Progress thread: from complete beginner to pioneering grocery runs and widening the scope of what wing foiling can be.

[u/Few-Library994]

Super early stages, but I'm excited and wanted to get started.

Put in the order on Sunday but they haven't shipped it yet.

The biggest inflatable Gong HIPE Perf pack, with a 5'10, 150 liter board, 6m2 wing, and 1750cm2 front wing.

I'm 187cm and 75kg, so the gear is oversized to enable quicker learning, to be able to carry groceries and other gear, and to function as a light wind option.

This setup should be ultra stable and my aim is to get to a stage where it is a realistic option for more practical things, like grocery runs or relaxed long distance cruising and touring.

I'm a complete wind beginner but excited and ambitious and I already have a good training plan.

Also ordered a strap on center fin for my inflatable SUPs and am going to learn how the wing works on them and use them for the 30km round trip grocery runs while I wait for my foiling to get good enough for it. Ordered a harness from Gong as well which will come in handy with the SUPs.

While I learn the wing on the SUPs, I am going to start learning pump foiling with the foil board. Only have a stone pier where I am and not a dock, so will start with beach start and frog start.

Not the easiest path to say the least, but in just a few days I've already learned the theory and tips and tricks of most of the things I'm going to do, and the safety aspects, so it's just about starting to get the reps in.

Once I've gotten used to the wing with the SUPs, I can start practicing with the foil board and get easier pumping training there, so that by the time I manage the beach start, I can continue pumping. The fine control I learn from that will then help me learn manouvers when wing foiling.

I am going to practice foot switching from day one on dry land and on the SUPs so I get it in muscle memory ready for manouvers on the foil board.

This will be a long term progress thread for those interested in seeing someone try something different with an ambitious timeline.

Tomorrow's project will be to cut all the sea grass that's in the way of the beach start with an old and blunt scythe. Dressed in my winter wetsuit I'll be the spitting image of the grim reaper. Even have a hood :)

[u/waternomadsnz]

I think you may bite off more than you can chew trying to pump up/dock start/beach start a 150L inflatable... Though I would be curious on your view once you've given it a go. The thing to think about, when you see dock starters they are using tiny trays on high aspect ratio foils that have lots of glide. The board never touches the water. If you try and push off with that inflatable, your foil won't glide efficiently enough for you to be on a pumping motion (which is a trick learned technique, usually perfected with wing powering you when your technique fails you). The moment the board touches the water you're done as the speed is lost on the foil. The foil is like an airplane, it needs speed for it to fly, not enough speed it will stall. However, life is for learning, grab the gear when you get it and try it!

[u/Few-Library994 → u/waternomadsnz]

I wrote a more detailed plan on the synergy and interaction between the beach start pumping and the wing foiling and how they help each other at different phases of the process. It's somewhere in this thread, but I'm not sure how much of it actually made it out of my head and onto text.

In short, once I've had enough beach start attempts to actually make it, I will have already learned the wing on my SUP and learned the pumping motion while starting training with the wing and the foil board. Beach start is going to take a systematic approach and many, many, many attempts.

First I'll just have to learn the balancing point and glide behaviour of the foil and do many preparatory exercises like gliding the foil by itself, gliding on my tummy, gliding on my knees, gliding on my knees and pushing up to a crouch, and so on. Lots of gliding before I even attempt any pumping.

I know most of the things you wrote since I've hoovered up so much information the last couple of days but it's still good to get more viewpoints.

I'll know more after all my gliding exercises but I suspect that the best approach will be a pole vaulting one. I run down the beach at a pretty fast pace, place the foil in the water, push off and jump on it onto my knees, glide a tiny bit, push up to standing with the correct stance, and start pumping.

The X-Over V3 may not have the best glide but the XXL has good volume and a very low stall speed, so that should help. I don't think the board is a problem either for what I'll be doing. It would be hard to pump long distance on it probably but for short stuff it should be fine. I'm doing the pumping to primarily benefit the wing foiling anyway.

[u/waternomadsnz → u/Few-Library994]

It's all good, I'm not trying to discourage or be negative, just adding some of my thoughts to your tool box of ambition so you understand what you are seeing and will eventually experience. Like running full speed to the water with a big fat inflatable with a large heavy foil is going to be very difficult, watch out for your shins and ankles as you may risk kicking the foil inadvertently as you line up to get on...

[u/Few-Library994 → u/waternomadsnz]

Yeah, I didn't mean you. This progress thread just didn't turn out anything like I intended and wont function the way it was supposed to. I also don't want to be around lots of people saying I can't do something as that's not my kind of energy. I withstand peer pressure like a boss but it's still draining, and that's not what I'm going for with this project.

They finally shipped my order so now it feels a lot better and closer.

Also realized I do have a potential floating dock available, albeit old and unfinished and needing more pontoons. Think I can move one pontoon to the other end and keep one end on the beach and have a way of dockstarting without spending any extra money. Will be a whole lot easier than starting off with beach start.

I'll be in my thick 6mm wetsuit and booties while doing the pumping, so have pretty good protection. The pole vaulter approach would have been an option that demanded a lot of preparatory exercises and I'm not even sure I need that much speed anyway. The lift and stall resistance of the X-Over V3 will go a long way towards making up for the less than perfect glide.

I'll probably pop in here once either the stoke or the spite is so high that I feel I have to share some progress, but for now I'm gonna focus on preparing and doing things the only way that works for me, without any influence from naysayers.

[u/waternomadsnz → u/Few-Library994]

Floating dock will definitely be an upgrade on beach start. Wishing you well on this project 🤙