every day, foiling became the most fun, rewarding and challenging thing I’ve ever done. I’m still making breakthroughs with pumping and connecting, and pulling G’s in turns that I couldn’t dream of in my 25y of surfing.

Initially switching back to surf felt weird, particularly just paddling the board (felt wobbly). That goes away soon enough though, even with infrequent switching.

I now only surf if it’s barrelling or too big to foil. When i do, I’ve noticed that my take offs on a surfboard feel like slow motion, my balance is way way more refined. It’s like bullet time now, I can take off on slabs with ease now somehow! Foiling has also made me way more conscious of rolling my ankles to turn, and this has sharpened my surfboard turns so much. It’s really, really, really helped my surfing. Once you get past the initial weirdness, it’s a massive positive.

I’m currently in the ments on a surf trip. When the waves are substandard (aka not prefect glassy barrels), I get sulky and wish I was foiling instead of battling it out for maybe 4 waves per hour.

I only surf if ‘I have to’ now. Still love it, but foiling is just better for speed, wave count, carves and time on feet. As bennets currently says ‘the only thing I can’t do on a foil is get barrelled’. Amen.

Don’t worry about it affecting your surfing, the muscle memory does not dissolve, you just bank another discipline n your brain quiver (like in the matrix)

Will you lose your surfing? No. But you’ll gain something even better!

Fuck yeah, we are lucky bastards to have this in our lives guys!

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The whole Hawaiian “watermen” culture is definitely something we could glean more from on the mainland.

Well said.

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So much of this comes down to your local geography. You live someplace that is MUCH better for surf than prone foil. There’s just so much energy it really sucks try to prone. honestly in my few trips up there I don’t prone at all, I only surf and this is for someone who doesn’t surf at home EVER. It’s also a crazy good wing spot and looks killer for Downwind. If it were me I’d stick to surf on breaking waves and add wing and downwind and skip prone entirely.

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I’ve read similar thoughts on this forum regarding the Outer Banks. It is true that on day’s that it’s good surf, it is not ideal for foiling at most spots. But there are some nooks with a softer shoulder especially if the tide is right. There is a spot I surf that during the winter has a pretty soft entry, a nice section on the inside, then a deep trough between the sandbar and the beach where the wave drops off. I’ve seen foilers there on quite a few days going prone with great success.

That said, I have gone back and forth on the possibility of just starting winging instead. It’s hard, because I enjoy riding waves a ton. But we do have a lot of wind—and starter kit from Gong has been tempting to me on more than one occasion. Decisions…

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you won’t lose it if keep surfing, but you’ll most likely give it away because foiling on the east coast is about 100x more fun than surfing.

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Don’t just wing.

Prone.

Outer banks has endless foiling potential. Get after it and you will be stoked.

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isn’t ideal for foil surfing unless you’re towing

You’ll probably start towing

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I agree with the prone initiative. If you have the interest, there’s plenty of opportunity in the Outer Banks for it. You won’t regret your decision

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I’ve been foiling for a bit over four years. I’m heading for a surf trip in the next three weeks. Not that keen to get back on my surfboard but have too due to shallow reef breaks. It’s a nightmare going back but the best way is to jump on a mal for the first 6 sessions then back to your short board. Which is still very hard to do. Yes you could go back and forth from a surfboard to a foil but you will not be much good at either. Yes you can prone foil in surf up to a solid 6 foot by paddling just have to change to a smaller front wing and be experienced. :call_me_hand::call_me_hand::call_me_hand:

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I have tried switching back and forth with ok results. I think for prone surfing, you’ll probably end up like most of us and just want to do that all the time. I went to obx for hurricane Lee and rode a high pro log. The switch was so much easier and the glide was feeling good too. As for little shortboard, well, that takes a couple sessions to get dialed.

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i cant surf anymore, initially i was going back and forth, but as i got better with my prone game (smaller foils and bigger waves), i was only putting my foil down and taking the surfboard in DOH-style conditions, and for someone who hasnt surfed for 3 months, to all of the sudden to be surfing big conditions, it was a non-starter. i figure at this point i may as well just go full 100% prone foiling, because pretty soon ill be able to prone foil every wave i used to be able to surf. note, that im not a barrel master, the conditions that suited me best were long period 4-5ft waves. like to do turns not charge shallow barrels, so im not a pro surfer by any means.

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Hey, I live in Nags Head, and have been in area for 25 years. There are plenty of decent prone days and a ton of excellent wing days. Have been doing downwinders between Salvo and Avon multiple times per week during this constant blast of SW wind. Its good. The sound is fine for learning when weeds aren’t thick. You might not want to hear this, but the place is really good for FD. The bar/trough setup works out really well and it opens up an absolute ton of days. - Robert

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Username checks out.

Wow. You’re in deep. That’s a haul!

Regarding Foil Drive. Just getting use to the sticker shock of a basic foil setup, it’ll be awhile before I get to the point I drop the $$$ on FD.

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yeah i get the $$ part…that said, days on the water goes way up and wave counts per day does as well, so there is that approach for rationalization. cost per wave ends up to be on par with that of a used soft top :slight_smile:

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This is some fun math.

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Been foiling for over 1 year now, it has def made me a better surfer. I switch frequently though. When i first started switching it was terrible and messed me up but as you learn to foil i can switch flawlessly now very little issues its like riding a bike and running 2 different things , until you learn to fly comfortable your brain groups them together so it feels super wierd switching

I find foiling MUCH harder than surfing , surfing seems slower and more forgiving when i switch back

Your on the best stretch of coast the entire east coast but June July and half of August is world class foiling in the OBX, your still going to surf 60% of the time but there will be lots of days your going to be stoked on to foil when its 1-3 ft and mushy. Similar feeling to a firing surf day but easy to satisfy and happens all the time

I dont like foiling when its over 3ft unless its towing, i am just a intermediate foiler connecting 3-5 waves and feel too boosted when its bigger just would prefer to surf. Just tapping into runners

Went on a surf trip to mexico recently and it was pumping brought all my foil gear and mostly surfed, HOWEVER if it was a down day and small i would have been frothed which happens frequently during trips and especially on the east coast.

More water time = more stoked , more time riding waves = better surfer

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Such a great comment with info from some helpful experience.

I got stoked just from reading it!

More water time = more stoked , more time riding waves = better surfer

This is the way.

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Last time I surfed NC it was waist to shoulder high at the lighthouse with totally ripable lines and no crowds. If it’s still like that; ie, rippable and uncrowded and you’re the age I was 25 years ago, don’t foil.
If you’re sick of jostling for position and there’s plenty of sand bars and points that would be boring on a long board with empty line ups, then foiling will give you the same rush as above.
Like everyone’s said, if you want to surf when it’s good, you’ll just need to expect a wave or two to adjust to back foot surfing again. Cool thing is, prone foil is really hard and the takeoffs skill and fitness wise have kept my mid aged body in short board readiness where my contemporaries are moving on to logs and bitchin about how f’ing crowded it is.

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It’s a little inside baseball, but right now the days the lighthouse works really well are becoming fewer and fewer as parts of the 1st jetty continue to fall off piece by piece. But when it is on it does get quite crowded and is localized more than other spots here. I generally avoid it—but did have 1 magical session on a “meh” day this year when there was no one out, but I had it to myself for an hour of long running (albeit lumpy) lefts. That’s rare though, and I feel blessed when I do score it like that.

That said, on any given day here when there is surf, you can almost always find an empty peak if you hunt around enough. Even on the busiest most hyped days.

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This sounds like a solid strategy.

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…this :point_up: is the correct answer :grin: