How to Wing Foil - 5 Beginner Mistakes

Learning to wing foil can be challenging. In this this video I break down the most common mistakes I see all beginners making. When I was learning to wing foil I made these same mistakes. Get ahead of the curve by learning these key things to improve your wing foil progression and get you up flying faster.
Download the Ultimate Foil Resource: westcoastwingfoil.com/the-ult...
Wing Foil T-Shirt (featured in video): www.redbubble.com/i/t-shirt/W...
Join our Facebook learning community here: / westcoastwingfoil
The best foil boards on the planet: westcoastwingfoil.com/foil-bo...
Our number one foil brand recommendation: www.f4foils.com/f4id/3/
Wing Foil Gear You Need: • Wing Foil Gear You Nee...
How to Get Up on Foil/ Pump: • How to Wing Foil: Gett...

[@louise8752]

Wing foiling is my first water sport and I"m not a well self-taught person. I have FAR more than 3 sessions to get up on foil which is just starting to happen. Started from ground zero as they say. Great video though, I appreciate the tips!!

[@MrDuncanBooth]

Great tips

[@dr.cesartoro]

Excelente consejos !!! (Greats tips) saludos desde Chile !

[@blueboy558]

Cool vidéo 👍🏻

[@MACkiteboarding]

Genuine, on-point, and stoked. Well done, Blaise. 🤙🏽 Good winds! -Aaron

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Thanks Aaron!

[@dazcar54]

Hey great channel ! Ive been learning on rough water and I’ve struggled for ages trying to get going and now keep going on foil and I just wanted to say that what you said about stalling the front foil wing is possibly one of the main problems I’ve had. Not realising that keeping myself more forward to keep the foil from stalling and also as an anxious windsurfer I have to keep reminding myself to only sheet in the wing as much as I need and to relax the power more. Im finally starting to make some progress now and I have to say it feels pretty cool ! Anyway I just wanted to say you touched on a few things in a way that got the message across more clearly than I’ve heard before so thanks !

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Thanks Darren! I appreciate the compliments and glad I could help. It's definitely a difficult sport to learn and that was also something I struggled with when I was starting out. Glad to hear you're progressing. Once things start to click the learning curve definitely accelerates. Happy Winging!

[@AkSeapilot]

Hi, new subscriber.. looking forward to future videos.

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Welcome to the Wing Foil Family!

[@overloadfishing]

Great

[@marcoadelporto]

Thank you, coach. I will try to avoid this mistakes tomorrow 😂

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Awesome! Where are you riding?

[@kevincarambot4749]

Great shirt. I'm still in step one of that sequence.

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Haha! Well we all have to start someone! It makes step 2 and 3 that much more rewarding :)

[@stevenp7597]

Definitely, it takes time. I'm learning were you only get swell and unstable wind. I'm on the 8th session and I'm not flying yet. It's important to remember why you do it and it's keep you going! Nice video! Thanks very much

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Thanks Steven! Yes, keep your eye on the prize and don't stop until you get there. Sounds like your going for it in tough conditions. Once you get going the flight will be even more rewarding.

[@wingfoilrentals]

Tough conditions. If it’s your only spot, longer narrower float is the game changer. Sorry to say, but riding conditions dictate the learning board choice (and as Blaise wrote, +40)

[@stevenp7597]

Thank you a lot for the advice and encouragement! I have never though of narrower and longer board.

[@pubfixture]

For bigger peeps, I'm 106kg and have a 125L board (6'4"). No issues, it floats me fine. Finally getting some rides up on foil 🤘

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Nice! Glad you're geting some rides in. That's great you managed with a smaller board relative to your weight. I think more people tend to struggle with that ratio, especially in choppy water. But people like you with great balance and enough wind to stabalize can definitely do it! Nice work! Next stop for you is riding consistently and nailing the gybe!

[@wingfoilrentals]

Hi Blaise? well done. the early days all the vids on “how to” came from superheroes 😂 who bragged how easy wingfoil was. Almost made me quit. Now they return to the blogs (having forgotten what mistakes they made) remaking how-to’s and once again people feel like quitting 😢 Yours are different. Very informative. Mere mortal content. ❤ 4 and 5. Huge. I’d like to say 1…. flat water. Ross

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Thank you! I appreciate that a lot and I couldn't agree more. There is not enough content from "mere mortals" to help other "mere mortals" improve and progress. Flat water is a great add to the list and something I should include in future videos.

[@SailingCalipso]

Hi on my last section ! I finally was able to ride great! Lol and jibe !

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Nice work! No better feeling in the world!

[@knightclan4]

Where are you located. I'm in Coos Bay Oregon Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Hey Rick, You're welcome! I'm based in Vancouver, Canada. I'm guessing you get some pretty good wind in Coos Bay?

[@Bill-in-SF]

Weight + 40. For me, that was the most important key to success, maybe because my local "learning place" has a fair amount of chop. Seems that the more board I have to balance on, the easier the chop can be - at lest while learning. Another detail that's sometimes overlooked is that many of the online how-to videos are shot in low-wind, I guess since those are easier conditions to shoot video in. My experience is that 8-12mph winds made me feel like a loser. Once I started limiting myself to windier days, I started having much more success.

