How to Prone Surf Foil

After teaching myself to prone surf foil as well as teaching my son and a few dozen others, here’s some best practices to shorten the learning curve. In Hawaii, most people call it just 'prone,' to differentiate this discipline from tow foiling, wing foiling, SUP foiling, downwind, kite foiling, foil driving, efoil, etc.  Learning to prone foil is tough and humbling, but with the right conditions, the right gear, and a few hacks, you can start getting it a lot quicker.

Key points

If you’re completely new to board or water sports, highly recommend a quick electric foil (efoil) session, electric motor pod session or foiling behind a boat session. They are key and extremely helpful. Quick 1 min video tips here. How to Ride a Hydrofoil

There are two key skills to learn on your first attempts at foiling. One is to get really good at falling away, kicking away the board and foil. If you feel yourself starting to careen over in one direction, fall backward over either the left or right back quarter of the board, pushing the board away as you fall. DO NOT try to save yourself from the fall. If you are up on foil, you’ll probably dive off the front quarter left or right.

The second key point is to keep the board perfectly flat side-to-side. You want to get to the point where your feet are able to keep the board flat with just heel/toe pressure, especially without you thinking about it – where your feet react immediately with micro-corrections to keep the board flat. The better that you can keep the board flat, the quicker you will master foiling, it’s all about small subtle foot movements, not huge full-body flails. Also it’s very important to minimize any leaning. Your whole body should be straight up and down with all your weight over your feet.

Once you get heel/toe pressure right, the next part of front foot/back foot pressure is easy. At first you want to practice touch and goes, where you shift your weight between feet to come up on foil and then touch down the board in the water and repeat, until you can find a comfortable balance up on foil.

One you have these two skills – balance on the board while up on foil and kicking away from the board when falling, you are ready for some small junky waves.

Gear

I have found medium aspect foils to be by far the most forgiving for the first sessions in the waves. Foils that have the right amount of anhedral (downturn) are easiest and most stable.

FOIL: A 1300cm2 Aspect Ratio (AR) 4 for 130lbs riders and under, around 1600cm for 160lbs and over is the best for stability.  A foil with AR 6 and around 1400cm or so works as well, but this will be harder to recover to neutral after initiating a turn. Bigger waves mean you can use a smaller foil, but also means the waves are faster, more powerful, and more likely will lead to disaster.

BOARD: A floaty board 40-50L is good for most people to start if they have a good surfing pop up. If you are closer to 200lbs or only so-so on your surfing pop up, a wider wing board 80-90L will make a huge difference for your first couple of sessions.

Conditions

The best conditions to look for on your first time foiling in the waves is small (waist high or a little less) crumbling rollers. The best spot is typically a longboard break. For Hawaii, the best spots to learn are in a harbor or bay, where the waves meander into the bay. Avoid powerful A-frame waves or barrels. Make sure to stay away from everyone. Go to the shoulder of the wave or further inside. Do not attempt to catch a wave with someone on it and possibly coming towards you.

First Waves

For your first wave, position yourself closer to the front of the board. About an inch further than you’d think compared to a normal surfboard. Similar to a surf board, you’re in a good position front to back if you can sink the nose when you push down on your chest, or raise the nose clear of the water when you push down with your knees.

Paddling for your first waves, you want to go straight, follow the direction of the wave toward the shore. Catch whitewater if possible, windmill your arms to get ahead of the whitewater, and head straight in, do not set a line, immediately aiming down the wave face. As soon as you are on the wave, shift your hands to flat beside your chest for pop up and hold for an extra second or two to make sure the board is perfectly flat side-to-side. Getting your front foot up first is highly preferred, with your back knee still on the board.

You will need to be conscious of the effort to have weight on the front of the board, either from your hands before pop up or with a front foot. The goal is to control when you come up on foil with a weight shift between feet, not the foil coming up before you are ready. Very commonly, your first few waves will immediately pop the foil straight up and out of the water, breaching and then fall back down. If you do keep getting bucked off the board as you catch the wave, you have a couple of options: move your body forward an inch on the board while paddling, move the mast back in the track box on the board an inch or so, or get a smaller foil.

Smooth is better than fast for pop up. I have found most people do best if they position both feet at 90 degrees to the board and perfectly centerline, the arch of their feet over the middle stringer. And of course, considering how important it is, it is worth repeating: Use heel-toe pressure only to keep the board flat side-to-side.

Gliding
Once you are successful in popping up, getting and staying on foil, the goal should be to not to need to pump. You want to stay high on the wave and let the wave power push the foil – GLIDE. Look where the wave is peaking and/or steepest and steer there, while still trying to stay ahead of the whitewater or breaking wave power. Maybe do a couple of pumps to help get there.

Embrace the falls, think through what might have lead to the fall and make corrections.

Hope these tips help you hack the learning process, save some frustration and help you begin an amazing foiling adventure.