My fourth day was on the back of a 5 hour session the previous day, so it's fair to say I was a fair bit less than 100% with my arms feeling like they were weighed down with lead :)
It was another pretty windy day, and was up and foiling on every tack without any bother. I spent a lot of time trying to nail foiling gybes, only to fail at pretty much every attempt! It felt great all the way round until I flipped the wing, which I was balancing against - the drop in power gave me a dunking every time. I knew what was wrong but didn't know quite how to keep the power on to stop it - perhaps I need to expect it or perhaps I was doing it completely wrong.
It was another pretty windy day, and was up and foiling on every tack without any bother. I spent a lot of time trying to nail foiling gybes, only to fail at pretty much every attempt! It felt great all the way round until I flipped the wing, which I was balancing against - the drop in power gave me a dunking every time. I knew what was wrong but didn't know quite how to keep the power on to stop it - perhaps I need to expect it or perhaps I was doing it completely wrong.
I toyed around with pumping technique a lot too, I've read that it should be short sharp pumps of the rear hand, but when its light with a 6m wing I found fuller pumps of the whole wing seemed to work better. Perhaps its due to fact i was using a 6m wing, and the wind being insufficient to re-power it when you push it back away with fast pumps; but whatever the reason, fuller pumps seemed to work better for me.
Another thing I learned was how important pumping with your legs are - moreso than your arms I think; or at least using your arms allows you to use your legs more effectively, by lightening your weight on the board and allowing it to gain speed quickly.
I remember riding along, with the wing feeling somewhat powered, but my speed being literally about 2mph and it just seemed like at that point I'd need 3x the amount of wind to get foiling; but yet with a bit of effort pumping the wing with some work from my legs I was foiling comfortably in no time - it seems totally intangible, but yet it works; I cant quite fathom the physics of it, but time and time again it happens - its crazy. When someone tells you wingfoils get going in seriously light winds, with a bit of technique they really do!
Looking back to my first sessions where I failed to get up and riding, there was probably plenty of wind to do so, but my inexperience simply let me down; I'm as cynical as the next man when I get told that you can foil in super light winds, but the freedom of positioning the wing to your maximum advantage bears more fruit than I could have imagined.
Another thing I learned was how important pumping with your legs are - moreso than your arms I think; or at least using your arms allows you to use your legs more effectively, by lightening your weight on the board and allowing it to gain speed quickly.
I remember riding along, with the wing feeling somewhat powered, but my speed being literally about 2mph and it just seemed like at that point I'd need 3x the amount of wind to get foiling; but yet with a bit of effort pumping the wing with some work from my legs I was foiling comfortably in no time - it seems totally intangible, but yet it works; I cant quite fathom the physics of it, but time and time again it happens - its crazy. When someone tells you wingfoils get going in seriously light winds, with a bit of technique they really do!
Looking back to my first sessions where I failed to get up and riding, there was probably plenty of wind to do so, but my inexperience simply let me down; I'm as cynical as the next man when I get told that you can foil in super light winds, but the freedom of positioning the wing to your maximum advantage bears more fruit than I could have imagined.
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