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Definitely agree that low wind is not good for learning. It just makes getting up on foil so much harder. If it's under 15knots it's not going to be a good session for beginners.

[@andreasbertholdvandermolen3747]

Hi Blaise, thank you so much for your thoughts. What a cool T-shirt. where to buy your t-shirt? Best regards Andreas

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Hey Andreas! I actually custom made it. I'm going to add it to our online store in the next few days and will send you the link in case you want to grab one!

[@westcoastwingfoil]

They are now available here: www.redbubble.com/i/t-shirt/Wing-Evolution-2-0-by-WCWingFoil/141429487.UGYPM

[@johnschukei1708]

nice t-shirt!

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Thanks! Let me know if you want one! I'm adding them to our online store this week.

[@westcoastwingfoil]

They are available here: www.redbubble.com/i/t-shirt/Wing-Evolution-2-0-by-WCWingFoil/141429487.UGYPM

[@jasonwb1975]

Hi what do think about gong inflatable wing boards for starting wing foil for the first time? I am coming from a windsurf background.

[@westcoastwingfoil]

They definitely work! They are a bit more difficult to get up on foil. I also decided against getting an inflatable because it takes more time to set up and deflate. I like having as little set up and take down as possible. What's the primary feature that makes you want to get an inflatable?

[@zungagames]

Just starting to look at equipment and your point about the board is my biggest decision. I'm considering an inflatable board so I can start with it as my beginner board and still use it when I travel. I've been told this will hamper my learning. Thoughts?

[@westcoastwingfoil]

It's a tough call. The inflatables are great for portability and storage. They also perform really well so if you get one you won't be dissapointed. I still personally prefer the hard shell boards for a few reasons. They perform better (stiffer = more reactive) and they do make it easier to get up on foil (less surface tension/ stick to the water) I also don't want to have to inflate a board each time I go to the beach. Performance wise, I don't think you'll notice the difference when starting out. If portability is really imporant then it's a great option. If performance is more imporant I still think hard boards are better. When it comes to travelling I put everything into a board bag and it works great. You can see my video on my channel on how I did it on a trip I went on. Hope that helps!

[@dairyairman]

I'm an early beginner at this sport with only 3 or 4 sessions so far. These tips are good! I'm guilty of rushing to get back on my board as quickly as possible. Why? Because I tend to get blown downwind very quickly when I'm flopping around in the water. For me, it's hard to get back upwind so I want to minimize the time I spend getting going again. The good news is that I'm getting better at staying upwind. Another tip I have from my beginner experience is don't try to learn in very light wind. I thought this would be smart since I come from the windsurfing world where learning in light wind is the way to go. Not so with wing foiling. The problem I found is that the wing won't fly in light wind, and it's very hard to stay upwind, which is already difficult for a beginner like me. Once I went out on a day when there were some whitecaps on the water, flying the wing was a lot easier and staying upwind was also a lot easier.

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Hey David, that's a great tip. Flying with enough wind is key for learning. A lot of people (including me when I started) feel safer with less wind. It's so much harder to get up on foil in light wind conditions and you get way better practice when there is more wind to get you going. Good luck with your progression and glad to hear your getting better at staying up wind!

[@dairyairman]

@@westcoastwingfoil Thank you! I'll get it soon enough, I hope. I have another hot tip for absolute beginners. Don't try to learn when it's really windy. During one of my beginner sessions it was blowing about 20 knots! That made it extra challenging as the wind was blowing the wing all over the place and there was lots of spray and big chop making it hard to get up on the board. Once I stood up I had trouble sheeting the wing in, so most of the time it was just luffing over my head. That was not a very productive session.

[@mathias2410]

That Takuma 95 litre board in the video is a great beginner board. I still ride it in low winds when I need boyancy if the wind drops.

[@westcoastwingfoil]

I was actually on the 125L! Super boyant for learning. I'm riding my 80L most of the time now. Find anything less just makes things more challenging especially in light wind.

[@mathias2410]

@@westcoastwingfoil Ok. The Takuma board is amazing though.😀

[@mulhauserthomas1325]

Hi - what about a much bigger board than the rule weight + 40 - for a beginner - thank you for your thoughts

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Yes that will help you stand on the board even more. It does add more weight so depending on wind speed that does make it a bit harder to get up on foil. Also, bigger boards are less reactive for maneuvering when on foil (they handle like a bus vs a go cart). Hope that helps!

[@funtimegames]

I can ride the foil indefinitely towing and learning to get comfortable switch but adding a wing to the equation and I can’t even stand up on the board. When on foil towing and pumping the foil seems really unresponsive to carving. 110 liter board 1950 cm foil.

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Hey there, What wind speed are you going out in with your wing? It's a big foil which is great for learning. The downside to the big foil is it's less resposive to carving. The smaller the wing span of your front foil wing the better it will be for carving. But the bigger the wing surface area the easier it is to get up on foil.

[@robbystewartstewart924]

Lol foil naish 💩

[@mickdubya692]

Where do I get that shirt?

[@westcoastwingfoil]

There is a link in the video description that takes you to the online store where you can buy one 😉

[@alannaramone3821]

Is this footage at least some of it in my great city of Vancouver!?

[@westcoastwingfoil]

Yes! That's where in based :)