Finally!
It is like everything you learn new: you need patience, stamina and time to practice. A few weeks have passed since I started this report and I try to get into the water as often as possible. With Brian’s inertial “Jumbo Jet” Foil I manage to go straight and often fly in front of the wave and try to pump. I do not manage any turns yet. Brian the foil pilot suggests that I try his smaller front wing and put the rear wing in a neutral position. Change the setup again? Somehow I didn’t like it that much … but hey, Brian really knows his stuff and I agree. On weekends I spend many hours in the water with waves hardly bigger than knee high. For an advit surfer like me it’s really boring. If I wouldn’t work on my “foil project” I would definitely not be in the water. I catch a few waves as before, but the smaller wing gives me better control.
Now I try to do a “turn” for the first time. But I always land in the water. A foil simply behaves differently than a shortboard or SUP. After a few tries I get a wave right and now I manage to ride the wave down the line.
Or better phrased: I’m racing down the wave. No idea how I managed that. The speed is breathtaking and I even manage a small turn at the end before I lose the wave pumping. What was that just now?
Adrenaline is rushing through my body and I just had the experience on a 50 cm wave as if I had just surfed a wave at “over head”. I felt like the beginners at the spot next door, cheering with joy when they catch their first wave of their life. That was the coolest thing I have ever done since I learned to surf. I’m now an enthusiastic foiler and happy to finally be able to do something as great as surfing a big wave when the waves are small. Now I just have to practice more so that I can do it on every attempt.
So far this is my experience over the last weeks from the bloody beginner to the first, right great sense of achievement.
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